Greenback Expat Tax Services
Many expat entrepreneurs are interested in the financially independent, retire early (FIRE) movement. The tips below can help FIRE for US expats become a reality. FIRE for US Expats Can Become a Reality We’ll begin with some strategies that you should consider if your situation allows. Consider a “Tax-Free” Roth IRA Conversion. In the past…
The US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs is an agency tasked with protecting the lives and interests of US expats overseas. You may be familiar with them if you or someone you know has experienced births, deaths, disasters, arrests, or medical emergencies during your time abroad. Infrequently, they release data about how many…
If you work in a combat zone, you can exclude a hefty portion of your salary or compensation either through the Combat Zone Exclusion or through the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. What Is the Combat Zone Exclusion? The combat zone exclusion applies to wages and compensation paid by the US government to military and civilian employees. To qualify, employees must be…
If you’ve been planning on electronically filing your US expat tax return, take note of the IRS e-filing shutdown on November 16th, 2019. What is the e-filing shutdown? The e-filing shutdown is a routine event by the IRS in an effort to prepare their systems for the upcoming tax filing season. After November 16th, tax…
Each quarter, Greenback tracks the number of expats renouncing citizenship. Why? Citizenship renunciation is something that affects Americans living abroad exclusively, and it’s often a decision based primarily on the continued tax reporting requirements all American citizens have. The Federal Register just released the final count for the quarter ending September 30th. Let’s see how…
While filing US tax returns is a well-known responsibility of Americans living abroad, requirements such as the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) are often forgotten. What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, failing to file the FBAR can draw the attention of the IRS, and lead to some harsh penalties. To make sure you stay…
Every once in a great while, the IRS launches new compliance campaigns. These campaigns allocate staffing and financial resources with the goal of finding taxpayers who aren’t currently in compliance with tax regulation and bringing them into compliance. Recently, the IRS rolled out six of these compliance campaigns, and most of the campaigns either targeted…
Being late on taxes has always put expats in a risky spot, and the IRS has ramped up the stakes now more so than ever. To help with the upcoming compliance initiatives, passport revocation, and new options for late filers, the expert accountants at Greenback are hosting a free webinar for expats behind on US…
The need to file US federal taxes is reiterated repeatedly when searching for information about expat taxes, but what is not often explained is whether you need to file a US state tax return. The United States is made up of 50 states, each with its own governing body that determines whether or not to…
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”- Albert Einstein If Albert Einstein, purportedly one of the brightest minds in known history, found income taxes hard to understand, it is not surprising that more ordinary minds (us!) have a hard time understanding it, too! Being Behind on Your Taxes Is Not…
