u/Muzungu_0729r/tax5 jul 2026
Once you become a U.S. tax resident, your Swiss rent, accounts and pensions create a high-but-manageable annual reporting job, while your health budget depends mainly on the husband’s employer offer and household income.
“I am a Swiss citizen considering moving to Long Island, NY with my husband and 10-year-old daughter. My husband would be the only one working initially. How complicated is the US tax reporting for Swiss rental income, bank accounts, and pensions? Also, what should a family realistically budget for health insurance and out-of-pocket costs in Long Island?”
Resumen
The reporting is more involved than an ordinary U.S. return, but it becomes manageable once every Swiss account, pension and rental record is inventoried. The directly owned house is not itself an FBAR/Form 8938 asset; the main work is reporting its income and the associated financial accounts correctly.
Your health budget has three realistic branches, determined mainly by the husband’s employer offer and household income.
The 2025 national average family premium was $26,993, but workers paid an average $6,850, or about $571 monthly; use $571 as an initial payroll-deduction budget until the offer supplies the real figure. Also reserve for the plan’s family : using the 2026 federal outer ceiling, the survey contribution plus maximum cost sharing would be $28,050 for a very high-use year, although the actual plan may set a lower maximum (KFF 2025 Survey; 90 FR 2025-11606).
If each adult is 19–64, lawfully present, and 2026 household income for three people is no more than $54,640, the lists a $0 monthly premium and $0 deductible. NY State of Health can evaluate your daughter for Child Health Plus; its premium varies by income and family size, but the official page says it has no annual deductible or copayments (NY State of Health Essential Plan and Child Health Plus pages).
If job-based and income-based coverage do not fit, use NY State of Health. Until an actual quote exists, $2,249 monthly—the $26,993 national total family premium divided by 12—is a deliberately conservative premium placeholder, not a Long Island estimate; then add the chosen plan’s cost-sharing reserve, subject to the 2026 $21,200 federal family ceiling. Premium assistance may reduce the result, but it cannot be calculated from the facts supplied (KFF 2025 Survey; 90 FR 2025-11606).
The $571 and $2,249 monthly figures below are planning anchors from a 2025 national employer survey—not 2026 Long Island quotes.
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Watch out for
Próximos pasos
These steps establish your tax starting date, capture every Swiss reporting item, and turn the health estimate into an actual family budget.
Before the first U.S. resident day
Build a Swiss asset file before moving
Create one row per account, pension and property, with owner, institution, account number, currency, year-end value and highest annual value. Rental records must separately preserve gross rent, operating expenses and depreciable property cost because Schedule E requires income, expenses and depreciation (Publication 527: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p527.pdf).
Requisitos
As soon as the move date is fixed
Fix each person’s tax-residency start
Apply the green-card test and the 31-day/weighted-183-day substantial-presence test separately. Under the substantial-presence rule, the resident period generally begins on the first U.S. day in that calendar year; preserve the travel calendar with the return (IRS test: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test).
Requisitos
Before preparing Forms 3520 or 8621
Classify every Swiss pension before filing
First apply treaty Articles 18–19 to actual payments. Then test the plan against every Rev. Proc. 2020-17 condition before omitting Forms 3520/3520-A, and separately test any foreign funds under the Form 8621 pension exception; the revenue procedure expressly leaves FBAR and Form 8938 duties intact (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-20-17.pdf).
Requisitos
After the move-year calendar closes
Prepare the federal and New York income-tax returns
For the resident period, report the Swiss rental on Form 1040 Schedule E, claim qualifying Swiss income tax through Form 1116, and attach Form 8938 when the applicable $100,000 year-end/$150,000 anytime joint threshold—or $50,000/$75,000 separate threshold—is exceeded. A full-year New York resident uses IT-201; a part-year resident uses IT-203, and Form IT-112-R does not provide a credit for Swiss tax. Form 8938 shares the annual return’s due date, including extensions (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8938.pdf).
Requisitos
April 15 after each reportable year
File the FBAR separately
Electronically file FinCEN Form 114 when combined covered foreign accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time. The automatic deadline is October 15 without an extension request; retain the supporting records for five years. If your daughter cannot file her own required FBAR, a parent or legally responsible person files it for her (IRS FBAR page: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/report-of-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts-fbar).
Requisitos
Before accepting coverage
Replace the health benchmark with the real offer
Compare the offer with three anchors: $6,850 yearly average worker contribution, $26,993 total yearly family premium, and the 2026 federal $21,200 other-than-self-only cost-sharing ceiling. If the income-based branch applies, NY State of Health lists the Essential Plan and Child Health Plus as year-round programs; use https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/EssentialPlan and https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/ChildHealthPlus.
Requisitos
Otras personas que pasaron por esto
You are not the first to go through this. Here is how it went for others who asked the same thing.
u/Pleasant-Froyo6347r/USExpatTaxes7 abr 2026
Fuentes legales
The answer is grounded in IRS and FinCEN instructions, the U.S.–Switzerland tax treaty, New York tax and health-program materials, the federal 2026 health rule, and KFF’s employer survey.
IRS Alien Taxation—Certain Essential Concepts
A resident alien reports rental and other income from both U.S. and foreign sources.
Resident aliens
A resident alien's income is generally subject to tax in the same manner as a U.S. citizen. If you are a resident alien, you must report all interest, dividends, wages, or other compensation for services, income from rental property or royalties, and other types of income on your U.S. tax return. You must report these amounts whether from sources within or outside the United States.
IRS Substantial Presence Test
This supplies the weighted three-year test used to determine U.S. tax residence.
You will be considered a United States resident for tax purposes if you meet the substantial presence test for the calendar year. To meet this test, you must be physically present in the United States (U.S.) on at least: 31 days during the current year, and 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before, counting: All the days you were present in the current year, and 1/3 of the days you were present in the first year before the current year, and 1/6 of the days you were present in the second year before the current year.
Publication 527 (2025)
Swiss residential rent is handled through the normal Schedule E rental framework.
Which Forms To Use
The basic form for reporting residential rental income and expenses is Schedule E (Form 1040). List your total income, expenses, and depreciation for each rental property.
Form 1116 Instructions (2025)
Form 1116 is the usual route for claiming qualifying Swiss income tax as a federal credit.
Who Should File
File Form 1116 to claim the foreign tax credit if the election, earlier, doesn’t apply and: • You are an individual, estate, or trust; and • You paid or accrued certain foreign taxes to a foreign country or U.S. territory.
FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR)
This establishes the combined FBAR threshold and annual filing dates.
A U.S. person, including a citizen, resident, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust and estate, must file an FBAR to report: a financial interest in or signature or other authority over at least one financial account located outside the United States if the aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported. The FBAR is an annual report, due April 15 following the calendar year reported. You’re allowed an automatic extension to October 15 if you fail to meet the FBAR annual due date of April 15. You don’t need to request an extension to file the FBAR.
FinCEN Form 114 Instructions
Your daughter’s foreign accounts are not automatically absorbed into a parent’s FBAR.
Responsibility for Child's FBAR
Generally, a child is responsible for filing his or her own FBAR report. If a child cannot file his or her own FBAR for any reason, such as age, the child's parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child.
Form 8938 Instructions
A U.S.-resident married couple filing jointly has higher Form 8938 thresholds, and pension interests are included.
Reporting Thresholds; Part VI
If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $150,000 at any time during the tax year. Report in Part VI your interest in the foreign pension plan or foreign deferred compensation plan. Do not separately report the assets held by the plan.
U.S.–Switzerland Income Tax Convention
Private employment pensions and Swiss social-security/public-pension payments follow different treaty rules.
Articles 18(1) and 19(4)
Subject to the provisions of Article 19 (Government Service and Social Security), pensions and other similar remuneration beneficially derived by a resident of a Contracting State in consideration of past employment shall be taxable only in that State. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, social security payments and other public pensions paid by a Contracting State to an individual who is a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. However, such payments may also be taxed in the first Contracting State according to the laws of that State, but the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 percent of the gross amount of the payment.
Rev. Proc. 2020-17
Some qualifying foreign retirement trusts avoid Forms 3520/3520-A, but not FBAR or Form 8938 duties.
Sections 1 and 2.03
This revenue procedure provides an exemption from the information reporting requirements under section 6048 of the Internal Revenue Code for certain U.S. citizen and resident individuals (U.S. individuals) with respect to their transactions with, and ownership of, certain tax-favored foreign trusts. This revenue procedure does not affect any reporting obligations under section 6038D or under any other provision of U.S. law, including the requirement to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), imposed by 31 U.S.C. section 5314 and the regulations thereunder.
Form 8621 Instructions (Rev. Dec. 2025)
The pension-related PFIC exception is conditional rather than automatic.
Exceptions To Filing Part I
In certain situations, a shareholder who is a member or beneficiary of (or participant in) an arrangement treated as a foreign pension fund under a U.S. income tax treaty that owns an interest in a PFIC is not required to complete Part I with respect to the PFIC.
Form IT-201 Instructions (2025)
New York begins its resident-income calculation with federal adjusted gross income.
Overview
Overview The calculation of your New York State income tax is based on your New York adjusted gross income. Your New York adjusted gross income is your federal adjusted gross income after certain New York additions and New York subtractions (modifications).
Form IT-112-R Instructions (2025)
The New York resident-credit jurisdictions listed here do not include Switzerland.
Who May Claim This Credit
You may claim the resident credit against your New York State tax using Form IT-112-R if you had income sourced to and taxed by another state, a local government within another state, or the District of Columbia, and you were:
2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey
This is the best available national planning benchmark for a job-based family plan, not a Long Island quote.
Summary of Findings
The average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2025 are $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage. On average, workers contributed $6,850 toward the cost of family coverage.
45 CFR 156.130 / 90 FR 2025-11606
This later final rule supplies the controlling 2026 federal cost-sharing ceilings.
45 CFR 156.130(a)(2)
Pursuant to § 156.130(a)(2), we finalized a maximum annual limitation on cost sharing of $10,600 for self-only coverage for PY 2026. For example, for the PY 2026, the maximum annual limitation on cost sharing for other than self-only coverage is $21,200.
NY State of Health Essential Plan
Qualifying adults can obtain comprehensive New York coverage without a monthly premium or deductible.
NY State of Health's Essential Plan includes comprehensive benefits with $0 monthly premiums and very low-cost sharing. Has no deductible, so the plan starts paying for your health care right away.
NY State of Health Child Health Plus
Child Health Plus may be free or premium-bearing depending on income, but does not impose deductibles or copays.
The monthly premium price depends on household income and family size. There is no monthly premium for families with lower incomes. Child Health Plus has no annual deductible and no co-payments.
These are the official rules and survey benchmarks as published on the cited dates; tax rules, health rules, and prices change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice; SettleKit is not a law firm.

