U.S. Tax Services For Expats

  If you are an American abroad who has never filed a US tax return, needs to get caught up on your filings, or to correct filings from prior years, we have good news for you. The IRS offers a program called the Streamlined Filing Procedure that allows non-filing Americans to catch up on their taxes without facing harsh penalties. Using the Streamlined Filing Procedure, eligible taxpayers can file the past three years of tax returns and the past six years of the Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) without being subject to the typical penalties for late filings. But this program is only available if you file proactively, without first being contacted by the IRS. At US Tax Services AG, we specialize in both the Streamlined Filing Procedure, and the expatriation procedure. Often these go hand in hand, especially when someone has been unaware they have a filing requirement and wish to get caught up quickly to facilitate their expatriation. Please contact us with questio...

  If you are a US person and own 10 percent or more stock in a Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC), then you need to know about GILTI, or Global Intangible Low-Tax Income. This recent regulation requires that all your share of taxable income from these Foreign Companies be reported to the IRS and included as taxable income on your personal US Tax return. U.S. shareholders previously did not have to worry about the inclusion of their operating corporate profits on their individual U.S. tax return… But those days are gone.  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, ushered in a new era in taxations for US taxpayers, the GILTI era. Now, a separate calculation must be done for each Controlled Foreign Company that you are a US shareholder in.  Then, all these GILTI calculations are aggregated and applied to your US tax return.  To make it worse – as an individual U.S. shareholder, you could be subject to a higher tax rate than the foreign companies themselves. Our t...

  The 5471 is often regarded as one of the most complicated U.S. tax forms. Form 5471 is often regarded as one of the most complicated U.S. tax forms. Used by US persons to report their ownership interest in a foreign corporation and calculate how much of foreign a corporation’s earnings would potentially end up as additional income on a U.S. taxpayer’s income tax return. However, even if a U.S. person owns shares in a foreign corporation, it does not necessarily mean that there will be a Form 5471 filing requirement in every tax year. A filing requirement exists if a U.S. person falls within at least one of five Form 5471 filing categories. Without going in details about each of the filing categories (they will be covered in subsequent posts), below is the list of the most common situations that give rise to Form 5471 filing requirement: a) Acquisition of more than 10% interest in a foreign corporation during the tax year. b) Acquisition of new interest during the tax year which, ...

  Greetings, fellow global business enthusiasts. As the saying goes, the world is your oyster – and that includes expanding your market share and exploring business opportunities beyond your national borders. And let’s face it, with the United States of America boasting the largest market in the world, doing business in the land of the free can be a lucrative move. However, before you set your sights on the U.S., it’s crucial to acknowledge that its tax system is infamous for its complexity. In fact, one of the most common questions we get is “How is my business taxed on sales made to U.S. customers?” And the answer is not as straightforward as you might hope – it largely depends on your business structure. Even if selling to a U.S. customer doesn’t trigger any tax issues, doing business in the United States still exposes you to the convoluted realm of U.S. taxation. To determine whether your business is subject to U.S. taxation, you must consult the income tax treaty between the U...