I just came back to the US after living abroad for 8 years. I am not a US citizen or green card holder. While I had no income during that period, I did have an investment account with Fidelity and traded stocks from time to time. Should I file my taxes for the years that I have been away? Thanks in advance.
If you weren't a US resident for those years, then no, u dont need to file taxes.
Fellow expat here. You won't owe any taxes to the US unless your dividends and other income were over $12k (this year) or about $6200 (previous years). But you should still file, and claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion for your salary. Unless you earned over about 100k, you are in the clear there too. If you earned more, you can still claim foreign taxes paid so you might still not have liability.
Penalties and fees are based on taxes owed. So if you know you don’t owe taxes, then don’t bother to file unless you like doing paperwork as a hobby.
Yes or the IRS will get you with late fines.
No, there are no late taxes here