Foreign Tax Blues
February 29, 2012 7:46 AM Subscribe
Help me with my complicated foreign tax situation please!
Hi. I know you are not my accountant, but if you have any experience filing taxes with foreign earned income, I'd love to hear from you!
We lived in two different (non-US) countries in 2011, so we were never resident in the US. But we have income from both countries. When we lived in the US, we always used Turbo Tax, but the word on the street is that Turbo Tax is awful for foreign-earned income.
Is my only alternative to get an accountant who knows what they're doing (currently in the UK)? Our income for the year is so low (probably less than $30,000) that it does not seem worth it to pay an accountant. Is there any way I can figure this out myself, or is there some software that will do it (properly) for me?
Many thanks!
Hi. I know you are not my accountant, but if you have any experience filing taxes with foreign earned income, I'd love to hear from you!
We lived in two different (non-US) countries in 2011, so we were never resident in the US. But we have income from both countries. When we lived in the US, we always used Turbo Tax, but the word on the street is that Turbo Tax is awful for foreign-earned income.
Is my only alternative to get an accountant who knows what they're doing (currently in the UK)? Our income for the year is so low (probably less than $30,000) that it does not seem worth it to pay an accountant. Is there any way I can figure this out myself, or is there some software that will do it (properly) for me?
Many thanks!
I too have used TurboTax without a problem (US citizen living in France). You can't send it online – you have to print out the forms and mail them in yourself, but it is really, seriously practical for getting stuff filled in correctly, especially if you're careful about answers to questions. Don't be afraid to backtrack if/when you realize you've answered a question wrong. Some of them (and this is the IRS, not TurboTax) are worded in such a way that you think it might apply, then you realize it doesn't.
MoonOrb's links are helpful too, check those out – the IRS is pretty clear about things.
posted by fraula at 10:27 AM on February 29, 2012
MoonOrb's links are helpful too, check those out – the IRS is pretty clear about things.
posted by fraula at 10:27 AM on February 29, 2012
Sorry, I should have specified – with the free, online versions you have to print it out. If you've paid for the software, though, it should let you send it online without a problem.
posted by fraula at 10:28 AM on February 29, 2012
posted by fraula at 10:28 AM on February 29, 2012
TurboTax online allows you to start and work on your return for free before you buy it--give it a go and see how it looks for you.
I played around with it a bit when I had an extremely complicated return one year (partial year abroad, foreign earned income, foreign and US-based freelance income), and ended up going with a local accountant. However, your situation sounds much more straightforward, and I think TurboTax will probably be a good fit.
If you're still hopelessly lost after that, meMail me and I can give you the info for the accountant I used. Total fees for my complicated return were around $450.
posted by homodachi at 11:32 AM on February 29, 2012
I played around with it a bit when I had an extremely complicated return one year (partial year abroad, foreign earned income, foreign and US-based freelance income), and ended up going with a local accountant. However, your situation sounds much more straightforward, and I think TurboTax will probably be a good fit.
If you're still hopelessly lost after that, meMail me and I can give you the info for the accountant I used. Total fees for my complicated return were around $450.
posted by homodachi at 11:32 AM on February 29, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by queens86 at 9:22 AM on February 29, 2012