While most expat Americans are aware of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the increased reporting requirements for foreign holdings, many are still unaware of the IRS’s particularly harsh tax treatment of foreign-incorporated investments such as overseas mutual funds and pension plans. As a direct consequence of increased reporting from FATCA, we are also likely to see more rigorous enforcement of the IRS’s Passive Foreign Investment Corporation (PFIC) rules. This article is intended...
Faced with increasingly complex and burdensome U.S. tax rules, along with a renewed emphasis on compliance, many American expats are wondering if it makes sense to give up their U.S. citizenship. High-profile departures like that of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (who renounced his U.S. citizenship prior to his company's IPO) have drawn attention to a step that was once considered only by the very wealthy or criminally inclined. Global lifestyles, mixed nationality marriages, and dual...
This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended as specific tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor for advice relevant to your situation. Americans who live overseas and who are married to foreigners can choose which filing status to use when filing their U.S. income taxes. Expats often don’t give much thought to this choice, which involves selecting either married filing jointly (MFJ), head of household (HOH), or married filing separately...
As the end of the 2012 tax year approaches, expats working in Thailand may wish to consider sheltering some of their income from Thai tax by contributing to Thailand’s Long-Term Equity Funds (LTFs) and Retirement Mutual Funds (RMFs). With a little bit of planning, you can save up to THB 370,000 (or about USD 12,000) this year in Thai taxes by contributing to these tax-advantaged funds. Long-Term Equity Funds and Retirement Mutual Funds: The Basics...
“I don’t open U.S. accounts, period,” said Su Shan Tan, head of private banking at Singapore-based DBS―Southeast Asia’s largest lender―in a recent Bloomberg article. This attitude has largely been a reaction to the implementation of FATCA, the IRS’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Intended to stamp out tax evasion by resident and expatriate Americans holding accounts overseas, FATCA has effectively pushed U.S. tax compliance onto foreign banks by requiring them to identify and report on...
By Peggy Creveling, CFA and Chad Creveling, CFA If you work for a Thai company or international school, you may have the opportunity to participate in a company pension plan called a Thai Provident Fund (TPF). Depending on your situation, contributing to a TPF can make a lot of financial sense, not only for Thai citizens, but also for expatriates working in Thailand and subject to Thai income tax. To help you to decide whether...
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as specific tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor for advice relevant to your situation. For the many U.S. expats who are high-income earners and therefore effectively shut out from making traditional deductible IRA contributions or Roth contributions, making non-deductible contributions to an IRA may afford a backdoor to a Roth. Contributions to IRAs are subject to the following income limits in 2011...
At some point, those of us living overseas may consider investing in one of the many offshore investment schemes that are actively marketed to expatriates. And it’s understandable why—the promotional literature for these plans can be pretty compelling. The sales pitch might go something like this: You have the opportunity to invest in an offshore savings scheme offered by a leading provider of sophisticated financial products in a low-tax offshore jurisdiction with world-class standards of...
By Chad Creveling, CFA and Peggy Creveling, CFA A chance to earn significantly higher interest rates on your deposits with the only downside being that you might be converted to a currency you could probably use anyway is pretty appealing, particularly given the paltry yields offered on cash these days. That’s what dual currency deposits promise.