Expat Tax Forms

If your life involves visas, travel days, remote work, or U.S. investments, your tax season is rarely a simple, single-page affair. The IRS doesn’t track your cross-border income on a standard tax return. Instead, it requires Form 1040-NR. Form 1040-NR, or the U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, is used by non-U.S. citizens to report […]

There are few better calls than a relative overseas offering to send money. Whether your parents are chipping in for a down payment or a grandparent leaves you an inheritance, you thank them, double-check your routing number, and wait for the wire. Then Form 3520 taps you on the shoulder. Form 3520 is an annual […]

If you missed foreign income, used the wrong exclusion, or left out a form tied to overseas accounts, Form 1040-X is how you fix it. For U.S. expats, these kinds of mistakes are common, especially when you’re dealing with multiple tax systems, delayed foreign documents, or unfamiliar reporting requirements. The good news is that a […]

If you run an online business, freelance, or sell goods while living abroad, you might receive IRS Form 1099-K. It reports payment transactions processed through platforms like PayPal, Stripe, or online marketplaces, rather than your actual profit or amount you ultimately owe in tax. Because Form 1099-K reflects total transactions rather than net earnings, it […]

Schedule SE is the IRS form used to calculate self-employment tax, and U.S. expats may need it even if their income tax bill ends up low or zero. In plain English: if you’re freelancing, consulting, or earning business income while living abroad, Schedule SE is the form that works out what you may owe for […]

IRS Schedule 1 is a specific tax form where the “extra” bits of your tax return go. If you made freelance income, picked up gig work, or earned money on the side, this is often the form that suddenly appears and makes you wonder when your taxes became a group project. It attaches to Form […]

Living abroad often blurs income lines: One client wires you funds directly, another pays via Wise, or a foreign firm calls you an “employee” but skips payroll taxes and treats you more like an independent contractor. This doesn’t raise any concern until tax season arrives and you suddenly realize that nothing fits your old U.S. […]

Filing Form 1040 from overseas can feel more complicated than it should. U.S. expats still report worldwide income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). But deadlines stretch, exclusions like FEIE can wipe out your federal income tax bill, and extra schedules often come into play. Living abroad changes how taxable income, filing status, and credits […]

Owning rental property back in the U.S. can feel like a smart way to keep income flowing while you live abroad. And from a distance, it seems straightforward: collect rent, cover expenses, file your taxes. But the IRS doesn’t see it as passive background income. Rental activity comes with its own reporting rules—and if you’re […]

For Americans abroad, some tax forms feel like chores. But Form 2555 is different—it’s the one that can actually make your U.S. tax bill smaller. Form 2555 is how you claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), a benefit that lets you exclude a significant portion of your foreign salary or self-employment income from U.S. […]