Americans living abroad still owe a US return, and Valim’s US expat tax services handle it.

Your US expat tax filing runs online, from the quote to the signed return.

1. 01

   Your fee, set first

   Take the instant quote online, and your fee holds for 7 days if your documents match your answers.

2. 02

   A US CPA signs your return

   Automation reads your statements, and a licensed US CPA prepares and signs the return. You and your CPA work in one portal, from any country.

3. 03

   IRS letters come to us

   We answer any IRS or state notice about a return we prepared, at no extra cost.

US expat taxes rest on five rules, and each country adds its own.

• Excluding pay you earn abroad

  The foreign earned income exclusion shields foreign pay from US income tax up to a yearly cap, if your tax home and time abroad qualify.

• Credit for tax paid abroad

  The foreign tax credit lets income tax paid abroad offset the US tax on the same income, within a limit.

• Reporting foreign accounts

  Foreign accounts go on an FBAR to FinCEN, apart from your return, in any year their total passes a threshold.

• Catching up on missed years

  The streamlined procedures cover unreported income from foreign assets and missed FBARs caused by negligence, inadvertence, mistake or a good faith misunderstanding.

• Giving up US citizenship

  Once the State Department approves it, renouncing generally ends US tax on later foreign income, though a covered expatriate may owe an exit tax.

• The US-Canada treaty

  The treaty still lets the US tax citizens in Canada, and its credit rules relieve most double tax.

• The US-UK treaty

  The US leaves growth in a qualifying UK pension scheme untaxed until you draw it, even for citizens.

• Americans in Australia

  No treaty rule defers US tax on superannuation, and the IRS has not said how a super fund is taxed.

• Americans in Canada

  Canada taxes your shares as if sold the day you leave, and a treaty election lets the US tax that gain the same year.

• Americans in France

  Only the US taxes the US Social Security and US pensions of an American in France.

• Americans in Germany

  Under the treaty, only Germany taxes the US Social Security of an American who lives there.

• Americans in Japan

  Japanese national and local tax on pay usually tops the US tax, so the foreign tax credit tends to wipe out the US bill.

• Americans in Mexico

  With no US-Mexico totalization agreement in force, a self-employed American there owes US self-employment tax.

• Americans in Portugal

  IFICI’s 20% rate can leave US tax that Portugal’s ordinary rates would have covered, so the credit and the exclusion need comparing.

• Americans in Singapore

  Singapore leaves most investment gains untaxed, so no credit reduces the US tax on them.

• Americans in Spain

  A 401(k) keeps its deferral in Spain, but the treaty gives a Spanish pension plan no US deferral.

• Americans in the UAE

  The UAE has no personal income tax, so Americans there rely on the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign housing exclusion.

• Americans in the UK

  An ISA’s UK tax break does not carry over, so the US taxes its income and gains.

What do Americans abroad ask an expat tax accountant before hiring one?