02/03/2020
All Americans are required to file US taxes reporting their worldwide income, even if they live abroad. The IRS has provided a number of exemptions, notably the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit, that US expats can claim when they file that for most people mean they won’t end up paying any […]
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 […]
01/27/2020
2020 US tax filing season has officially begun. As of today, the IRS is now accepting returns for the 2019 tax year. For Americans in the states, the 2020 filing deadline is Wednesday April 15th, and while expats receive an automatic 2 month extension until Monday June 15th, they still have to pay any tax […]
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 […]
01/22/2020
(Contributed by Emmy Carson.) Tax season doesn’t come easy to the regular American — but even more so for American expats. With CNBC revealing that over 9 million U.S. citizens live overseas, these expats have to go through a lot of additional reporting and filing of documents that their domestic counterparts get to skip. This is […]
01/20/2020
The US – Italy tax treaty was first signed in 1984, then replaced in 1999, although it was only fully ratified in 2009. It covers how dividends and certain other types of income are treated, and allows tax information sharing between the two countries. The purpose of the treaty is to prevent double taxation for Americans living […]
01/16/2020
When American expats who have moved abroad permanently discover that being an American citizen means still filing US taxes on their worldwide income from abroad, some consider renouncing their US citizenship. It’s a serious and irreversible step to take though. Furthermore, it’s rarely simple to achieve, and it can be very expensive. For example, you […]
01/13/2020
Two years after Donald Trump signed into law his Tax Reform, in the last few days of December 2019 he signed another law called the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act. The law comes into immediate effect in 2020. It is designed to allow American taxpayers, including expats, to better plan and […]
01/09/2020
Americans living abroad are still required to file a US tax return, reporting their worldwide income. This is true for expats who file foreign taxes too, and regardless of whether there’s a Tax Treaty between the US and the country of residence. Filing a US tax return as an expat from abroad is more complex […]
01/06/2020
2019 was another year of innovation and expansion for Bright!Tax, as we continue to evolve to ensure that our clients find filing US taxes from overseas as easy and intuitive an experience as possible. So, what’s new with US taxes for expats in 2020? Deadlines and extensions IRS deadlines in 2020 are the same as […]