1,407 plain-English guides on cross-border moves, US and Canadian returns, and small-business money. Each one ends in what to do next, and says when a written Position Check is the smarter first step.
October 5, 2026
Returning to the U.S. ends the exclusion mid-year, restarts state residency, drops the Form 8938 thresholds, and turns ordinary foreign investments into problems. What to sell, keep, or move before you land, and how the return year is filed.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Most non-U.S. mutual funds, ETFs, and unit trusts are passive foreign investment companies in IRS terms, taxed under punitive rules with annual Form 8621 reporting. What a PFIC is, how the default tax works, and the two elections that soften it.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Giving up U.S. citizenship ends future filing but has its own tax process — five years of compliance, Form 8854, and for some people an exit tax on a deemed sale of everything they own. The steps in order, who the exit tax actually reaches, and what remains taxable afterward.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Retirement abroad changes nothing about the U.S. return and quite a lot about how your income is taxed in two places. Social Security, pensions, IRA withdrawals, Medicare, state residency, and estate questions for Americans who retire in another country.
Read more →October 5, 2026
A freelancer or consultant abroad reports the business on Schedule C like any U.S. sole proprietor — then runs into the parts that differ overseas. How the exclusion applies to profit, why the qualified business income deduction usually doesn't, self-employment tax, local registration, and the records two countries will want.
Read more →October 5, 2026
The foreign earned income exclusion doesn't remove U.S. self-employment tax. What freelancers and business owners abroad owe, when a totalization agreement exempts them, and how to structure around it.
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Selling a home or investment property abroad is a U.S. taxable event. How the gain is computed in dollars, when the home-sale exclusion applies, the currency trap on foreign mortgages, and how foreign tax is credited.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Can you collect U.S. Social Security while living abroad, keep earning credits while working overseas, and avoid paying into two systems? How totalization agreements change the answer.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Most expat tax problems are set in the months before the move, when a few decisions are still cheap to make. The pre-departure checklist — state exit, retirement accounts, investments, the treaty, Social Security coverage, withholding, and the records you'll need for years.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Twelve errors that show up on expat returns year after year — from assuming no return is due to excluding income that was never excludable — with what each one costs and the fix for it.
Read more →October 5, 2026
A practical checklist of the records an American abroad needs for a U.S. return — income, foreign taxes paid, account balances, residency proof — and why each one matters.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Americans living abroad still file a U.S. return every year. What triggers filing, which forms matter, the June 15 deadline, and how most expats end up owing little or nothing.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Cyprus draws Americans with low personal tax, a non-domicile regime that exempts investment income, and easy company formation — none of which reduces U.S. tax. What the treaty does, why low Cypriot tax often means more U.S. tax, and what a Cyprus company triggers.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Germany taxes residents on worldwide income at high rates, has a full treaty and a totalization agreement with the U.S., and sells investment and pension products that fit badly with U.S. rules. How an American in Germany files, which tool prevents double tax, and where the files go wrong.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Israel taxes residents on worldwide income but exempts new immigrants from Israeli tax on foreign income for a decade — an exemption that does nothing for the U.S. return. The treaty, the credit, Israeli pension and savings funds on U.S. forms, and why olim get caught.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Panama taxes only Panama-source income, which is why American retirees and investors go — and why the U.S. return does nearly all the work once they're there. No treaty, territorial local tax, retirement visas, property, corporations, and private foundations, from the U.S. side.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Paraguay's residency programs and territorial tax system attract Americans looking for a low-cost base — and the U.S. return follows them there unchanged. No treaty, what Paraguay does and doesn't tax, qualifying for the exclusion as a new resident, self-employment tax, and what to report.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Singapore's low personal tax, no capital gains tax, and startup scene draw Americans as employees and founders — and leave them with U.S. tax to pay because there's little to credit. No treaty, the exclusion on Singapore salary, founder shares and Form 5471, the Central Provident Fund, and local funds as PFICs.
Read more →October 5, 2026
No personal income tax in Dubai or Abu Dhabi means no foreign tax credit — so the U.S. return carries the full weight. How the earned income and housing exclusions do the work, why self-employment tax is the trap, what a free-zone company triggers, and the accounts that must be reported.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Children born or raised abroad affect an expat's U.S. return in three ways — whether they're U.S. citizens, whether they have a Social Security number, and how the foreign earned income exclusion interacts with the child tax credit. The rules, in the order parents meet them.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Americans abroad get an automatic extension to June 15, can extend to October 15, and sometimes to December 15 — but interest still runs from April 15, and the FBAR has its own calendar. Every expat deadline in one place.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Many Ukrainians have arrived in the U.S. since 2022 on parole, work visas, and new residency — often with accounts, property, and businesses still in Ukraine. When U.S. tax residency begins, what the first return must include, how the treaty and credits work, and what Americans with Ukrainian income face in reverse.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Remote for a U.S. employer from another country? Your wages are still foreign earned income, your W-2 still arrives, and three things need fixing: withholding, state tax, and Social Security coverage.
Read more →October 1, 2026
Accidental Americans explained: Canadians who are U.S. citizens by birth in the United States or through a U.S. parent, why the IRS considers them taxpayers, the bank FATCA letters that surface it, the streamlined catch-up, and the renunciation option with its exit tax exceptions.
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