US Taxpayers Living Abroad Archives

What is a PFIC? A Definitive Guide

February 5, 2021 No Comments

What Is A PFIC? Your Definitive Guide To Passive Foreign Investment Companies and Form 8621 If you have overseas investments or are considering such

Gifts and Inheritances from a “Foreign Person”

March 17, 2013 No Comments

We get a lot of questions about the taxation and reporting of gifts and inheritances from a “foreign person”. These rules aren’t well-publicized, so we

Impact of Pensiones Voluntarias in Colombia on US Tax returns

January 9, 2013 No Comments

Pensiones Voluntarias ultimately results in contributions being effectively invested in shares of non-U.S. mutual funds. The problem with doing so is that the IRS treats foreign mutual funds as a Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC) and imposes a special, harsh tax regime on all US taxpayers who invest in PFIC’s.

Is Foreign Mortgage Interest Deductible?

December 8, 2012 No Comments

A popular question we are often asked is whether interest paid on a mortgage for a residence in a foreign country is deductible. Fortunately, the

The Impact of the HIRE ACT on the Statute of Limitations

December 8, 2012 No Comments

In one of our most recent articles, we gave an overview of Form 3520-A. Associated with Form 3520-A is the is the Hiring Incentives to

General Overview of Form 3520 – Part II

October 26, 2012 No Comments

In Part II of our article explaining IRS Form 3520, we will discuss Filing Exceptions, Distributions, Grantor and Non Grantor Trusts.

General Overview of Form 3520 – Part I

October 25, 2012 No Comments

Form 3520, reports certain transactions with foreign trusts as well as the receipt of certain foreign gifts or bequests from certain foreign persons. This post goes

Combat Zone Services

October 18, 2012 No Comments

Did you know as a contractor serving in a combat zone that you may qualify for special tax relief? If you are a qualified contractor

What should you do if you have unfiled FBAR Forms?

September 12, 2012 No Comments

An opinion for you to evaluate amongst the plethora of technical articles.
I speak with “criminals” on a daily basis regarding their unfiled FBAR forms and the potential penalties. As a result, I’ve heard as many different “strategies” on how to deal with them, and since jail would have been a likely result had they carried on with them, I feel like I should share some important information with all the other “criminals” out there.