Why you need an International tax attorney for your Expatriate

Why you need an International tax attorney for your Expatriate tax returns

I finally took the plunge and moved abroad. After reading all those blogs about better quality of life, I had to give it a try. There's more to this, but this is not what this article is about. This one, as you can already tell is about my need for an somekeyword to solve my IRS problems resulting from moving abroad.

The point is I am an American taxpayer living and working abroad ad


I was used to the whole W2 thing. DId not worry about my taxes at all until April 14, and then I would head over to some corner tax preparation service place and handed them my W2s and 1099s, 1098s etc. I'm sure I could have benefited from a certified public accountant, but I never bothered. I did not like to spend much on tax preparation services, and it only ended up hurting me given the cost of an international tax attorney.

When I moved to the foreign country, I also became self employed. It went along with my more lax lifestyle desire. However, you can't just plug yourself into the new economy, and I had to create a corporation so I could properly invoice, have a bank account, and take credit cards. I had no idea of the reporting burdens this brought. (I hired a advisor from the local town - I should have also hired a US international tax attorney or a qualified CPA experienced and trained inthe taxation of US citizens living abroad).

Problem number 1:My unfiled tax returns. Apparently this was the most stupid of my in-actions.. Youre better off filing the returns and not paying the amounts due. Why? Criminal or civil penalties. i.e. In or out of jail. (The first step a qualified international tax attorney will take is to file your US taxes, so that you check jail time off your possible worries).

Problem number 2: My tax returns went up like 3 notches in complexity. More like 10. Explained:

- I became my own boss. Now I had to file another schedule named "Schedule C". I had to keep track of all my income and expenses; granted this is not why I needed an international tax attorney, this was the work of a regular accountant or simply 2 hours of my time per week. Additionally, I had to pay a new type of tax - Social security and medicare taxes.. It goes towards Social Security, which I was used to my employer taking care of (but yes, I was now my own boss).. This first problem can be resolved by a Certified Public accountant that specializes in expat tax returns, you do not need an international tax attorney for this.

- I created an offshore corporationI thought "offshore corporations" were for the rich, or the huge corporations.. Any American who owns 10% or more of a foreign corporation, or has control over the foreign entity, has to send in this unnecessarily difficult schedule 5471 "Controlled foreign corporations". My lack of proper financial records turned out to be the smallest issue, there is this "Sub-part F" income that really complicated things for me. The penalty for not filing this schedule is ten thousand dollars per year, per corporation. This is one instance why I needed an international tax attorney.

- I had a foreign bank account. That one sounds like it couldnt be done without right? All US citizens must report financial accounts that have a balance of ten thousand dollars or more at any point during the year.. The penalty for not filing the return is fifty per cent of that balance COUNTED YEARLY. This is one more example of of why I needed my international tax attorney.

The IRS started looking for me, and I did not act fast enough. Everyone kept on reiterating " Get an international tax attorney, get an international tax attorney, HIRE AN INTERNATIONAL TAX ATTORNEY COME ON!!!"
Once I finally took action, It was nearly impossible to find a qualified international tax attorney - and by that I mean an attorney that is dedicated on tax problems for US expats. Once I did find qualified international tax attorney companies, their fee made it scary for me to address this situation.

I soon realized this was the reality.. FIrst, I was used to a random US tax preparation service. Second, the level of complexity was too much for an average attorney to deal with. I had put myself in the situation where I needed an International tax Attorney.

I was able, however, to find a firm of CPAs and international tax attorney. The result is the majority of the work handled by a team member with a much lower billing rate. These particular CPAs focus their practice on expatriate income tax returns, so they are best qualified to prepare my tax returns. Then, they work alongside an international tax attorney banking more than 18 years experience dealing with IRS problems.

It's still not comparable to the corner tax preparation service, but given lot of the work is done by CPA with a much lower billable rate, the total cost was much less expensive.. That is a great deal, but, I would love to save some more money.. So, I am publishing this article as I will earn a commission if clients find them through my articles!

Best of luck finding an somekeyword to help you with your somekeyword! (And if you end up hiring my international tax attorney -" Tax Planner CPA " - please tell him you saw an article about Rob Zane so I can earn my commission- just in case this internet system doesnt work!)
I also published this in Amazines somekeyword

Rob Zane is a plane old american taxpayer who moved abroad and started having problems with his US taxes. He ended up finding an international tax attorney who was able to solve all his problems - so now he feels like sharing that info (And get a referral bonus from )

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