I am not a tax accountant, this is not advice, get a lawyer, and other disclaimers. But my understanding is: usually not.
- Deductions from your pay to contribute to a 401(k) / 403(b) just reduce the reported amount you earned (for example, you earn a salary of $50k; you contribute $5K pre-tax to a 401(k) / 403(b) - your W-2 will report taxable earnings of $45K and not $50K, and you file taxes based on that $45K amount
- Contributions to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) usually need to be mentioned on your return if the contribution is to a traditional IRA, not if it's a Roth.
- Investments in taxable accounts (nothing to do with retirement) do not need to be mentioned until either they give you dividends / interest / other distributions (which is reported as income for the relevant year), or until you sell them (at which point the capital gain counts as income).
- You want to be careful about contributing to US retirement accounts if you are not staying in the US for at least a few years, since you may pay a penalty to get it out again (or else have to keep the US account and deal with international tax issues associated with it). So, it only makes sense to contribute if you think you're likely to be here long-term, or if wherever you live later 'plays well' with US pension law.
Okay, thanks feet! And yup, we've talked through the last point with a few people, and decided to do it. But I appreciate the advice!
I´d guess that PG is good at this type of thing...
feet gives a great summary. The key point here is that you are setting something aside for the future. Bravo.