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I am a U.S. Citizen living and earning an income overseas. My spouse is not a U.S. Citizen or Resident.

Question regarding my U.S. Federal Income Tax liability: if my foreign wife gives me cash (in the form of a foreign to foreign bank transfer), and if I then transfer that money back to the U.S. from my foreign bank account to my U.S. bank account, will I be liable to pay (or at least report) any tax, be it income, or gift or other?

I am seeing some conflicting information online, some of which states there's a maximum of USD11,000 a year, or even $100,000 a year that would be exempt from payment and filing. Thanks in advance!

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  • As an aside, the fact of transferring the money to the US would not change your tax liability, since, as you probably know, the US taxes its citizens based on their worldwide income.
    – phoog
    May 12, 2015 at 6:36

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You must report gifts from foreign persons in excess of $100K annually on form 3520 attached to your tax return. There's no tax, only reporting, but failure to report will trigger a $10000 penalty. Note that related persons are not excluded from this requirement, so while transfer between spouses which are both US residents are exempt from gift tax and reporting, if your spouse is not a US person - you'll have to report the transfer.

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