|
Ur Getting Fatter posted:I'm self-employed outside of the US. My income is 100% covered by the FEIE but I still have to pay self-employment tax. To add to this, if you reside in a country that has a totalization agreement with the US and you are participating in their social insurance system, you can get a certificate of coverage which excuses you from self-employment tax.
|
#
¿
Sep 14, 2017 15:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 19:35 |
|
|
black.lion posted:You sorta still should file taxes even if all your income was earned in Japan, and is under the limit (as you state it was), but that'd make your tax liability zero, just to avoid getting angry mail. You won't have to worry about a penalty though, because you have $0 in tax liability, and the penalties are 5% of your tax liability. And 5% of $0 is $0. This, plus your your uncle, who is a CPA is a loving idiot. I hope he is an audit specialist just talking out of line. If he's in tax, goddamn.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2017 20:45
|
|
|
To be clear, the FinCEN filing requirement is in aggregate, so if your foreign financial accounts add up to more than 10,000 dollars, you are required to report them all.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2017 02:13
|
|
|
You don't happen to have a bank book or cash card still? Those would have the account number on them. A former employer might be able to provide it if you asked nicely if you were paid by direct deposit. Or if you ever paid for anything by furikomi bank transfer, the person you paid might have that info.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2017 05:48
|
|
|
AbbiTheDog posted:The 2555 Form is income tax, the FinCEN is reporting - unfortunately two different things. I have no idea what you are trying to say here, but if a US person has more than $10,000 in non-US bank accounts, mutual funds, or other financial assets including accounts in a business that you have authority over, they are required to report everything on FinCEN 114, not just the items that are over $10k. If you have more than $50k you may have to file a Form 8938 with your tax return as well, depending on whether you live in the US or not and your filing status.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2017 01:13
|
|
|
AbbiTheDog posted:The FinCEN reporting can be done outside of income tax compliance reporting with the 1040, and can be done directly through a website. Sometimes clients get confused between the two - they do one and assume it handles the other. OK, I was confused why you quoted my clarification of FBAR compliance to explain what a 2555 is.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 27, 2017 00:59
|
|
|
I've been agonizing over this for a few days, so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any thoughts. I have a client who has been working overseas for a very long time and started a Roth IRA about ten years ago. This person takes the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion every year, so you probably already see the problem. Every single dollar in this decade old IRA is ineligible. Contributions for the last year have been withdrawn and no more contributions will be made, but I am not sure how to handle previous years. The obvious answer is to refile and pay all the penalties and taxes; that's thousands of dollars just in the excise tax. I'd hate to see this person lose a huge chunk of money because they tried to do the right thing and save for retirement. There are a number of expat advisers online claiming that if you decline the exclusion and use the Foreign Tax Credit on your entire income instead, this will make income available for contribution as it is technically now included in taxable income. It makes sense on a close reading, as it is not foreign income that is ineligible, but excluded income. However, I am not 100% confident in this strategy. I have seen some dissension on this point, and the IRS has been silent it seems. I would like to avoid option one, because they are going to lose half their retirement, and me or some other accountant is going to take a big bite out of what's left in refiling fees. If it is reasonable to go back and refile and those years using FTC, making the contributions retroactively eligible, of course that is the preferable course.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2017 03:23
|
|
|
King George posted:Ah, OK. Turbo Tax is always asking for a SSN/ITIN. I may end up getting one for my spouse so I can efile, but glad to know it's not necessary. Your spouse should not be on the tax return at all. A non-resident alien is not a qualifying person for HoH (unless they are a Canadian or Mexican resident who lives more than half the year with you and qualifies as your dependent.) If you don't have any other dependents, your options are MFJ or MFS. Gabriel Grub fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Dec 19, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2017 02:59
|
|
|
There are tax treaty arrangements with many countries that excuse you from self-employment tax if you can prove coverage under the social insurance of your country of residence. From the Schedule SE instructions: quote:The United States has social security agreements with many countries to eliminate dual taxes under two social security systems. Under these agreements, you generally must pay social security and Medicare taxes to only the country in which you live. The United States now has social security agreements with the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2018 02:04
|
|
|
It sounds like you may want to consider incorporating in the foreign country, however that opens its own can of worms.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2018 02:50
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:I’m finishing a move from Atlanta to DC this weekend that will have cost about $700. When I filed my taxes yesterday, I saw there was a deduction for moving. But when I file next year, won’t the standard deduction be super high so that I probably won’t be able to claim the expenses? Good news. You don't have to worry about it because that deduction has been eliminated from 2018.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2018 08:23
|
|
|
Educational expenses must be paid directly to the institution to be excluded from gift tax limitations.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2018 16:55
|
|
|
MadDogMike posted:Hooooo boy 2015 is a mess, yeah, you only claim foreign earned income exclusion or foreign income tax credit not both. To be clear, if you have income above the foreign earned income exclusion limit, you can apply foreign tax credits to that amount.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2018 02:49
|
|
|
Ur Getting Fatter posted:Definitely did not have a high enough income in 2015 to go over the FEIE, but looking at the return in more detail, it seems TurboTax used form 1116 to deduct some or part of the Self-Employment taxes I pay in the country where I live. Taxes that provide a direct benefit, such as health insurance or a pension, are not available for the foreign tax credit. So you might want to look into if you should be including your self-employment taxes at all.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2018 03:57
|
|
|
Greatest Living Man posted:That's kind of what I was seeing. What about if I made ~32K euro a year and wasn't taxed on it in Germany? It's an exclusion of income, not a tax credit. It removes the first ~100k off the top of your taxable income whether you were taxed on it anywhere or not. The only requirement is that it be non-US source earned income (not passive) and you reside overseas for a full year (330 days out of 12 consecutive months). You can extend your filing deadline if necessary to reach the 330 days. Gabriel Grub fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Jul 20, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Jul 20, 2018 04:30
|
|
|
Ur Getting Fatter posted:You can get around this by either not excluding the income and taking a foreign tax credit or in your case eating the tax since you’re not paying any taxes abroad either. I've never been able to find enough consensus that this is a legitimate strategy to either recommend it to clients or do it myself. Not sure if it's been tested in tax court, but I wouldn't want anyone to find out at 60 years old.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 20, 2018 04:58
|
|
|
My client's very clearly signed in pen return was rejected for being a photocopy and I don't know wtf.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2018 10:04
|
|
|
However, since an LLC is a pass through entity the revenues and expenses are reported on your individual tax return anyway, unless you specifically elect for it to be taxed as a corporation. If the LLC has more than one owner an information return is required, but the tax reporting still flows through to the individual owners. You would still report the sole proprietor and LLC pieces on separate Schedule Cs, but the net result should be the same as if it was one business.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 11, 2018 03:27
|
|
|
I specialize in expat taxes and I charge a premium because there are always complications and things they forgot to tell me, no matter how simple it looks at first. Also non-specialists always gently caress something up. So I charge a bunch up front instead of gradually cranking up my fee as issues emerge.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2018 01:33
|
|
|
EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:"Guess my taxes" doesn't seem like a great question to come in here with no further information, though. Lol that’s every client until you do a full interrogation.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2018 16:15
|
|
|
To deduct medical expenses you have to itemize instead of taking the standard deduction, and the standard deduction for 2018 is 12,000 dollars.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2019 06:48
|
|
|
It makes it so that every business owner in America isn't campaigning to eliminate SS and Medicare instead of simply most of them.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2019 01:55
|
|
|
Lord of Garbagemen posted:Are you a us citizen? Are you in the US for more than 30 days? I don't think it sounds like this guy has any US-connected income but I just wanted to point out to all my fellow tax preparers in this thread that the 30 days thing is meaningless for US people who have established bona fide residence abroad. The 330 days physical presence test is just to help people on their first year overseas establish that they are foreign residents. After that, their apartment lease, foreign tax bill, continued employment, etc. are enough to qualify as resident. Please stop making your overseas clients count days. I have had clients cut short trips home to visit family because their tax accountants had them obsessed with the meaningless 30 day number. If you earn money while present in the US, even on a business trip as a salaried employee of a foreign company, you owe tax on income earned on those days. It does not matter 1 day, 30 days, or more. But foreign tax credits should be available on that income. Gabriel Grub fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Feb 6, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2019 09:05
|
|
|
Mister Fister posted:Hi, my wife opened up an LLC to do accounting and investment valuation work for her prior employer. She wants to buy some CFA books to do studying so she can get her CFA designation. Can she expense that to her LLC to reduce her taxable income? "To be deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves your job skills or (2) a law requires to keep your status or occupation. However, even if the education meets either of these tests, the education can't be part of a program that will qualify you for a new trade or business or that you need to meet the minimal educational requirements of your trade or business."
|
|
#
¿
Feb 12, 2019 02:18
|
|
|
It's impossible to say without knowing more details of your situation, but you should really make sure that you want to involve your non-US partner in the tax system by doing MFJ. Consider MFS or or HOH if you can qualify. Usually MFJ is a no-brainer, but expats married to a non-resident alien really need to weigh the benefits of MFJ against permanently and voluntarily involving their spouse in the US tax system.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2019 23:41
|
|
|
Expat tax is my area and my bread and butter is people who got their poo poo hosed up by continuing to use dad's accountant back home or trying to do it themselves after moving overseas. I definitely charge a premium. Especially if there is business income of any kind involved. A good litmus test is this MFJ issue. Any expat specialist will want to have a discussion with you about filing status and your non-resident alien spouse. Anyone who says just go ahead and do MFJ, run away.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2019 02:30
|
|
|
MickeyFinn posted:Do either of you (or anyone reading this) have any suggestions on where to find an expat tax preparer? I would recommend finding someone local, who is familiar with Italian tax law and the tax treaty with the US. People living overseas have an automatic extension to June 15, no need to file for an extension. If you owe tax, interest begins accruing from the regular deadline though.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2019 23:30
|
|
|
Also you can always switch to MFJ if that becomes more advantageous in the future, but switching from MFJ to MFS with a non-resident alien spouse is more complicated, and can only be done once in a lifetime. If you have kids, you can be considered unmarried for purposes of qualifying for HOH as long as you live overseas.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 14, 2019 04:33
|
|
|
So someone who has my work, but not filed yet, has expressed that they will file but not pay me. I just eat poo poo right?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2019 15:07
|
|
|
Sorry, shouldn't post angry before bed. I'm a tax preparer, and I file by paper because I'm overseas. So I don't have e-file to hold over clients' heads if they give me trouble. I have to provide a copy of the return for them to review before filing, and there's nothing to stop them from just dropping it in the mail once they have it. Payment up front isn't really standard practice where I am, you invoice on delivery. And since meeting strict deadlines is part of the job, I'm not really comfortable putting the timing of fee payments into the mix. I'll just have to chase the client, and we won't be working together again even if she does eventually pay up.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2019 02:28
|
|
|
Non-resident aliens do not get the standard deduction, but you should have foreign tax credits to claim if Australia taxes that income.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 19, 2019 03:46
|
|
|
It's standard in tax treaties to provide an exemption for self-employment tax if you are enrolled in the social security equivalent of your host country. You need to be able to prove it by getting a certificate of coverage which explicitly states the tax treaty provision being claimed, and the process for this varies from country to country. The problem with a W-8 BEN is it can cause tax withholding in some circumstances that you should not be subject to as a citizen. Gabriel Grub fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Sep 3, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2019 13:46
|
|
|
I found this blog on how to get the Spanish certificate of coverage and excuse yourself from self-employment tax. It seems to be a bit more difficult than most other countries. http://blog.manugarri.com/the-sorry-state-of-transparency-in-spain-where-is-my-certificate/
|
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2019 14:12
|
|
|
KS posted:It's IRS form 709 and the lifetime exemption is $5.6M. $11.2M is thrown around if he's married. *grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you madly* "Nigga have u heard about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 10, 2019 01:08
|
|
|
Sunset provisions never mean anything. It's just part of a game to get the budget office projections to hit a certain number. In reality, there will be a new tax law before then that either extends or eliminates the cap.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2019 01:55
|
|
|
torb main posted:Tax friends, my wife and I are relocating abroad to Japan (from the US) for a couple of years for my job and are starting to research what we should be expecting tax-wise. My company is paying for professional help, so I'm not looking for any sort of in-depth or detailed help as they'll be doing that, but I was hoping you guys might have good recommendations for what types of questions I should be asking my employer/tax preparer before we go? Assuming you're on an expat package and will continue being paid from the US, you will still have regular payroll taxes taken out and will be exempt from the Japanese equivalent. Your salary will be excluded from US taxable income up to $105,900, and you can use foreign tax credits beyond that. On the Japanese side, only income you make in Japan will be taxable. But if you are paid from the US, you will not be able to take advantage of the usual withholding and year-end tax adjustment system used in Japan. Instead, you will need to file an individual tax return, which I assume is part of the tax help your employer is paying for.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2019 01:01
|
|
|
Taxation is loosely related to immigration. Find a lawyer.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2019 17:35
|
|
|
Lol Intuit has professional software used by tons of CPAs. There’s a good chance Intuit got your money anyway.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2019 17:02
|
|
|
Lord of Garbagemen posted:I believe you cannot receive a step up on DOD on non US property. Also, he has likely tripped Fincen requirements (unless the money was shuffled around carefully and never deposited into a foreign bank account). The situation only gets complicated if he partially owned the property before inheriting the rest when his dad died. Otherwise you get the step up like any inherited property.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2019 00:59
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 19:35 |
|
|
Lord of Garbagemen posted:I guess its a good thing I haven't had that situation come up before. I was wrong and would have given bad advice. This is why when I meet a potential client I tell them if you don't choose to work with me, please at least choose another expat specialist. Do not under any circumstances use dad's tax preparer back home.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2019 01:07
|
|