If you are an overseas American (we avoid the term "ex-patriot") and earn over $2,000 outside the United States, you
already know about the global tax liability unique to our system, and you fill out forms even if you don't pay tax to the feds.Some overseas US-folk do not file and take their chances in the passport line.
Others fill out all of the forms including 2555 and 1116 by themselves, these persons will like this site. Many pay over 75$ / year to have their taxes done by a professional.
Even if your company handles this for you, you still remember all the questions that you need to address. Overseas pension? Buy and sell a house in foreign currency. Foreign life insurance? Same income, but the dollar
goes down and your local currency goes up and makes you look like a millionaire to the IRS even though your local costs have gone up higher? If you earn well, then you are filling out a whole bunch of forms and
actually paying tax twice. Wanna get more arguments why Section 911 is wrong? Here are
some links to get overseas tax advice: None are recommended by this site. You should not actually need local-US tax advice if you live outside the area of US tax jurisdiction. Yet here they are, just because
Congress and the Supreme Court want you to need advice:AMERICAN CITIZENS ABROAD
PRICE WATERHOUSE Peter Merril Studied costs of stationing AmericansArthur Anderson Tax adviceTurbo Tax (good software, works with international addresses, available in US) |