As much as I hate to admit, I would describe myself as a procrastinator. I have left it until now (April 10th) to figure out what I need to do as regards filing US taxes for income I earned there last year. If you're not familiar with the US tax system, the general filing date for most people is April 15th.

I spent a couple of hours reading information on TurboTax (which I use almost every year to file taxes), various tax pro websites, and on discussion boards. I finally found the clearest indication of what I need to do on a British expat discussion board.

As a US resident (or for any of you US citizens living abroad) you are automatically entitled to a 2 month extension before you are required to file your income tax return. That gives you until June 15th of the tax year to file your taxes. Important note: This does not mean that you don't have to pay up before then. If you owe US taxes, interest will start accumulating from April 15th.

In my case I need even extra time before I file. I want my Irish income to be exempt from any US taxes, and therefore need to qualify for "special tax treatment". I'm hoping I can qualify for that by meeting the bona fide residence or physical presence tests. I haven't explored this in a lot of detail yet, but I'm pretty sure if I file a year from when I left the US, I will meet one of those tests, and therefore my foreign earned income (up to a limit) will be exempt from US tax. To receive this extra time I need to submit IRS form 4868. According to UncleFed.com, as a taxpayer living outside the US, I have until June 15th to do this. Their website states "The 2-month period and the 6-month period start at the same time. You do not have to request the additional 4 months until the new due date allowed by the 2-month extension." I hope this is true, as I don't think I have time between now and April 15th to file the form. My procrastination has brought me some unnecessary worry...

For now I will not be sharing any more tax information, but as time passes, I will share my experience for filing US taxes from abroad, and what services I used (if any), and anything I learned.