Americans Living Abroad

[SensibleandHourly]

Hello Tax Community, 

Happy MARCH 1st !!!!! 

So, I have a former classmate who has been living abroad for several years and lost her tax preparer to retirement. 

Any heads up or advice on best practices for this situation? 

Thank you, 

Dawn 

[rcherenson]

I am not sure what you are asking exactly, but my tax specialization is Expatriate personal tax returns. Nearly half of my clientele are expats.

If she is looking for a new tax preparer, I'd be happy to speak to her to discuss her situation. I don't know if this is appropriate here though, since it is a Proseries tax discussion forum.

If not inappropriate, she could email me [removed] she could check out our website https://www.aaamericantaxservices.com/

[SensibleandHourly]

Hello, Thank you for this information. I would like to explore if she is a good fit for my own practice, but have not yet prepared a return for someone living abroad. I reached out thinking that there may be good tips or warnings from one tax preparer to another before I offer my services. 🙂 

[rcherenson · Accepted solution]

Get familiarized with the form 2555, 1116 for foreign tax credit on earned income (if applicable) and tax treaties with their country (if applicable). You will almost certainly have to file an FBAR through FinCEN as well, unless she files her own.

Some expat returns are quite straightforward and some can get quite complicated. If she simply has earned income taxed abroad that is excludible through the 2555, that is the easiest case scenario. I guess once you review her tax documents you will be able to determine how complicated her return will be for you!

[SensibleandHourly]

Thank you!!! My apologies for the late response. What a crazy week. 😉  And it only gets better from here, lol.