12/21/2020
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, often referred to as FATCA, is a US law that was introduced in 2010 to allow better enforcement of Americans’ overseas financial accounts and assets. The rationale for the law was to prevent offshore tax evasion, however it also unintentionally affected many of the nine million ordinary American expats […]
01/30/2020
All Americans have to file US taxes, reporting their global income. Expat Americans also often have to file additional reporting forms. Many expats aren’t aware though what exactly these additional reporting requirements involve, and in particular the difference between FBAR and FATCA reporting, or Form 114 vs 8938. In this article we’ll attempt to alleviate […]
12/19/2019
FATCA is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, a 2010 US law that aimed to help prevent offshore tax evasion. The law has had many unintended consequences though, particularly for American expats all around the world. US tax rules for expats The American tax system is unusual in that it requires American expats to file […]
11/07/2019
FATCA is an acronym for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, a 2010 law that had (and continues to have) a profound effect on US expats around the world. FATCA had an even wider impact beyond just on US expats though, as it inspired a global endeavor known as the Common Reporting Standard whereby around […]
09/23/2019
Americans living abroad are subject to US taxation on their worldwide income, as well as a raft of other US reporting requirements, such as having to report their foreign financial accounts each year by filing an FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report). FBAR reporting is triggered if any American has a total of over $10,000 in foreign accounts […]
01/31/2019
Americans who live abroad are required to continue filing a federal tax return each year, reporting their worldwide income, even if they’re also filing a tax return in the country where they’re living. When expats file their federal return they can claim one or more exemptions that the IRS has made available by filing the […]
11/01/2018
American expats have been required to file a federal tax return from abroad since the Civil War, when the concept was introduced to raise revenue for the war effort from landowners who were fleeing to Canada. While the concept was never revoked, it was largely ignored in the twentieth century, as expats started to spread […]
09/03/2018
All Americans have to file an annual federal tax return, even if they live abroad. This is because the US taxes based on citizenship, rather than on residence, so if you’re a US citizen (or green card holder), you have to file US taxes reporting your worldwide income regardless of where in the world you […]
07/16/2018
While living overseas is most often an incredible experience, American expats have to file US taxes from abroad, reporting their worldwide income, often as well as having to file taxes in the country where they reside. This is because, unlike most other countries, the US operates a citizenship based taxation system, meaning that all US […]
06/14/2018
US expats have been required to file US taxes since the nineteenth century, however it’s only since the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (better known as FATCA) was passed in 2010 that the IRS has had the means to enforce this requirement. FATCA requires US expats with over $200,000 in financial assets held overseas to […]