20 Expat Tax Tips From the Accountants Who File Them
The expat tax tips that matter most come down to three habits: file every year, choose the right exclusion or credit, and report your foreign accounts. For the 2026 tax year (returns filed in 2027), U.S. citizens and green card holders abroad can exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income or claim a credit for foreign tax they paid, and they file an FBAR once their foreign accounts total more than $10,000 at any point in the year.
Greenback has prepared more than 91,000 U.S. tax returns for Americans living in 218 countries since 2009. These 20 expat tax tips are the ones our CPAs and IRS Enrolled Agents share with clients, covering what an expat tax service handles, the mistakes worth catching early, who needs help, and what to do if you’re behind. For the basics, see our guides to U.S. expat taxes and why U.S. citizens abroad pay U.S. taxes.
In this guide:
- Tips 1 to 6: What an expat tax service handles for you
- Tips 7 to 10: Mistakes that are easy to avoid
- Tips 11 to 14: Who needs expat tax help, and when
- Tips 15 to 17: How an expat tax service works with you
- Tips 18 to 20: If you’re behind or your life changes
What Does an Expat Tax Service Handle for You?
An expat tax service prepares your Form 1040 along with the extra forms you need because you live abroad, from the exclusion or credit to your foreign account reports. The first six tips cover what that includes.
1. Expect One Return to Carry Several Forms
An expat return is usually a Form 1040 plus Form 2555 for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or Form 1116 for the Foreign Tax Credit. Accounts, investments, and a business can add more, all on the same Form 1040 you’d file from the U.S., with a foreign address, as our guide to filing U.S. taxes from abroad shows.
Your accountant confirms which forms your return needs during your review, so you never have to work that out yourself.
2. Have Your FBAR and FATCA Reports Filed With Your Return
Expat tax services that include FBAR reporting file your FinCEN Form 114 when your foreign accounts total more than $10,000 at any time in the year, and Form 8938 when your foreign assets pass the FATCA thresholds. If you live abroad and file as single, Form 8938 applies when your foreign assets are worth more than $200,000 on the last day of the year, or more than $300,000 at any time. For joint filers abroad, the thresholds are $400,000 and $600,000.
The FBAR goes to FinCEN and Form 8938 goes with your tax return, so the two are filed through different systems. Our FBAR vs. Form 8938 guide explains where the two forms overlap.
3. Run the Exclusion and the Credit Both Ways Before You Choose
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion lets you exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income for the 2026 tax year, while the Foreign Tax Credit credits the income tax you already paid abroad. The better choice depends on your host country’s tax rate and your income type. Rent paid abroad can also count toward the foreign housing exclusion.
Your accountant runs the numbers both ways before helping you make a decision. Our FEIE vs. FTC comparison shows how the choice plays out.
4. Bring Your Foreign Tax Return, Even If Its Year Ends in a Different Month
Your foreign tax return is what your accountant uses to claim credit for the tax you paid abroad. Many countries run a tax year that doesn’t match the U.S. calendar year, such as April to April in the UK, so the foreign tax has to be matched to the right U.S. year. Credit you can’t use this year may carry forward, as our guide to the Foreign Tax Credit carryover explains.
If you’re an American living in the UK, Greenback’s UK tax services can prepare your UK Self Assessment alongside your U.S. return, so both returns line up.
5. Check Whether Your Old State Still Counts You as a Resident
Some states may still treat you as a resident if you keep a home, a driver’s license, or voter registration there. An expat tax service looks at those ties before deciding whether you file a state return. Our guide to state taxes for expats covers how states treat people who move abroad, and Greenback can prepare the state return when one is needed.
6. Mention Foreign Companies, Partnerships and Trusts Early
Owning part of a foreign company or partnership, as many foreign business owners do, or receiving money from a foreign trust, adds its own information forms. These include Form 5471 for foreign corporations, Form 8865 for foreign partnerships, Form 8858 for foreign disregarded entities, and Form 3520 for foreign trusts and large gifts. Our small business tax return preparation covers the business side.
Which Expat Tax Mistakes Are Easiest to Avoid?
A careful preparer catches these four mistakes before filing: double-counting foreign income, inconsistent exchange rates, a missing Form 3520, and miscounted travel days.
7. Don’t Claim the Exclusion and the Credit on the Same Income
You can’t take the Foreign Tax Credit on foreign tax paid on income you’ve already excluded with the FEIE. You can use both on the same return when they cover different income, such as excluding wages and crediting tax on investment income. Mixing them up on the same dollars means the return has to be amended.
8. Pick One Exchange-Rate Method and Stick With It
The IRS has no official exchange rate and generally accepts any posted rate, as long as you use it consistently. Switching methods from year to year makes your numbers harder to support. The IRS foreign exchange rates guide explains the options.
9. Report Foreign Gifts Over $100,000 and Certain Foreign Pensions on Form 3520
Gifts or inheritances totaling more than $100,000 from a nonresident individual are reported on Form 3520, even though they usually aren’t taxable. Some foreign pension and retirement plans are treated as foreign trusts and may require the form as well. Our guide to foreign pensions covers which plans are affected, and missing the form carries its own penalties, as our guide to Form 3520 penalties explains.
10. Count Your Physical Presence Days Midnight to Midnight
The physical presence test needs 330 full days in a foreign country during a 12-month period, and a full day runs midnight to midnight. Time spent over international waters on a travel day doesn’t count. If your days fall short, the bona fide residence test may still qualify you, as our comparison of the two tests shows.
Keep a simple travel calendar during the year, especially if you’re a digital nomad moving between countries. It’s what your accountant uses to confirm the test.
Who Needs Expat Tax Help, and When?
Expat tax services help any U.S. citizen or green card holder abroad whose worldwide income reaches the filing threshold, and most of all those with foreign accounts, a business, or missed years.
11. File Every Year, Even If You’ve Lived Abroad for Decades
Living abroad doesn’t change whether you file: the filing threshold applies to your worldwide income. For the 2026 tax year, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and it usually sets the line for filing. Income you exclude still counts toward that test. See who counts as a U.S. person.
12. File at $400 If You’re Self-Employed, and Plan for Self-Employment Tax
Self-employed expats file once their net self-employment earnings reach $400, and the FEIE doesn’t reduce self-employment tax. That tax covers Social Security and Medicare on Schedule SE. A totalization agreement with your host country can change where you pay it, which our guide to Social Security for expats explains.
13. Choose an Accountant Who Files Expat Returns Every Year
An expat tax firm prepares expat forms, treaty positions, and foreign account reports year-round, whereas a regular CPA may see them only a few times a year. Look for a CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent whose core work involves international returns. If you’re weighing filing on your own, our guide on whether you need an expat tax professional covers when software is enough, and our guide to choosing the best expat tax service lists the questions to ask a provider.
14. Pay by April 15, Even With the June 15 Filing Extension
Americans abroad get an automatic extension to June 15 to file, but interest on any tax you owe starts on April 15. You can extend again to October 15 by filing a tax extension on Form 4868. Our U.S. tax deadlines for expats list every date.
How Does an Expat Tax Service Work With You?
A good expat tax service asks for your documents up front, shows you a full draft before you pay, and stays available after the return is filed.
15. Gather Your Foreign Paperwork Before Your Accountant Asks
The documents that speed up an expat return are your foreign pay statements, proof of foreign tax paid, and your highest account balances for the year. Your foreign employer’s year-end statement takes the place of a W-2, which matters most for corporate expats on assignment. Our guide to organizing your expat tax documents has a checklist.
Your secure questionnaire asks only for the documents your situation needs, and your accountant reaches out within one business day of signing up.
16. Review Your Full Draft Before You Pay
At Greenback, your draft return and invoice typically arrive 10 to 14 business days after your documents are in, and you pay only after you approve the draft. Fees are flat and published, and the price calculator estimates yours before you start, as our guide to expat tax preparation costs explains.
17. Use Your Accountant Between Tax Seasons
An expat tax service can help after filing too, from estimated tax payments to planning a move abroad. If the IRS writes about a return Greenback prepared, your accountant helps you respond, and a Form 2848 lets them speak to the IRS for you. For bigger decisions, a tax consultation gives you time with an accountant before you act.
What If You’re Behind or Your Life Changes?
If you’ve missed years, Americans abroad who qualify can catch up without penalties, and big life changes are best planned with your accountant before they happen.
18. Catch Up Through the Streamlined Procedures If You Qualify
The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures allow non-willful late filers to catch up with no penalty by filing 3 years of returns and 6 years of FBARs. You qualify for the foreign version if, in at least one of the last 3 years, you had no U.S. abode and spent at least 330 full days outside the U.S. The domestic version carries a 5% penalty, and our guide to the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures has the full rules. Waiting has a cost: unfiled years can bring penalties and interest, and the IRS can ask the State Department to deny or revoke your passport once seriously delinquent tax debt passes $66,000 and isn’t on an approved payment plan.
19. Talk to Your Accountant Before You Marry a Non-U.S. Citizen or Have a Child
Marrying a non-U.S. citizen changes your filing status choices, and a child can bring credits that only come with filing. Children born abroad to Americans can be dual citizens with the same U.S. filing rules. You may be able to file jointly by electing to treat your spouse as a U.S. resident, which our guide to filing jointly with a foreign spouse weighs. Our guide to the child tax credit for expats covers the rules for children.
20. Plan the Tax Side of Moving Back, Retiring Abroad or Renouncing
If you’re returning to the U.S., the year you move back can be a dual-status year, and renouncing can bring an exit tax. Our guides to documents for moving back to the U.S., retiring abroad, and renouncing U.S. citizenship cover each step.
One Expat Tax Service Can Handle Every Filing Living Abroad Requires
Your federal return, FBAR, FATCA report, state return, and any catch-up years can all be handled by one accountant who knows how they fit together. At Greenback, that’s a CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent with deep expertise in expat taxes who files expat returns all year.
- Your federal return: prepared and filed through our federal tax return preparation
- Your foreign accounts: FBAR filing and FATCA reporting alongside it
- Your missed years: the Streamlined Filing Package
Greenback helps Americans living abroad, dual-status filers, visa & green card holders with U.S. filings, and foreign property owners, wherever they live. See all services and pricing, or contact our Customer Champions with a question first.
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The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Tax rules and IRS procedures change frequently. Consult a qualified tax professional regarding your specific situation before taking any action.
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