Lawful Permanent Residents – Tax Law vs. Immigration Law – University of San Diego School of Law – Procopio International Tax Institute
The 12th annual international tax conference was held on campus on October 20 & 21st, 2016: The University of San Diego School of Law – Procopio International Tax Institute.
This specific course was addressed by tax and immigration law experts and views from a federal immigration court judge, as follows:
Course 3B: U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents – Tax Law vs. Immigration Law
Residentes legales permanentes de los Estados Unidos – Ley fiscal vs. Ley de inmigración
Speakers: 
The Honorable Rico J. Bartolomei, assistant chief immigration judge of the federal immigration courts
Patrick W. Martin, Esq., Partner – Procopio
Jan Joseph Bejar, Esq., Founder – Immigration Law Clinic
The speakers addressed numerous issues, including the immigration consequences of filing IRS Form 8833, Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b), and the specific impact of IRC Section 7701(b)(6) that provides in relevant part as follows:
- An individual shall cease to be treated as a lawful permanent resident of the United States if such individual commences to be treated as a resident of a foreign country under the provisions of a tax treaty between the United States and the foreign country, does not waive the benefits of such treaty applicable to residents of the foreign country, and notifies the Secretary of the commencement of such treatment. [emphasis added]
Act of Abandonment for Immigration Law Purposes?
Some of the key points made by the immigration law experts, including the immigration judge were:
- Permanent resident card is not a tourist visa.
- DHS will make a finding of abandonment following a single trip outside the U.S. of more than one year.
- Rebuttable presumption of abandonment following a single trip outside the U.S. of six months to one year.
- Residency may be deemed abandoned following multiple trips abroad, even if no single trip exceeds six months.
–Factors include the noncitizen’s family ties, employment, property holdings, and business affiliations in the U.S. and in the foreign country
–Filing a U.S. income tax return as a tax nonresident alien raises a rebuttable presumption of abandonment.
See prior posts regarding how and when lawful permanent residents can be deemed to have expatriated:
Unplanned Expatriation: Lawful Permanent Residents’ Deportation Risks for Filing U.S. Federal False Tax Returns, Sept. 28, 2015
Timing Issues for Lawful Permanent Residents (“LPR”) Who Never “Formally Abandoned” Their Green Card, August 15, 2015