Americans who work for themselves must pay their own version of Social Security. It is called " the Self-Employment Tax". This tax applies...
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How to legally save money on income tax
As we know, the rules for filing income, estate, and gift tax returns and paying estimated tax for US citizens or resident aliens are...
How to use Split Onshore/Offshore Structure to Avoid US Social Security Tax
And this week’s question comes from a digital nomad Chiang Mai, and the question is: Do self-employed US citizens abroad have to...
Reducing Your Asset Base When Surrendering US Citizenship
This week’s question is a follow-up question from James from the Netherlands (long time, no see) – for his friend (of course). The...
Taking Advantage of Your Canadian Retirement Account as a US Taxpayer
This week’s question comes from Kathleen from Canada. She heard that Canadian retirement plans (RRSPs) and account are treated as trusts...
Are Self-Employed US expats obliged to Paying Social Security Taxes?
And now, the final follow-up question from our digital nomad in Chiang Mai: Should I pay Social Security (SS) contributions or not? Before...
IRS increases de minimis safe harbor
On November 24, 2015, the IRS issued notice 2015-82, increasing from $ 500 to $ 2,500 the amount which can be expensed for tangible...
Offshore entity to avoid Social Security Tax (and a US one)
So, if despite (partially) losing social security benefits, you still want to avoid paying Social Security Tax by being employed by a...
What is form 5471? (and a Controlled Foreign Corporation)
Form 5471 is used by shareholders of foreign corporations. Several categories are required to report their ownership, starting with an...
Santa Taxation
Merry Christmas everyone. So, now the topic that all the good boys and girls were waiting for: Santa Taxation. * Is that thing that you...
A child’s tax return, the kiddie tax and the Net Investment Income Tax
I previously wrote about the filing obligation of dependents at Filing obligation of a 6-year-old, (child's investment) with the key...
Income tax and concerns regarding Revenue Procedure 2014-55
While not everything is good news, I think that the concerns found in this comment (similar to the ones voiced by Moodys Gartner here) are...
Form 8891 – an obituary
Before April 15, 2002, and despite the fact that tax deferral for RRSPs was provided by the US Canada tax treaty of September 26, 1980,...
State Residency Issues
State Residency is a concept used by US states to determine whether you are liable to pay state income taxes. Your residence does not...