Expat tax help
March 5, 2010 4:35 AM   Subscribe

US taxes help for an expat. Recommendations for accountants in the UK?

Basically this question but for the UK, specifically England, specifically Southeast/Surrey/London area. I need an accountant to help me go through the expat tax filing process. I really can't afford much but I think I'm a pretty easy case. Thanks!
posted by like_neon to Work & Money (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just so you know, since this is about US taxes, not UK taxes you can use a US accountant for this if you already know one. Taxes for expats is just one of the things they do.

I'm a US expat in London. Last year I had an accountant in the San Francisco Bay area do my taxes - I just emailed him/scanned everything he needed. This year I'm doing them myself.
posted by vacapinta at 4:49 AM on March 5, 2010


Response by poster: I didn't have an accountant in the US because I was such a straightforward case I was able to file myself. But now that I'm looking into the expat stuff it's seriously confusing me with the allowances and things like that.

I'm from the Bay area originally, could you recommend your person to me? I also think if I could just have someone show me once I could take care of it going forward.
posted by like_neon at 5:03 AM on March 5, 2010


I sent you a mefi mail.
posted by vacapinta at 5:11 AM on March 5, 2010


What about trying the walk-in assistance at the London US Embassy? (details). Also, although it seems they are already completely booked for this year, the Overseas Tax Service's FAQ is much less confusing than the IRS's website.
posted by brambory at 5:13 AM on March 5, 2010


I've done my own taxes since I started living in Japan. Depending on what you have back home in terms of money/property, they can actually be pretty easy. I've got zilch back home, so I just need to find the exchange rate for the year, plug in my salary here, find out how much the exemption is, daydream about someday actually being over the exemption, and then I fill out form 2555EZ.

If you're worried about the expense of an accountant, I imagine you won't be going over the exemption (which should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $85-90,000 US. It's good to have someone walk you through it once, but it's pretty easy after that.

IANAA. IANYA.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:25 AM on March 5, 2010


I've send you a mefi mail as well.

I find that paid prep service probably saves me as much as it costs.
posted by sagwalla at 6:01 AM on March 5, 2010


If you were a full time resident abroad for a full calendar year, or lived in the UK for 330 days out of any consecutive 12-month period, you can exclude up to $91,400 of earned income (known as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion) from U.S. Income Taxation for 2009. I sent you a mefi mail as well.
posted by mireille at 7:13 AM on March 5, 2010


Another one who would like a mefi mail please... Confused American in London. Thank you!
posted by jetsetlag at 8:39 AM on March 5, 2010


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