01/11/2021
Bright!Tax Partner and Managing CPA Katelynn Minott will be speaking at the 2021 Expats Virtual Financial Summit. The 2021 Expats Virtual Financial Summit, which takes place over several days at the end of January, brings together some of the world’s leading experts on different aspects of finances for Americans living abroad. Katelynn is among the […]
01/07/2021
On 31st December 2020, the IRS quietly dropped a Bitcoin bombshell as it released a statement saying that it intended to add virtual currency accounts as a reportable account under FBAR rules. The statement read: “FinCEN intends to propose to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding reports of foreign financial accounts […]
12/31/2020
In this article, we’ll look at what is meant by a US Person for US tax purposes. Many US tax rules are applied to all ‘US Persons’, so it’s an important concept to grasp, however the definition is wider than many people assume. US persons can be divided into several categories, covering different types of […]
12/28/2020
Note – a third stimulus check has now been announced too. On Sunday 27th December 2020, President Trump signed the COVID-Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 (COVIDTRA) into law. The Act passed through both houses early last week, however the president didn’t sign it sooner as he was unhappy with the amount of the second […]
12/17/2020
The Bright!Tax Awards Committee is pleased to announce that Olivia Cunningham is the latest recipient of the prestigious Global Scholar Award for Americans studying abroad. Olivia originally hails from Boston, however since undertaking a study abroad opportunity in her senior year of high school, she has been embracing life abroad. She completed her undergraduate degree […]
12/15/2020
With all Americans, including expats, having to report their worldwide income by filing a US federal tax return every year, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion provides Americans living abroad a way to reduce their US tax bill (in many cases to zero). In 2021, for many Americans expats around the world filing their 2020 US […]
12/10/2020
Over nine million Americans live overseas, and those whose global income exceeds IRS minimum thresholds have to file a US tax return. This filing requirement applied even if they also have to file foreign taxes or if the US has signed a tax treaty with their country of residence. This is because the US taxes […]
12/07/2020
The nine million Americans who live abroad are required to file US taxes, reporting their worldwide income, the same as Americans living in the US. This is because the US taxes based on US citizenship, rather than on residence. When Americans abroad file their US taxes, by filing additional forms they can claim IRS provisions […]
12/02/2020
Back in March 2020, the CARES Act mandated a one-off stimulus payment for American individuals to help offset the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Stimulus payments were worth a maximum of $1,200 per American citizen (so $2,400 for couples filing jointly if both are Americans), and $500 per dependent child. A second stimulus check […]
12/02/2020
This article was contributed by David Tompkins at Expat Financial. David is an expert in sourcing global health insurance plans for multinationals and individual expats around the globe. Most Americans realize the importance of buying medical insurance in the United States, but what about health insurance when you move abroad? It is unlikely that your […]