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 […]
05/17/2018
America has an unusual tax system, as it’s based on citizenship rather than residence. This means that all US citizens (and green card holders) are required to file US taxes, whether they live in the US or abroad. Nine million Americans are currently living abroad, however many of them aren’t aware of the requirement for […]
02/22/2018
Bitcoin has been dominating headlines over the last few months, as it’s value has risen and fallen, and many questions still linger over its viability as a currency and its value as an asset going forward. For many expats though, Bitcoin has been simply a useful way of getting paid across borders, while others have […]
01/25/2018
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was signed into law in 2010 with the aim of cracking down on tax evasion to increase tax revenue following the financial crisis. FATCA contained two important measures that affect expats, a reporting requirement for expats who have financial assets abroad, and a reporting requirement for foreign banks […]
06/19/2017
When expats from most countries leave their homeland to live abroad, unless they still have income from back home, they no longer have to file a tax return in their home country (though they may well have to file one in their host country, if they meet tax residency criteria there). Not so for Americans, […]
04/03/2017
All Americans, including expats, have to file a US tax return and report their worldwide income. All Americans are also liable to pay US taxes, even on foreign-earned income, however there are some exclusions and exemptions available that remove most US expats from ending up having to pay anything. Expats still have to file though […]
01/23/2017
Under the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, also known as FATCA, Americans (including expats) with a certain value of foreign assets have to report them to the IRS each year by filing form 8938 along with their US income tax return. Who has to file? All Americans who are liable to file a US […]
09/13/2016
What is FATCA? FATCA, or the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is a law introduced in 2010 to help prevent offshore tax evasion that requires foreign financial institutions to report their American account holders to the IRS, including contact details and account balances, and Americans with assets abroad that meet certain requirements to report them […]
08/02/2016
FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, was a law passed in 2010 as part of a federal post-2008 financial crisis drive to crack down on tax cheats hiding their money abroad. An unintended consequence though has been the government both snooping on and increasing the tax burden on the estimated 9 million ordinary Americans […]
06/14/2016
FATCA is an acronym for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, a law passed by Congress in 2010 to help crack down on offshore tax evasion. The law came into effect on July 1st, 2014. FATCA has two aspects. It requires individuals with assets abroad worth over a certain value to report them when they […]