Look for an accountant who can help me file my US taxes from abroad
February 2, 2021 6:51 AM Subscribe
My taxes are actually rather simple, but I am an American living abroad and married to a foreign national without a tax number, and so I can't seem to use turbotax etc. Had a great accountant, but they want 500USD to file for me, so hoping to find cheaper alternatives. More details within!
Push comes to shove I can do them myself (ughhhhhh), but I really don't want to (arghhhh). Ideally I'd pay <200USD, but I don't know if that is reasonable? My taxes are really quite simple, but the one snag I don't know how to deal with is a. interest on accounts and b. losses on some options I bought. Other than that though there really is nothing crazy going on, except for the difficulty in filing.
I should add that I should be eligible for any and all stimulus checks...I think that is a tax credit, right? Hopefully I didn't miss any windows or anything! (I should mention I got the first 1200 check, just not sure about the more recent one)
I tried to use turbotax last year and ran into the following issue: if you say you are married, even if filing separately, it wants your spouse's tax id. My wife has no relationship with the IRS, so that was a bit of a show stopper. (I should note last year was the first year I had to file taxes after getting married)
We actually looked into how to get a tax id, but it seems like we need to file together in order to do that? Basically there's an accountant in the country where we live and we fill out a tax return, send it to them, then they file it for us and give us the tax number. But...I really don't see the benefit of having to declare anything related to my wife to the US government. I mean, the main reason just being it's a hassle, but beyond that...still seems like there's no benefit, I guess unless doing it one year let's me file digitally next year.
So...I'm not sure what to do. I live in China so I'm seeing if my network here has any accountants, but I'd much prefer a referral to a trustworthy accountant--or a digital service like turbotax. I don't want to do taxes on my own because I reaalllllyyy hate taxes (just like our friends at intuit and h&r block want us to, eh?)
Of course, if you happen to know of another way to solve this issue, I'm all ears!
Push comes to shove I can do them myself (ughhhhhh), but I really don't want to (arghhhh). Ideally I'd pay <200USD, but I don't know if that is reasonable? My taxes are really quite simple, but the one snag I don't know how to deal with is a. interest on accounts and b. losses on some options I bought. Other than that though there really is nothing crazy going on, except for the difficulty in filing.
I should add that I should be eligible for any and all stimulus checks...I think that is a tax credit, right? Hopefully I didn't miss any windows or anything! (I should mention I got the first 1200 check, just not sure about the more recent one)
I tried to use turbotax last year and ran into the following issue: if you say you are married, even if filing separately, it wants your spouse's tax id. My wife has no relationship with the IRS, so that was a bit of a show stopper. (I should note last year was the first year I had to file taxes after getting married)
We actually looked into how to get a tax id, but it seems like we need to file together in order to do that? Basically there's an accountant in the country where we live and we fill out a tax return, send it to them, then they file it for us and give us the tax number. But...I really don't see the benefit of having to declare anything related to my wife to the US government. I mean, the main reason just being it's a hassle, but beyond that...still seems like there's no benefit, I guess unless doing it one year let's me file digitally next year.
So...I'm not sure what to do. I live in China so I'm seeing if my network here has any accountants, but I'd much prefer a referral to a trustworthy accountant--or a digital service like turbotax. I don't want to do taxes on my own because I reaalllllyyy hate taxes (just like our friends at intuit and h&r block want us to, eh?)
Of course, if you happen to know of another way to solve this issue, I'm all ears!
we used brass taxes for several years when our tax situation was more complicated than super simple - back then it was just the one guy who started it but his business has grown it would seem. he specialized in freelancers/folks with lower incomes but complicated situations regarding deductions - that wasnt a great description of our situation but we were very pleased with the services and he did stuff all online even before covid so should be fine to work with remotely.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:06 AM on February 2, 2021
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:06 AM on February 2, 2021
HR Block has a group that specializes in US expat taxes. They have an option where they provide the forms for you to fill yourself, it’s less than 200. We use the full service option and pay less than 500 for tax and FBAR filing. We’ve been quite happy so far.
https://www.hrblock.com/expat-tax-preparation/
I know you did a dig at HR Block but this particular expat service is specialized and meets exactly the need you identified so might be worth a look.
posted by ohio at 7:24 AM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
https://www.hrblock.com/expat-tax-preparation/
I know you did a dig at HR Block but this particular expat service is specialized and meets exactly the need you identified so might be worth a look.
posted by ohio at 7:24 AM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
I tried to use turbotax last year and ran into the following issue: if you say you are married, even if filing separately, it wants your spouse's tax id. My wife has no relationship with the IRS, so that was a bit of a show stopper. (I should note last year was the first year I had to file taxes after getting married)
This is a common problem and the solution is:
1) File Married, Filing Separately
2) In Turbotax either put in 'NRA' or put in something like 999-88-9999 and then when you are done, print it, crossout the number and put NRA which stands for Non-Resident Alien.
Your spouse does not have to file a tax return or have any relationship with the IRS. I live abroad with a non-US citizen spouse and file taxes manually and this is what I do.
posted by vacapinta at 7:50 AM on February 2, 2021
This is a common problem and the solution is:
1) File Married, Filing Separately
2) In Turbotax either put in 'NRA' or put in something like 999-88-9999 and then when you are done, print it, crossout the number and put NRA which stands for Non-Resident Alien.
Your spouse does not have to file a tax return or have any relationship with the IRS. I live abroad with a non-US citizen spouse and file taxes manually and this is what I do.
posted by vacapinta at 7:50 AM on February 2, 2021
I absolutely love https://www.myexpattaxes.com/. Super easy, very affordable and they know their stuff. I found out about them through Democrats Abroad -- they do regular webinars around voting, tax obligations and such. The creator of My Expat Taxes was a speaker at one of the seminars and really helped us untangle our thoughts about what we do and don't need to do (and how it relates to everything else, like voting, starting a business, selling property, etc.).
posted by iamkimiam at 8:28 AM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 8:28 AM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Depending on your incomes, there is actually a potential benefit to filing jointly instead. When you're married to a nonresident noncitizen, you always have the _option_ to file jointly. This does mean they get taxed on their income, but it also means you use the joint filing tables.
Basically, if you make much more money than your wife, this would be beneficial. If you make about the same or less than your wife, it would not be. [My wife and I filed jointly our first year even though she did not live in the US, because she had no income and thus filing jointly significantly reduced my US taxes].
You can check the rough effect by simply adding up your incomes and plugging that into a tax calculator as MFJ and compare against your income as MFS.
Again, this is not required as you can do the married filing separately instead if thats better, just wanted to mention it in case you weren't aware. [If you did do this, you would go the route of getting an ITIN as you mention]
posted by thefoxgod at 2:44 PM on February 2, 2021
Basically, if you make much more money than your wife, this would be beneficial. If you make about the same or less than your wife, it would not be. [My wife and I filed jointly our first year even though she did not live in the US, because she had no income and thus filing jointly significantly reduced my US taxes].
You can check the rough effect by simply adding up your incomes and plugging that into a tax calculator as MFJ and compare against your income as MFS.
Again, this is not required as you can do the married filing separately instead if thats better, just wanted to mention it in case you weren't aware. [If you did do this, you would go the route of getting an ITIN as you mention]
posted by thefoxgod at 2:44 PM on February 2, 2021
FWIW, $500 is an extremely reasonable price for having an accountant file taxes for an American living abroad. The tax reporting rules for holding foreign assets/living abroad is very complex and if you mess it up, the penalties and fines are dire.
I would 100% recommend you pay your accountant if they are competent. You really, really do not want to screw up any tax reporting that touches foreign assets/foreign residency.
If you pay $200 or less, you'll get what you pay for. :)
Full disclosure: I am a CPA who has a solo practice for normal folks and small businesses. $500 is a great price. I can't help you (foreign issues aren't in my skill set), but please, use a professional.
posted by dngrangl at 3:45 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I would 100% recommend you pay your accountant if they are competent. You really, really do not want to screw up any tax reporting that touches foreign assets/foreign residency.
If you pay $200 or less, you'll get what you pay for. :)
Full disclosure: I am a CPA who has a solo practice for normal folks and small businesses. $500 is a great price. I can't help you (foreign issues aren't in my skill set), but please, use a professional.
posted by dngrangl at 3:45 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm an American living abroad in a country that has a tax treaty with USA (NZ). I have never paid additional taxes from what is already withheld for me here. I pay more than USD$500 tax prep fees but I have complicated US taxes even when I still living there so I always had to pay. Btw, $500 is pretty reasonable fee.
posted by lemon_icing at 8:48 PM on February 2, 2021
posted by lemon_icing at 8:48 PM on February 2, 2021
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posted by atlantica at 7:02 AM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]