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
U.S. retirement accounts don't close when you move abroad, but the rules around them change. Why excluded income can't fund an IRA, how the Roth income limit counts your excluded wages, what happens to a 401(k) you leave behind, and how the country you live in may tax the account.
Read more →October 5, 2026
An IRS letter that takes six weeks to reach you abroad still carries a 30-day response deadline. What the common expat notices mean, how to respond from another country, how to get more time, and when to bring in a representative.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Expats face two kinds of IRS penalty — the familiar ones tied to tax owed, and the information-return penalties that apply even when no tax is due. What each one costs, which ones actually bite Americans abroad, and the three routes to having them waived.
Read more →October 5, 2026
An American abroad married to a foreign spouse has three ways to file — separately, jointly by election, or as head of household — each with different consequences for the spouse's income, accounts, and privacy. How to choose, and what the joint election really commits you to.
Read more →October 5, 2026
Many U.S. tax limits are tested on modified adjusted gross income — and most of those tests add excluded foreign income back. Why the exclusion can make you look richer than your tax return suggests.
Read more →October 5, 2026
The year you move is the hardest expat return you'll file — part of it domestic, part abroad, and the exclusion depends on days you haven't spent yet. How the prorated exclusion works, why Form 2350 exists, what to do about state tax and withholding, and the reporting that starts the moment you open a foreign account.
Read more →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
Americans abroad often run their business through a local company — and acquire a second set of U.S. filings in the process. Forms 5471 and 8858, the controlled-foreign-corporation income rules, and when a foreign company is worth it anyway.
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.
Read more →October 5, 2026
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
The older of the two rules that tax a foreign company's income to its U.S. owners before any dividend is paid. What counts as subpart F income — passive income and certain related-party sales and services — the exceptions that matter for small companies, and how it differs from the net CFC tested income (formerly GILTI) inclusion.
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
When one owner controls companies in two countries and money moves between them — management fees, shared staff, licensed software, loans — each tax authority wants the price to be what strangers would have agreed. What arm's-length pricing means for a small group, the documentation that protects you, and the penalties for guessing.
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.
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