09/04/2026
If you’ve filed and paid your U.S. taxes on time for the past three years but slip up once, the IRS may now waive certain penalties automatically. The change comes from a new program called Automatic Exemption from Penalty (AEP), announced in July 2026. Starting with eligible 2025 tax returns, the IRS will check whether […]
08/17/2026
Most retirement decisions are made from thousands of miles away. This includes where to live, how you’ll access healthcare, and which residency rules you’ll need to navigate. For Americans planning to retire outside the U.S., that distance can make it difficult to properly evaluate a country and determine if it’s actually practical to live in. […]
07/29/2026
Moving to Mexico is easy to picture from the U.S.: short flights, familiar time zones, beach towns, major cities, and a lower cost of living. But the move itself depends on more practical questions. Will you live somewhere walkable or car dependent? Are you prepared for residency paperwork, Spanish-language errands, bottled water, rainy-season disruptions, and […]
07/16/2026
A routine money transfer could now come with an unexpected extra cost. Starting in 2026, a new U.S. remittance tax applies to certain transfers sent abroad, including some used to support family or move money across borders. The good news is that the final law is much narrower than earlier proposals. The tax rate is […]
06/15/2026
Extra income sounds like a win until you start wondering how much of it the IRS will keep. A raise, bonus, freelance project, or overseas income can all change the rate that applies to your highest dollars. That is where marginal tax rates come into play. Your marginal tax rate is the rate applied to […]
07/22/2026
Life abroad has a way of turning savings into survival money. A rental deposit, visa fee, emergency flight, or gap between jobs can make an IRA suddenly look very available. The catch is that the IRS usually charges for early access. If you take money from an IRA before age 59½, you may owe regular […]
06/15/2026
Americans abroad often pay tax where they live and still have to file with the IRS. The Foreign Tax Credit exists for that overlap. It can reduce your U.S. tax bill when you’ve paid eligible income tax to another country, making it especially useful for expats in higher-tax countries. But it isn’t a blanket credit […]
06/15/2026
Two Americans abroad can earn the same income and still need different tax strategies. One may save more with the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which excludes qualifying foreign earnings from taxable income. The other may do better with the Foreign Tax Credit, which reduces U.S. tax based on eligible foreign taxes paid. For 2026, the […]
06/09/2026
Leaving the U.S. does not end your U.S. tax filing obligations. Americans abroad still have to report worldwide income, even when that income is earned and taxed in another country. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion can reduce that burden. For the 2026 tax year, qualifying taxpayers can exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income […]
06/15/2026
Opening a bank account in your new home country can feel like a small life-admin victory. To the U.S. government, though, it may also make you an offshore account holder with a new reporting obligation: FinCEN Form 114. FinCEN Form 114, better known as the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report,), is an informational report. It […]