r/USExpatTaxes

Hello, I appriciate every advise, I feel super bad about whats coming...

I am original from Europe, but I've been living in US for around 2 years.

Few days back I realized I have to report ETFs, investments, bank accounts etc..

So I started collecting all the data and would like your opinion how bad is it.

I have:

Around 10 ETFs in my dynamic pension fund (yes I did not sold it before I enter US...) - value of few thousands dolars

Robo adviser which bought around 6 ETFs - value of few thousand dolars.

Saving accounts.

Bank accounts.

Mintos - few hundred dolars - originally for fun, now not sure what to do about it...

My overall money in europe is in higher tens of thousands of dolars.

I decided to use tax for expats site, but takes me so long to fill.

I feel like that due to ETFs and overcall complexity, this is going to cost at least $7500 for these 2 years which makes me super sick, cause then I will have to pay charges, 5% of my abroad wealth since I made these huge mistakes...

The worst part is that eventhough I sell everything this year, I will have to pay for ETFs again next year.

Could you pls give me any advice or anything?

Hi all, I have been procrastinating this for years, scared of doing the wrong thing, but I am almost 30 and I have not a dime to my name and I need to change this. I would love your advice/recommendations before I put my plan to action. Feel free to be brutal!

I am a US citizen living and working as an FTE in Germany, filing annually via myexpattaxes.com. In terms of investments, we have a family LLC with which we bought a house, so I file a K-1. This has been very manageable. Beyond this, nothing. I would really like to start investing in stocks. I recently opened an Interactive Brokers account (IB Ireland entity, Berlin address), but I have not yet invested. I would like to invest my humble savings and then a portion of my monthly income into US-domiciled ETFs (VOO, VTI, VXUS) only, avoiding UCITS entirely due to PFIC concerns.

Do you see any risks here?

I would also like to better understand how much complexity it adds to my tax returns:

USA: Does purchasing US-domiciled ETFs through Interactive Broker's Irish entity (as a US person with a German address) create any unexpected complications on my US return vs. using a US-based IB entity? In other words, can I keep using myexpattaxes or will I need to hire someone for thousands of euros to do it for me?

GERMANY: Interactive Brokers should be automatically withholding German Abgeltungssteuer (25%) on my behalf given my German address. Can anyone confirm this is the case for US persons using IB Ireland? In other words, do you foresee any complications on the German side, where I file with WISO Steuer?

Thank you all.

Hi, all,

I'm a Canadian who received my first US passport as an adult via my mother a year ago. They had no record of me being an American beforehand, and it was actually quite hard to prove I am technically a citizen through my mother.

I live in Canada. I am still struggling to get a SSN because I have to prove every year of my life was lived outside of the United States to receive one. So far, they have rejected my info because I don't have much from the ages of 3 to 5.

Because of this, I can't report myself as an American to financial institutions or file W-9s for potential freelance clients in the United States. I also can't report my taxes, and the more I look into the non-income tax financial burdens (investing, TFSAs, etc.), the more I'm considering renouncing it.

This is where I'm confused: The backlog for renouncing in Canada is a few years.

If I choose to do so, should I: Renounce before getting a social security number? Or: Get one to stay on the up and up in the meantime?

Thanks so much for your time.

I am a dual citizen and I have never lived in the USA so I know little about the system. I filled taxes once before. But I have an Stocks and Shares ISA in the UK. I just learned this is a tax issue and I want to transfer to an account in the UK that isn’t as problematic. I don’t know where to start. And know to get advice from.

I never filled my taxes so i think that's why they never asked. I never lived in the usa as an adult and never entered most system. I Have several TFSA as well. Whats is my best option?

Pretend im still not aware of it? Renouce ? Or Start filling but I'm might just risk it if its too pricey.

Dual US-Canadian citizen living in Canada. Literally can’t find anyone reputable for under 1500$ CAD. Filed my FBAR independently. Most online services ask for my W2 but as I work in Canada, I only have T4 and T5s, a Canadian TFSA, and some non-reg Canadian investments. Genuinely stuck and would love to not continue spending thousands a year on this process! I continue to remain astounded at how complicated and expensive this process seems to be given the amount of Americans living and working abroad. Any advice is appreciated :)

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some practical advice or similar experiences regarding my situation as an "Accidental American" living in the EU (Greece).

Here is my profile:

• I am 44 years old, born outside the US.
• I hold a US passport and an SSN, but I have never lived there, have zero US income, and absolutely no financial footprint in the US, i have never travelled to the us or used my american passport for travelling.
• strange detail: The Latin spelling of my name on my Greek ID and Greek passport is different from the spelling on my US passport.
• To my local banks, I am 100% a Greek tax resident. I have never been flagged by FATCA or asked to sign any form.

My dilemma: I want to open an individual brokerage account to buy EU-domiciled ETFs. I need to open this account strictly as a Greek citizen (using my Greek ID and local Tax Identification Number) so that I am fully compliant with my local tax authorities and can justify the source of funds.

However, opening the account as a non-US person means I will have to digitally sign the W-8BEN form.

My questions for the community:

• Are there any other Accidental Americans out there who keep their US passport "in the drawer" and have successfully opened an IBKR (or similar broker) account as a local EU citizen by signing the W-8BEN?
• Did you ever face any issues with KYC checks, account blocks, or cross-referencing?

Any personal experiences, insights, or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

I recently discovered all these oblgigations i have for a country that i just accidently have a passport.

My son needs to file his US taxes as an expat in Canada and they are super basic, one tax slip, won’t need FBAR. I pay for an online service because mine are complex. Is there a free online filing service or an idea of which forms he needs? This is his first time filing and I’m not sure based on what I file which forms he would need to complete. Thank you.

I’m so confused by all of the UK-US tax issues! I’m a US passport holder but i have lived in the UK for the past ten years.
I also opened up a business with a friend last year(just an LLC), it made no money because we were just experimenting but now I’m realising it will be such a hassle in terms of taxes!
I’m also worried about investing- I want to invest in the s an p 500,Nasdaq etc but investing as an expat is so so hard and there’s so many rules.

Is anyone else in the same situation as me and can shed some light on what I should do?

How will IRS know if you dont declare your freelance work on other country?

Hey,

I (us/de citizen) just finished my master's and am starting to work in September and I thought I'd get started doing my taxes this year. But as probably most people here that escalated quickly and now I have no clue how to proceed. This is the situation:

• I studied the past five years, so didn't have any significant income
• I invested in a German fund (I know, not smart), which combines a bunch of funds and manages it for me (i.e. effectively I have a bunch of different funds that make gains and I need to file for separately I think)
• Have not filed any tax returns (I didn't know I had to)
• I have now submitted my fbar listing the account with the investment fund

And now my question: do I now need to file my tax returns (even though I don't have to pay any taxes) retroactively for the past five years or can I just sell it off, file that next year and then reinvest somewhere in the US?

I was going through a nasty divorce last year and even though I filed my tax return in the nick of time, I thought that I had filed my FBAR and it turns out that I haven't. What do I do? Also I may have opened a bank account in 2024 that I forgot to put on my FBAR that I submitted. There is a maximum of £20 in the account and possibly nothing. What would you advise that I do about this? Thank you all for your help!

Edit: sorry about the above and I will leave it. 2024 I didn't file FBAR. That's when the marriage fell apart. I will definitely file for last year in time!

For those who have gone through the streamlining/amnesty IRS program..

How did it go? Especially after, was there any follow up ever?

Did you do it yourself or go through a professional?

I want to relocate to Germany ideally in the next 12-18 month. I am a dual US/German citizen.

My 401k currently sits at 2.3M. Over the life time ( 20 years), it had an average rate of return of 6%.

Considering Germanys progressive taxation system, I want to keep my income (401k withdrawals or SSA ) at a level that keeps me in the 30%-32% effective tax range.

I realized that this would likely mean that my 401k (given my current investments) is further growing rather then shrinking.

Now what I am most worried about is RMD. Although a bit of a luxury problem, I really don't want to give most of my 401k to Germany's tax authority.

So, I was thinking to do 2 larger withdrawals while still in the US. My thought was to stop working at the end of 2026, then relocate to a state without state income tax and do one large withdrawal in 2027 (400k-500k) and another 400k-500k in 2028 right before moving to Germany. Ultimately I will only end up with 700k as I need to cover the taxes but once I reinvest in my brokerage any future gain realized in Germany would only be taxed at 26%

Would it be foolish to do this?

What else could I do?

Thanks!

My mom moved to the US when she was young and became an dual citizen then moved back to Canada but never filed taxes.

I was born in Canada but I'm now wanting an American citizenship. However, my mother is refusing to give me documentation to prove her citizenship because she is worried that it will flag her in the system and they will come after her.

Is there any truth to that, and is there any way for me to gain naturalization citizenship without getting her in trouble?

Hi all, hope i could get some sage pointers here about whether what i summarise is correct or if not what is the correct interpretation of the regulations. I researched a bit from posts here and what i understand so far: (my status: US Citizen, employed in UK since mid 2024, UK salaried, MFJ in US (spouse does not work in UK). I recognise that it's prudent to take professional help as 2025 is first full year.

1. My understanding is that UK pension contributions that come out of employee (ie my) salary pre-tax (no employer contributions) are fully exempt from US taxes for the year.

However, there's some references to limiting the exemption to only the US 402(b) limit, however there are the other references to Tax Treaty Article 18.5 that seems to allow for 100% exemption (ie above the supposed $23K under 402(b).

Is there a limit or not?

2. Legal & General, which manages my pension pot in UK. I selected the default it suggested for the funds to be invested in, and it seems a target date fund created specifically for my employer's employees (only a few options exist)

Might the fund/s my pension is invested in be PFIC? It appears from learned redditors here that money managed in pension are not considered PFICs by IRS.

3. I understand the tax obligations/implications in US (and UK) when my pension will be drawn in later years. However do i need to start filing the forms and keeping yearly records for those funds to be treated as PFICs when withdrawn?

4. I do have some cash ISA whose interests income i will report to US along with 8938 / FBAR etc. Is there anything else to consider for US reporting?

5. When I do draw from my UK pension in later years, I will have returned to the US, with no address in or ties to the UK. Is there anything to plan for now in for that future? I might just close the iSAs though when I leave to avoid more reporting burden.

Thanks a lot for all help and pointers. If anyone has recommendations for a US/UK dual tax advisor, please would you kindly pm me if you have a moment. thanks

I am a freelancer in Germany and don't have a ton of income in the US. I will contribute as much as I can to my Roth IRA but was also looking to open a Roth Solo 401k. Is this a reasonable plan? About half of my US based "Income" is my dividend from my HYSA. If I am correct the IRS treats this as ordinary taxable income. So I should be able to use the dividend amount to Max out any contributions to either scheme.

I need to do as much Roth or 401k investing because it's not taxable by Germany, so allowing my net worth to increase at the US market rate. My understanding is that US brokerage accounts are taxed aggressively after 1000EUR of profit. So I will pay both German Capital Gains tax of 26.375% (w/ Solidarity) and then the 30% or so income tax?

Hi everyone,

I’m 25 and my two sisters are 23 and 21. We are hoping someone here has been in our shoes and can offer some guidance because we are completely overwhelmed. We really have already tried to research and read everything, so please be kind.

Here is our situation:

We were all born in the US to German parents, meaning we are automatically US citizens regardless of where we currently live. We all would like to keep our US Citizenship. We have all been living in Germany for over 10 years now.

We all earn way less than $100k a year.

We file our German tax returns perfectly fine, but we recently learned that the US taxes its citizens on their worldwide income, no matter their residency.

This means we are fundamentally obligated to file an annual income tax return in the US, even though we live and pay taxes in Germany.

Because we honestly had no idea about this and unknowingly neglected our US tax duties, we researched and found out about the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures. This is an IRS program specifically designed to help US citizens abroad who have unintentionally neglected their tax obligations.

We know that to use this program, we need to file tax returns for the last three years. We gathered the forms we need, but we are failing on the very first pages.

We know we are recommended to consult a professional tax advisor who knows international tax law, but we simply do not have the money to pay for a professional right now.

Here is the paperwork we have been trying (and failing) to fill out for the past year:

•Form 1040 & 1040-X: We know as US citizens we have to fill out

•Form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion): We are trying to use this because we want to exclude our foreign earned income from US taxes. Since we earn under $100k, we are well below the $126,500 exclusion limit.

•Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit): We also looked at this to credit the taxes we already paid in Germany against any US tax liability to avoid double taxation.

•Form 14653: We need to submit this to certify that we reside outside the US and that our failure to file was not intentional.

•FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR): We read that we have to submit this electronically for the last six years to report our foreign bank accounts. We need to file this annually if our foreign accounts exceed $10,000 in value.

Has anyone successfully navigated the Streamlined Procedures and these specific forms on their own? How do we even begin to fill these out without making a massive mistake? Any step-by-step advice for absolute beginners would be a lifesaver.

Thank you so much in advance!

my mom was born and raised in florida . german parents . left at 11 ish or sum . we wanna move to the us in the next 1,5 to 3 years and now im worried about taxes. my mom is 44 and she has been only living in germany and working here . Im worried whats gonna happen if she steps into the US. she said she does have a SSN . And yes she has no idea about that u have to pay taxes abroad. but she was as lil kid. Does that have impact on her children or not?

Close to hitting the 183-day mark in Colombia, which would make me a tax resident here.

Right now I have a solid US-optimized setup using the FEIE, but becoming a Colombian tax resident would complicate things.

Quick note: I actually like paying taxes and genuinely want to contribute. I believe in them. The problem is purely structural, I'm self-employed, there's no US–Colombia tax treaty, and the combination of Colombia's progressive rates with US self-employment tax on top creates a double-taxation situation with no easy offset mechanism.

Here are my options as I see them:

A / Return to the US
Drop the FEIE. US taxes kick back in, but even with SE tax the total burden is lower than what Colombian residency would add on top, and at least it's one system.

B / Stay in Colombia
Accept tax residency and try to optimize within the Colombian system. Pay US SE Tax.

C / Travel and reset
Leave before hitting 183 days, spend the rest of 2026 moving around (thinking Argentina, Jamaica, El Salvador, Nigeria, South Africa), and return to Colombia fresh in 2027. Moving around is appealing as much as it’s not (lonely, no community, sciatica with bad mattresses)

Has anyone navigated this?