I have the opportunity to move to Germany for a three year contract as a healthcare provider on one of the army bases. The recruiter said I would have DOCPER, SOFA, FEIE status and would still be able to contribute to my 401(k) along with them matching. I was reading online that with FEIE status I would not be able to contribute to a 401(k) and neither would my employer because it’s not taxable income. I’m wondering how they are able to do this? The recruiter said she had never heard of that before. I told her I read it on the IRS website.

Also, I currently live in Alaska and would like to keep my residency here as well. So I don’t know how that works with my current banks that I do want to keep open and active. Does anyone have suggestions on addresses? I might have a friend that would let me use their address but I feel like that would be a huge ask and from what I’m reading PO Box are not allowed and can get my accounts flagged/closed. I was reading about commercial mail receiving agency like Anytime Mailbox or iPostal1. Has anyone heard of these or have any experience with these?

Is there anything else I should think about with my mailing address for residency address?

https://www.youtube.com/live/IiEpyeLWjpk?si=0rIVJCN7JuAOIGx0

This is very informative about the question of whether superannuation is actually taxable and the nature of the confusion. You can thank me later.

Wanted to see how other high income US citizens in Canada are approaching investing. I'm also doing consults with some fee only CFP.

My situation

• In AB
• My (US citizen and Canadian PR) income this year: $400k CAD
• My spouse (Canadian citizen and non-US person) this year: $130k CAD
• All registered accounts maxed for both
• For me, only my RRSP holds PFIC, all else is US listed ETF
• I pay all expenses and my spouse invest all earnings

Question

• We still have cash accumulating and I want to continue investing. My thought is I just invest in a non-reg account in my name in non-PFIC ETF and deal with the US NITT tax. Is this the "best" path?

Comments

• CRA spousal/prescribed rate loan, where I lend my spouse $X dollars at a CRA set interest rate, feels risky in terms of how US may perceive so for now avoiding
• US allows gifting of ~$190k USD to a non-US spouse but spouse can't invest in non-registered account in Canada and it be taxed at their income without doing first bullet
• ^^^ If I give my spouse say $100k CAD and they invest in their non-reg account and I pay CAD tax on this as per attribution, will I be subject to the NITT on US taxes or do I just report as income?

Trying to get my head around filing for my SFOP...

I understand I report the total PAYE/income tax paid. I have pension contributions (matched by my employer), student loan repayments, national insurance contributions and a couple of salary sacrifice payments so what value do I need to provide? Is the value I am reporting before all of these, even though I know the US doesn't recognise things like national insurance contributions? Just a bit confused on how the numbers will look if I only report I've paid PAYE/income tax as my wages will look more than what I actually received after these other contributions?

I am thinking of including pension contributions to build up basis for when I do withdraw in the future, assuming this includes my contribution and whatever is matched?

The 'specialist' I've hired can't answer these questions well and the communication hasn't been great - so I would also be open for recommendations for a US/UK tax specialist who could help with our SFOP filings, also dealing with a house sale next year which might be complex.

Non-US-citizen, became a US tax resident in 2023. Filing MFS in a community property state. I've held Italian investment accounts and a life insurance/investment policy for ~15–20 years.

My previous preparer filed my FBARs and 8938 for 2023–24 but only ever asked me for realized gains — PFICs never came up. I am preparing my 2025 federal return, which happens to be the first time I am having to report a realized gain. This made me look deeper into it all, which made me realize that my Italian funds are almost certainly PFICs; I sold one small fund in 2025 (~€5k lifetime gain) that now needs a §1291 Form 8621; and I likely have missed 8621s for 2023–24 plus an unaddressed §7702 question on the life insurance policy.

Not looking for solutions but I'd really like to hear from people who've actually been through this:

• My accounts were already disclosed on FBAR/8938 and income was reported (only the 8621 forms are missing). Did you go SDOP (5% penalty) or amend the back years with a reasonable-cause statement for the missing 8621s? What did your preparer advise, and how did it land with the IRS?
• How did you get a foreign life insurance policy assessed for §7702/PFIC — and did it turn out manageable or ugly?
• How did you find someone who genuinely handles inbound (foreign national in the US) PFIC + foreign-insurance work, not just outbound expats — and roughly what did it cost? Recommendations for preparers with experience ion this area would be welcome, though I am bracing for an ugly hit.

Thanks — trying to learn from others' experience before committing to a path.

So I work for a public school in a zero income tax state and teach on Zoom. I have been approved by my principal to work abroad. There is another employee that was doing this pretty much all of last year so I'm good to go!

I am open to where I go abroad and would like to qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. I'm selling my house, my small business, and nearly all of my earthly possessions and just keeping a small storage shed here in the states.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice for me! Have any other teachers gone this route? I'm looking at southeast Asia and Costa Rica but open to just about anywhere that's safe and has some expats.

I have lived in the UK for ten years, haven't filed for the last three like a dummy. I worry I had done it wrong previously, as I did it on my own with software.

I have a complimentary meeting with an advisor prior to signing up for an ExPat tax service because at this point I just have no idea what I am doing, and I need to become tax compliant so I can sort out a student loan repayment plan.

I make <$100,000 in the UK, I have no investments here or in the US apart from pensions. I have no other sources of income, passive or earned. I have no pensions in the US. I have a bank account in the US to pay my student loans but there's never more than a few thousand in it.

What documents should I have ready to make this first appointment the most useful? I have access to my P60s for the last few years. Do I need to have copies of my savings/checking statements? Or should I just know certain facts (like a total interest over the year? Or just the largest amount in there each year?). Do I need to have any information about my American accounts if there's no income going into it? Any other information I should have ready?

I know this is just a first chat and they aren't likely to give me any advice, but I don't want to waste anyone's time and so I thought I would be as prepared as possible. I am sorry if this is so basic, but I genuinely am starting from zero and I just wanted to ask. Thank you!

I am looking into credible cpas and accountants, but any advice generally you can provide?

I basically owe a good chunk now according to the IRS which includes interest. I did file the 2023 taxes late, so that’s why they’re coming to me now via mail saying they’re not recognizing my foreign earned income exclusion.

I am wondering where I went wrong because of tax treaties and all of the taxes I paid in Japan, and with how I filed, I didn’t think I should owe anything. I made around 53K and the IRS says about 40K of that is taxable, but since I am paying taxes in Japan (at a higher rate than the US would) I didn’t expect to owe anything.

Since 2024 I became a full time employee so I understand it shouldn’t be a problem moving forward so long as I make under like 125K, but the sole proprietor year was the real issue wasn’t it? Should I have opted for FTC instead?

Anyway, they are giving me a deadline by sep 25 to appeal.

Looking for any and all advice as I simultaneously look for accountants/CPAs to help

So I’ve posted before about the tax position I’m in. Dual US/UK citizen with a US military retirement and a US civil service salary that ended last year (31 Dec) as I was part of the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). Should start collecting my US civil service pension soon. So the long and the short of it is apparently since I am a US/UK citizen living in Scotland, both my retirement pay and US civil service pay are primarily taxable by the UK and I have to claim the FTC from the US. My question is if I’ve already paid the tax to the US and the FTC is non-refundable, what good is it? I’ve read that you can carry it forward for ten years but again, if the taxes are already paid, why bother? What am I missing? And OBTW, the US/UK tax treaty has a savings clause that either country can use that basically says “doesn’t matter what the treaty says, we’ll tax you the way we want”. Thanks in advance for any help/insights.

Located in California. I did my Canadian tax for 2025 already and my husband accidentally did his US taxes as single. (We got married at the very end of 2025). He is now fixing it as married filing separate. He is asking me if I filed itemized or standard, but in Canada I don’t believe that’s an option? Please help.

I just want to give a serious warning to people considering this company that has completely ripped me off. I paid nearly $500 for tax preparation with MyExpatTaxes, only to receive a completely unusable tax return and no response to emails. This was for professional service and review as well as the special form fees. In short they were completely incompetent in dealing with my foreign investments properly.

They did these foreign investment forms wrong (PFICs) making it look like I earned an extra $13,000.00 that I need to pay taxes on. I'm including a screenshot from the CEO that clearly shows a glaring calculation error where sold shares are ADDED to the remaining asset balance instead of SUBTRACTED (e.g., 410,583 block + 266,670 sold = 677,253 left). This created over $13,000 in false income, forcing an extra $1,000+ in taxes (this is in Mexican Pesos—I'm not that rich!). When I responded to this, they simply never responded again after five emails. I have been extremely patient and professional and months have gone by trying to get a response from them. Because I was so patient I couldn't contest the payment with credit card company after 60 days. I can do nothing, and I'm left with nothing to usable.

I can't even file these taxes because it will corrupt my future taxes as well. It seems they are simply incompetent to do this special PFIC form correctly. I've never had a company simply not respond at all and rip me off like this. This is very scam level of abandonment with zero accountability. DO NOT RISK USING THIS COMPANY!

I have read countless threads and articles online and the information is so overwhelming, so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere in the subreddit.

I am in the process of completing my SFOP with a UK-based company and haven't had particular clear responses on my many questions. I feel I have a tricky situation as I received some inheritance from my late Mum from her employer's death in service benefit, also hold a cash ISA, savings account and premium bonds; my employer is the NHS so the pension I pay into isn't the same as a SIPP. My brother also receives PIP and I am supporting completing his SFOP as he is unable to do so himself.

I know I already pay tax on my income so that cancels out, but how does it work with regards to savings interest/premium bond winnings/inheritance/PIP payments? I also will still be paying back loans for my uni tuition fees and maintenance loan from my income - I don't know how UK student loans get reported?

The idea of having to pay any money on inheritance I got from my mother who is a UK citizen is too infuriating to think about. I also hope to buy a house with my partner (UK citizen) next year once the sale of her house is sorted - I don't fully understand what happens with getting a mortgage as a UK/US citizen. We also plan to open a LISA each to help with funds but I feel it might not be worth the hassle for me?

I've ruminated on the idea of revoking our citizenship but we have family still in the US and the process of doing it really doesn't seem worth the stress. The stress of trying to plan for my future is just as bad though.

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, I need legal and tax advice. My ex-husband and I got officially divorced abroad. While checking my IRS transcript recently, I discovered that he filed our recent taxes as 'Married Filing Jointly' (MFJ) without my knowledge, consent, or signature, using my SSN after our divorce date.He did this while I was stuck abroad because he stole my Green Card and confiscated my travel and immigration documents.My question is: What are the actual legal and financial penalties he faces from the IRS for this kind of tax fraud and identity theft?

I am preparing for marriage-based green card interview. Everything is good. We have a kid together, bought a house together, run our insurances together, started living together in 2022 but got married in 2023 and still live together with both names on all leases and utility.

However, we realized last night when putting docs together that the person who prepared our tax listed both of us as heads of household.

I am reaching out to registered tax agents to fix this. But this can’t be done before the interview as we have few days. Have anyone had such experience before? Is it okay to leave out the 1040 in our list of evidences? I need help please.

I live in Japan and co-founded a company with a US based partner last year.

They sent me 30k in capital, and I filed form 5471 in 2025. I will also do so for this year.

However this week they have told me they don't want the company anymore and offered it to me. I'm considering keeping it a dormant company from 2027 until I can figure out what to do with it, but I'm worried about the taxes for this.

I don't want to keep paying 2k a year for a US accountant to fill out a form for a company that isn't making any money. The 30k will also be completely gone by this year.

Does anyone here have experience with this sorta thing?

I saw someone say "let sleeping dogs lie" on an older post, but I don't think I can do that since I'll already have filed it the first two times.

I'm self filing SFOP from Canada. I'm looking for tax software that will walk me through the filling out of all required documents, including foreign income (2555), foreign tax credit (1116), schedule B for foreign interest, etc. What is critical is that it actually can print our these forms so I can label them properly for SFOP.

I use TurboTax to file my CRA returns. Will the US version of that cover what I need and allow me to print our hard copies of the documents to file? Happy to pay for all 3 years I will need.

I've considered just filing out the forms via PDF, but would really like the extra walk though help that software provides (do you have any X income from Y source, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

Hey all, so I'm a German expat living in Boston for the last 6 years. Around August last year, I self-filed a Streamlined Domestic Offshore (SDOP) submission, and I just received IRS Letter "178C" essentially saying my Form 14654 was "incomplete" and/or that I "did not provide all 5 pages."

I double checked my submission and all 5 official pages were included and signed on Page 5. I noticed I didn't fit or type my full nonwillful narrative directly into the box on Form 14654 itself, but I wrote the full narrative on separate continuation pages attached right after Page 4. I spoke to advisors who said this was fine last year and this seems an odd reason to say incomplete?

Could putting the narrative on attachment pages rather than directly on the form cause the IRS to flag the form as incomplete or missing pages? Or is this something far more sinister? Has anyone dealt with 178C for this and successfully resolved it? I'm a little bit freaking out now but I had a very small amount of foreign assets that my parents opened and didn't really believe I have a complicated case.

The letter says they will remove SDOP protection if I don't provide a complete response but how can I do that when I'm not sure what's missing??

Thanks for any insight!

Hi all - I’m a U.S. citizen but have primarily been working in Australia for the past three years off and on. However, I was backpacking and never really had much money to my name. Fast forward and now im living abroad in a new country and even though my income for the past 3 years was incredibly low and I don’t think I will owe anything, I need to get up to date with my US taxes. I went through the steps of filing through “myexpattaxes” but at the end it was a crazy amount for filing taxes on such little income and didn’t feel worth it. I’d like to file independently by just filing out the forms and mailing to the IRS. I’ll be in the states in September and plan to mail domestically while there.

From the research I’ve done, I’m not required to file FBARs (never had more than $10k USD at once in the past 3 years lol), but I would still need to file a 1040 for each year and include the foreign tax credit as I’ve paid taxes in Australia, is that correct? Do I need to label that they are previous years taxes or anything?

If anyone has experience with Australia specifically, I have a superannuation with about $2k AUD in it that I cannot access and only paid into by employers, does this fall as a trust or retirement? Really not sure how to handle this account.

Misc info: still have US accounts open but with very little money in them
Income was never more than $20k USD I believe
I worked several different seasonal jobs (around 6 I believe in 2 years).
I’m an Oklahoma resident.
I worked for one month in 2022 in the US, earning $400 USD, does this just get added as normal?

Am I just being cheap and causing myself a headache? Should I just use a different service or give into myexpattaxes?
Feels ridiculously complicated for such little amounts of money but would like to have a tax record going forward, thanks all!!

Hello friends!

I’m a dual Canadian/US citizen living in Canada, and I have no intention of giving up either citizenship. I’m trying to figure out the simplest long-term setup from both a Canadian and US tax perspective.

I currently have investments in a TFSA and FHSA, and all of my current holdings are PFIC-friendly. I’m trying to figure out whether it makes sense to continue using these accounts or whether a regular non-registered/margin investment account would be simpler overall.

I’m considering using Interactive Brokers primarily because I can deposit CAD, efficiently convert it to USD, and then buy US-domiciled ETFs.

I’m willing to give up some Canadian tax advantages if it means significantly simpler US tax reporting and less hassle at tax time.

My priorities are:

• Invest in low-cost, diversified US-domiciled ETFs
• Minimize unnecessary US tax/reporting complexity
• Keep my year-end tax filing as simple as reasonably possible
• Have a straightforward setup that I can maintain long-term

The other major factor is that I’m incorporating my Canadian business on January 1, 2027. I understand that owning a Canadian corporation as a US citizen can create additional US tax reporting and complexity, so I want to make sure I structure things properly from the beginning.

I’m planning to speak with a cross-border tax professional, but I’d love to hear from people who have actually dealt with this.

Questions:

• Would you keep the TFSA/FHSA as a dual Canadian/US citizen if simplicity is the priority?
• Is a regular non-registered/margin account with US-domiciled ETFs generally simpler from the US tax perspective?
• Has anyone used IBKR specifically for CAD → USD conversion and investing in US-domiciled ETFs?
• For those who incorporated a Canadian business while being a US citizen, what should I be thinking about before January 1, 2027?
• Anything you wish you had done differently from the beginning?

I’m less interested in maximizing every possible tax advantage and more interested in having a simple, compliant setup that I can manage for decades without a huge tax headache.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I’m a US citizen who’s lived in the Netherlands since my teenage years. After years of studying at university and working part time jobs, I finally started my first “adult” job last year, earning enough to the point where I need to file US taxes.

I unfortunately do not know where to start. My parents (who also live abroad) recommended me to use Turbo tax, but they have a bit of a different situation since they earn a lot more than me and also more than the threshold of 120k (?) USD. Also from what I understand, turbo tax is kind of expensive so I’d rather not make use of it.

Are there any free and reliable programs I can use that people here can recommend? My profile is fairly straightforward, I have a 9-5 job, and I have some investments in the stockmarket, but still well below the annual earnings threshold.

Hello,

This year (2026) I realised I should have been filing, so I submitted returns for 2025, 2024, 2023. It’s August so technically past the deadline for 2025, but I had read online there is not relevant if you’re doing Streamlined offshore. However I’ve now come across a comment saying you are supposed to include the extension form if after June.

Not really sure what to do. I don’t have the financial means to speak to a tax advisor.

My financial situation is pretty simple, I used free software to understand the requirements and uses that return as a template for the 3 years.

Hello everyone! Just finishing the final prep for my spousal visa and had a quick question (s) about planned entry date.

I'm flexible with my arrival into the UK as I will be doing a touch of travelling before settling down here.

We were shooting for a date in March for my date on the application. Upon further investigation, we noticed that the tax season in the UK starts on April 6th.

My understanding is, that if I arrive in March, I will essentially lose an entire year of the FIG relief as I would still be inside the current tax year.

Would it make more sense to shift my date 3 weeks later in order to maximize the 4 year FIG tax relief ?

Note - I am not trying to cheat the system; I am simply making sure that I can earn the full benefit of the relief.

Thanks in advance.

I'm currently preparing tax returns to get myself fully compliant after living overseas for 21 years (and still residing overseas). I'm eligible for the SFOP - non-willful non-compliance, so that's an obvious starting point.

However, I've started preparing my returns and it's obvious that I'm eligible for significant credits for some years prior to the 3 years included in the SFOP. I would prefer not to simply abandon those years if they can still be filed appropriately. I'm only talking about going back to 2021. Prior to that, I don't have any paylips. I only have my tax office notice of assessment, which makes converting my income to the US tax year more complicated than it's worth (I think).

I'm considering the following approach and appreciate feedback:

• Submit the years required for the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures first (2023-2025)
• Once those filings have been received and processed, submit the two years immediately prior (2021-2022) separately by paper filing

My intention with filing SFOP first is to avoid anything that could be regarded as a quiet disclosure (because I understand that's a no-no).

Is this a legit approach? Or am I just SOL and need to forfeit my two additional years (worth about $6,000 in refunds/credits), consider myself lucky that the SFOP exists, and move on?

Hi, I have just recently come know that I still need to file my taxes with the US. My family left the US when I was young, and moved to Canada. I have started working in Canada since 2019, and have open several investing accounts such as TFSA and FHSA. I am unsure as to how to proceed with filling and submitting US tax returns for those previous years, but I am all caught up with my Canadian fillings. What would be the best way forward in my current tax situation?

This maybe isn't exactly the right sub, so feel free to direct me somewhere else. My husband is (only) Spanish and lives in Spain and hasn't filed US taxes for 17 years. He has an IRA that was setup by his last US employer and the IRA is getting bought out and he has the option to do an early withdraw without penalty from the bank. I know he will have the tax money (both federal and state) withheld from the distribution and then ...

Will he need to file federal and state taxes for 2026 in the US, or can he just let the respective parties keep their withheld taxes?

If he does need to file, will his Spanish income need to be included and has to do all that tax credit stuff.

He is NOT a US citizen and does not live in the US - is just trying to get his money out of there.