Yes, in most cases. A green card holder is a US tax resident under the green card test (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) for as long as the status exists, and an expired card or a move back to the UK does not end it. Until the status is formally given up or taken away, the United States expects a return on worldwide income each year.
This post is for British and other non-US nationals who held a green card, came home, and stopped filing because the card lapsed or went unused. It goes deeper than the short passage in our guide for people who are behind on US taxes in the UK: how the status ends for tax purposes, which returns are owed for the years in between, where the treaty fits, when the expatriation rules apply, and the order in which to act.
Does an expired green card end US tax residence?
No. The IRS treats a person as a US resident for tax purposes if they are a lawful permanent resident at any time in the calendar year, and the status carries on until it is formally ended. The card is evidence of the status. Its expiry date is not the date the status stops.
Publication 519 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), the IRS tax guide for aliens, addresses the point directly. It says that a person who has not completed the abandonment process remains a resident for tax purposes even where USCIS would no longer recognise the card as valid, whether because of the card's age or because the holder has been away from the United States for a period of time. Years of living in Leeds and paying UK tax do not change that answer.
Immigration law and tax law ask different questions here. Whether an old card would still be honoured at the border, and whether long absence has put the status at risk, are immigration matters on which we do not advise. The tax question is narrower: whether the status has been ended by one of the routes the IRS recognises. Until it has, the person is taxed as a US resident.
How does green card status end for US tax purposes?
It ends in one of three ways, according to the IRS: the holder gives it up voluntarily in writing to USCIS, USCIS terminates it administratively, or a US federal court terminates it. None of them happens by the passage of time.
Publication 519 describes the voluntary route as filing Form I-407, or a letter stating the intention to abandon, with the card attached, and it tells the person to keep a copy and proof that it was received. USCIS describes the form as the record that someone is voluntarily abandoning the status.
Where the authorities start the process, the IRS says the status is treated as abandoned when the final administrative order is issued, or the final court order if there is an appeal. The publication also notes that under immigration law a permanent resident who is required to file a resident return and does not may be regarded as having abandoned the status. That is an immigration risk and is not one of the events the IRS lists as ending tax residence.
- Voluntary abandonment: the holder files Form I-407, the record of abandonment of lawful permanent resident status, with USCIS
- Administrative termination: USCIS or a consular officer begins the process and a final administrative order is issued
- Judicial termination: a US federal court makes a final order
Which US returns are owed for the years since leaving?
The same returns a resident would file. For every year the status continued, the person owed Form 1040 on worldwide income if that income was above the filing threshold, together with the foreign account reports that apply to US persons.
A filing duty is not the same as a tax bill. UK tax paid on the same income can usually be claimed as a foreign tax credit, and for many people on UK salaries that leaves little or no US tax. The exposure tends to sit in the reporting: UK accounts that were never listed, ISAs and funds that the US taxes differently, and information returns that carry their own penalties.
The FBAR (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab) deserves separate mention because it is not part of the tax return. It goes to FinCEN, the threshold is an aggregate across every account, and accounts over which the person has only signature authority count as well.
- Form 1040 for each year, reporting worldwide income, with a foreign tax credit or exclusion claimed where it applies
- An FBAR, filed with FinCEN, for any year in which foreign accounts together exceeded $10,000 at any time
- Form 8938 with the return, where specified foreign financial assets passed the threshold for the filing position
- Other information returns where they apply
How can a former green card holder catch up on missed returns?
Most people in this position look first at the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab). They require three years of late or amended returns, six years of FBARs, payment of the tax and interest, and a signed certification that the failures were non-wilful. On that route the IRS does not charge the usual late-filing, late-payment, accuracy or FBAR penalties.
The IRS sets the non-residency test for green card holders in the same terms as for citizens. In at least one of the most recent three years for which the return due date has passed, the person must have had no US abode and been physically outside the United States for at least 330 full days.
Penalty-free treatment belongs to the Foreign route only. A person who does not meet the non-residency test is left with the Domestic route, which carries a miscellaneous offshore penalty of 5% on the highest aggregate year-end value of the relevant foreign assets. Both routes depend on non-wilful conduct certified in writing. Our posts on writing the Form 14653 certification and on choosing between the streamlined routes go further, and our IRS streamlined filing service prepares the submission.
Can the UK-US treaty treat a green card holder as a non-resident?
Sometimes. A green card holder who is resident in both countries under each country's own law may be treated as a UK resident under the tie-breaker in the UK-US treaty (opens the official IRS page in a new tab). The IRS says such a person works out US income tax as a non-resident alien, files Form 1040-NR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), and attaches Form 8833 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) to disclose the position.
The claim is narrower than it sounds. Publication 519 says a dual-resident taxpayer who uses the tie-breaker is a non-resident for the purpose of working out US income tax and is still treated as a US resident for other purposes. Our treaty relief service tests whether the tie-breaker points to the UK on the facts, and our pages on Form 8833 and Form 1040-NR explain the paperwork.
For a long-term resident, the expatriation tax (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) rules treat the person as ceasing to be a lawful permanent resident when they begin to be treated as a resident of a foreign country under a treaty, do not waive the treaty's benefits, and notify the IRS on Forms 8833 and 8854. A treaty return can therefore bring the exit tax rules into play even though the card was never handed back.
Does giving up a green card trigger the US exit tax?
Only for a long-term resident who is also a covered expatriate. The expatriation rules reach someone who was a lawful permanent resident in at least a set number of the tax years in a fixed period ending with the year the status stops. A person who held the card for a shorter time is outside them.
The instructions to Form 8854 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) add that a year in which the person was treated as resident in another country under a treaty, without waiving its benefits, is not counted towards that total. Because the status keeps running after the move home, the years spent in the UK count too, and delay can carry someone across the line.
A long-term resident who ends the status is a covered expatriate if any one of the three tests below is met. Failing the certification alone makes someone covered, whatever their wealth or income, and a covered expatriate is taxed as if their worldwide property had been sold the day before the expatriation date. The narrow exceptions for certain people who were dual citizens from birth and for certain minors turn on citizenship at birth and on age, so an adult former green card holder should not count on them. Our page on Form 8854 sets out what the statement asks.
- Net worth of $2 million or more on the expatriation date
- Average annual net income tax for the preceding years above the IRS figure, which is $206,000 for 2025 expatriations and is adjusted annually
- Failure to certify on Form 8854 five years of compliance with US federal tax obligations
What order should the steps be taken in?
Establish the facts, catch up, then end the status. Formally abandoning the card first, with unfiled years behind it, risks failing the Form 8854 certification.
The streamlined procedures ask for three years of returns, while the Form 8854 certification looks back five years. For a long-term resident the catch-up is scoped with the certification in mind, so that no unfiled year is left inside that period.
A worked example: a research chemist from Leeds took a green card for a post in New Jersey, held it long enough to be a long-term resident, then returned to a UK university and left the card in a drawer until it expired. She filed nothing after leaving and is still a US tax resident. She has lived wholly in the UK since, so she meets the non-residency test, and the Foreign route is likely to fit. Her returns are brought up to date before she files Form I-407, so that she can make the certification, and her net worth and tax history are then tested against the other two tests.
The answer depends on the dates and the documents. Our expatriation service handles the tax side of giving the status up and works alongside immigration counsel on the rest. The catch-up routes are set out in full in our guide to IRS streamlined filing from the UK.
- Establish status and dates: when the card was granted, when the move happened, and whether anything was ever filed with USCIS
- Count the tax years in which the status was held, to see whether the long-term resident definition is met
- Bring returns and FBARs up to date, usually through a streamlined submission
- Formally abandon the status on Form I-407, after taking immigration advice
- File the return for the final year, with Form 8854 if the expatriation rules apply
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
