03/05/2020
American expats are required to file a US tax return, reporting their global income, even if they file foreign taxes too. When they file, expats can claim either the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, or the Foreign Tax Credit, to reduce their US income tax bill, most often to zero. The Foreign Tax Credit lets expats […]
02/17/2020
A consequence of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 was the introduction of IRS Form 8992: Global Intangible Low Taxed Income (GILTI). While its purpose was to discourage multinational corporations, like Apple,1 from evading US taxes, this legislation inadvertently impacted American expat small business owners worldwide. For US business owners operating as Controlled […]
02/03/2020
If you’re a self-employed US expat, understanding your tax obligations is essential. Self-employed US expats are not only subject to income taxes but also Social Security taxes. Unlike working for an American employer (or some foreign employers1), you are responsible for keeping track of Social Security taxes when you’re self-employed. This is best done proactively […]
01/24/2020
Good news for American expat small business owners: US tax attorney Monte Silver has won a significant milestone in his lawsuit against the IRS over it’s application of the new Transition Tax (part of the recent Tax Reform, and often referred to as the Apple Tax) to small businesses. Background – Tax Reform and Unintended […]
07/04/2019
Last month, the IRS released final proposed guidelines relating to the taxation of GILTI (Global Intangible Low Tax Income) on certain foreign registered businesses. The 318 pages of IRS guidelines contain some welcome news for many US expat business owners. Background Before the Trump Tax Reform (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017), Americans […]
03/11/2019
Breaking News: Expat small business owners were celebrating today as the Treasury announced relief for individual American owners of foreign registered corporations from the new GILTI tax introduced in the Trump Tax reform. Deep within 177 pages of Proposed Regulations released by the Treasury on March 4th 2019 dealing with the application of changes made under […]
02/18/2019
All Americans, including expats, have been required to file US taxes, reporting their worldwide income, since the nineteenth century. It’s only over the last few years though that, due to foreign banks and governments now sharing expats’ financial data with the IRS the federal government has been able to enforce the requirement for expats to […]
02/14/2019
Living abroad is the opportunity of a lifetime, however it can be slightly marred for American expats because they are required to continue filing a US tax return from overseas, reporting their worldwide income. Expats filing in 2019 however will find that form 1040 is new, for the first time in decades. Will new […]
10/25/2018
Expats are the new pioneers, forging out into the unknown on a journey of discovery and unforeseen opportunity. The desire for and ability to not just survive but thrive in new environments makes expats well suited to being entrepreneurs, explaining why millions of American expats choose to start their own business. Americans are more […]
08/02/2018
Many of the around 9 million Americans living abroad are entrepreneurs, freelancers, and business owners. Those who travel between countries, working from high speed internet hubs rather than having a permanent home, are known as Digital Nomads. All Americans are required to file US taxes, wherever in the world they may be. While they always […]