Expat Finances Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Expat Finances Megathread

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

Can you claim the foreign earned income exclusion if you live outside of the US, but you work full-time remotely for a company in the US? I've never been clear on this.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2013 21:20

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 16:15

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

TouchyMcFeely posted:

My father is looking to transfer money from his US bank account to Japan. Apparently he used to be able to do so fairly easily through his bank but now can't and his financial advisor, who he had worked with for 10+ years, can no longer advise him.

He's asked for my help but I'm totally clueless. The only companies I can find for this service is Western Union and Pay Pal but I've always been sketchy of Western Union and gently caress Pay Pal.

Does anyone have any recommendations or know of the best way to make these kinds of transfers?

Western Union is not sketchy, in my opinion. It's just that you can't get your money back if you send it to a scammer. I absolutely would not use Paypal for this, because they'll lock the account easily for any reason, and then you couldn't even touch your funds for 6-12 months.

I've used Moneygram to send/receive money from South America for years, and never had a problem. The only pain is that if you're sending a really large amount, they're only going to want cash.

Where does he want to send the money in Japan? In Japan, a bank should have all of the details that you'd need for the US side of things, and then find someone at his bank who knows how to actually how to do the transfer.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2013 21:24

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

Anonymous Zebra posted:

So I have a random question about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. I moved to a foreign country for work in September 2013, started work in October and will be working here for quite a long time. For the last few months I've been under the assumption that I cannot utilize the FEIE for my 2013 taxes because I was not a resident of the foreign country for the entire tax year. However, today I did a short 30 minute consultation with a big-wig tax attorney and HE told me that since I have 3 months (1/4 of the year) of foreign income that I simply divide the exclusion amount by 1/4 and only exclude 1/4 of the yearly maximum ($24,400 in this case).

This seems contrary to everything I read, but to make matters worse the actual tax attorney is too expensive for me and he suggested I just use a basic tax software to complete my taxes since they are relatively simple. This puts me in the odd position of doing my own taxes and being unsure if I should follow the advice of an actual tax attorney over what I read on the internet...even if what I've read seems abundantly clear.

I've never heard about taking the FEIE if you've been out for less than 11 months of the year.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2014 02:20

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

Love Stole the Day posted:

So my girlfriend has been frugal as gently caress over the years and has saved well over a hundred grand.

Anyone have any advice on getting that money home? Because the exchange rate is the best it's been in over 5 years for the currency of her savings.

Where does she live, and where do you want to transfer to? Is she American?

# ¿ Jun 13, 2014 14:09

Juanito: Jan 20, 2004; I wasn't paying attention
to what you just said.

Can you repeat yourself
in a more interesting way?; Hell Gem

astr0man posted:

This isn't specifically a finance question, but do any of you (US expats) use a mail forwarding service? I'm moving abroad soon but I'm not sure if it's worthwhile/necessary?

I've done the family route, but not planning on doing it in the future, because regardless of someone's good intentions, it is a nuisance to have to deal with someone else's mail, and I hate bugging people about it.

Also my family is not in FL, and I want to keep my mailing address in FL for tax purposes.

I've looked at some mail forwarding services, and I'm planning on using MyRVmail.com. They can handle your mail however you want, hold/scan/shred/forward.

If you are only moving temporarily overseas, then the family/friends route might make sense.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2015 18:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Expat Finances Megathread