Get Pr 482.0 2018-2026

Beginning with the 2019 tax season when you'll be preparing and filing your 2018 tax return the IRS will roll out a brand new Form 1040 to replace the old 1040, the 1040EZ...and Form 1040A. You'll be obligated to use this new, improved form going forward.

The new law consolidated the forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ into one redesigned Form 1040 that all filers can use. For your 2018 taxes, which you file in early 2019, you will use this new 1040. That means you can no longer use the 1040A unless you are filing a return for tax year 2017 or earlier.

Form 1040A is used by U.S. taxpayers to file an annual income tax return. For Tax year 2018, you will no longer use Form 1040-A, but instead use the redesigned Form 1040.

Still, Puerto Rico hopes to lure American mainlanders with an income tax of only 4%. Legally avoiding the 37% federal rate and the 13.3% California (or other state) rate sounds pretty good. What's more, there is no tax on dividends, and no capital gain tax in Puerto Rico. However, some big cautions are in order.

U.S. citizens who have lived all year on the island are exempt from filing taxes to the federal government of the United States as long as all of your income was from Puerto Rican sources only.

Residents also pay federal payroll taxes, such as Social Security and Medicare taxes. Only certain residents of Puerto Rico are required to file federal income tax forms. ... Bona fide residents of Puerto Rico generally do not report income received from sources within Puerto Rico on their U.S. income tax return.

The island imposes a separate local Puerto Rico income tax in place of typical U.S. federal income tax. The personal income tax rate in Puerto Rico is up to 33%. This is applicable to regular wages regardless of having an Act 20 or Act 22 decree.

Puerto Rico is a US territory and not a state, so its residents don't pay federal income tax unless they work for the US government. Even so, workers there pay the majority of federal taxes that Americans on the mainland pay payroll taxes, social security taxes, business taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes and so on.

Unlike the US, Puerto Rico does not tax social security pension income or unemployment. Puerto Rico residents must still pay the US FICA tax on self-employment income.