Additional Resources
All U.S. citizens and resident aliens must file a U.S. income tax return, even if they permanently live outside the United States and may not owe any tax because of income exclusion or tax credit.
The due date for Form 1040 is April 15, 2016. An automatic extension to June 15, 2016, is granted for taxpayers living outside the United States and Puerto Rico. However, this extension applies only for filing your tax return, not for payment. If you owe any taxes, you’re required to pay by April 15, 2016. Interest and penalties will be applied for payments made after this date.
You can mail your tax return and payment using the postal service or approved private delivery services. A list of approved delivery services is available on IRS.gov.
You can prepare and e-file your income tax return, in many cases for free. E-File options are listed on the IRS website.
For more information about Federal Benefits and Obligations, please click here.
International Tax Assistance
There is no Internal Revenue Service (IRS) representative at the U.S. Embassy in Doha. The Embassy cannot provide tax advice.
If you are a taxpayer with specific individual or business account questions you should contact the International Taxpayer Service Call Center by phone or fax.
The International Call Center is operational Monday through Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. EST, telephone: 267-941-1000 (not toll-free), fax: 267-941-1055.
If you are a tax professional or software provider calling about an e-file issue and it is not account-related, please contact the e-help office in Austin, Texas, at 512-416-7750 (not toll-free).
Assistance is available Monday through Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST.
More information on how to contact the IRS can be found on the IRS website.
Taxpayer service, formerly offered by IRS offices overseas, is no longer available.
Residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands may contact the IRS toll free at 1-800-829-1040, Monday through
Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. EST.
For face-to-face assistance information in Puerto Rico refer to Contact My Local Office in Puerto Rico.
International Taxpayer Advocate:
To request Taxpayer Advocate assistance, call the Taxpayer Advocate Service toll-free number: 1-877-777-4778, or refer
to Contact a Local Taxpayer Advocate (LTA) in Caribbean US Territories (Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands) and International.
Tax Forms
IRS tax forms and instruction booklets are available on the IRS website.
Foreign Account Taxpayer Compliance Act (FATCA)
The United States and Qatar signed a FATCA intergovernmental agreement on January 7, 2015.
Tax evasion by American citizens and permanent residents is a significant problem for the United States. Often, tax evaders utilize financial institutions outside of the U.S. to hide assets and income streams from the purview of U.S. tax authorities. FATCA is designed to make it more difficult for Americans and permanent residents to evade taxes by asking financial institutions to share with the IRS certain information about American Citizen and permanent resident accounts held outside of the United States.
What this means:
- This law applies to U.S. citizens and permanent residents that hold significant financial assets in any country outside the United States.
- This law does not increase tax rates or create any new tax obligations. It is purely a reporting mechanism to ensure U.S. taxpayers are complying with already-existing U.S. tax laws.
- The information FATCA asks financial institutions to report to the IRS is generally information individuals should have self-reported already during their annual tax return filing.
For more information about FATCA, please visit the IRS website.
For frequently asked questions about FATCA, please visit this link.