Blog
Cross border tax, accounting, and relocation, explained by the people who do the filings.
You're moving to the US and you own a company back home
The year you arrive, your company becomes a US filing. Form 5471, GILTI on retained profits, the section 962 election, and why restructuring is simple beforehand.
Moving to the USSelling appreciated assets before you become a US taxpayer
Gain built over decades outside the US is taxed in full if you realize it after your start date. What can be reset, what can't, and why it's a calendar problem first.
Moving to the USDoes your visa decide your tax bill? E-2, L-1, O-1, EB-5 and the green card
Immigration counsel selects for approval odds. Nobody puts the tax footprint of each route on the table. Here is that side of the decision.
Moving to the USThe residency start date: the most important date in your move
How the date is set under the green card and substantial presence tests, what a dual status year looks like, and why the date decides everything else.
Moving to the USPFIC: why your foreign mutual fund is a US tax problem
Most non US funds and ETFs qualify. The excess distribution regime, the interest charge, and an unfiled 8621 that never times out.
Americans abroadSelf employed abroad: why the exclusion doesn’t save you from self employment tax
The foreign earned income exclusion removes income tax and leaves 15.3% untouched. Most freelancers abroad find this out the first time they file.
Americans abroadMarried to a non US citizen: your options, and the election you probably shouldn’t make
Bringing your spouse into the US tax system is a permanent decision that most people make by accident, on the advice of software that doesn’t know they live abroad.
Americans abroadSelling property abroad as a US citizen, including the mortgage gain nobody warns you about
Your gain is computed in dollars, so currency movement alone can create US tax on a property that lost value. And paying off the mortgage can trigger a second, separate taxable gain.
Americans abroadYou’re a US citizen and you own a company abroad
The company you built in the country you live in is now a US filing obligation, and it can generate a US tax bill on profits you never took out.
Americans abroad