Tax Exemption Form 8802

So about a month ago Korvia posted a status on their facebook page telling people to fill this form out, but I put it off for way too long. I didn't see until later that it can take like 3 months to get, and it is something we need to take with us to Korea. Ugh. Paperwork is so frustrating sometimes. Just when you think it's all set, there's more!

So here's the deal. In Korea, teachers are offered a 2 year tax exemption, meaning that for 2 years, if you are teaching, you don't have to pay Korean taxes. This IRS form 8802 is, as far as a I understand, to make it so you don't have to pay taxes in the US on the money you make in South Korea either. So no taxes! WOOT!

Here is the form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8802.pdf

Here are the complicated instructions for the form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8802.pdf

This person has a really good blog post about how to fill out the form: http://shimmeringseoul.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/how-to-fill-out-irs-form-8802-aka-us-residency-certificate/

Here are a few of my own notes about it. The tax payer ID number is your social security number. An appointee is someone the IRS can talk to in the United States regarding your financial info if you are abroad, usually that should be a parent. In line 4, check off that you are an individual and a US citizen. I found most of the other stuff very straightforward except line 7 to 10. I called the IRS to make sure I had it right, so this is the information I got straight from the IRS.

Line 7: The calendar year for which you request certification is the year you are going to be leaving in. I am leaving in August 2013, so I wrote 2013. I am mostly sure that I need to fill out this form again for the 2014 tax year once my 2013 taxes are done next spring.

Line 8: the tax period on which certification will be based is a 6 digit number. The first four digits are the last year you submitted your taxes, which for me was 2012. The last two digits are the last month of the last tax year you submitted, so December (12). So for me the 6 digit number was 201212. There's other information floating around on the internet, but again, I asked the IRS people, so I'm sincerely hoping this is correct.

Line 9: check off income tax.

Line 10: There is a specific statement you need to write here. Just copy this:
"This certification is given under penalty of perjury and to the best of my knowledge and belief are true, correct, and complete. YOUR FULL NAME (YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER) is a resident of the United States of America and will continue to be throughout the current tax year (THE CURRENT YEAR)." There is a apparently another statement for teachers, but you don't have to write that if you don't know when you're leaving. You should probably have filled this out before you know when you're leaving anyway, so it's fine to just copy my statement above. Again, the person at the IRS read me the statement, and I copied what she told me to write.

Line 11: Next to the South Korea box, write 3 to request 3 copies of the exemption form. Just in case you need extra copies.

Read the instructions to find out how to submit the form and how to pay online if you want to. I paid online and faxed all the paperwork in because it seemed like the fastest route. Please make sure you include a cover letter if you fax the paperwork in. The cover letter has to at least include how many pages total are being faxed. I also included all my tracking numbers from the online payment and all my contact information, just to be formal.

I did not receive a confirmation or anything from the IRS, so I called just to be sure they got it. I was informed that they don't even process requests until two weeks after you submit, so they can't tell me if they got it or not. Since then, I've called back once, and it is still not in their system. They said to call back Friday, and they should be able to tell me what's up. I'll update this post when I hear more. Hoping everything is alright.

The IRS told me that you fill out form 8802 to get form 6166, which is the US tax residency certificate. You won't have to do anything with "form" 6166, but that's the part you need to bring to Korea with you. Just in case you have any other questions that I didn't answer, you can leave comments, but you might also want to call the IRS directly. The number you should call for questions pertaining to this form is: 267-941-1000. You'll speak to an actual person, but this number was really hard for me to dig up.

Hope this clarifies the annoyance of paperwork for people :)

Look at the post labeled "Residency Certificate Form 6166" for information on what the residency certificate looks like. I got mine in the mail on 7/16/13, which is about a month from when I requested it I believe. But at least you know these instructions got my the final paperwork!