About Us

Updated RMD guidelines effective from 2025: What you need to know

18 Apr 2024

Updated IRS guidelines for inherited retirement accounts

17 Apr 2024

Understanding tax extensions and payment obligations 2024

Services

Pricing plans

Pricing

Tax Guide

Articles

IRS 101

Tax musings

Tax concepts

Expat tax 101

Who we help

Tax guides

IRS forms

Contact

TFX Mobile app

Phone

Contacts

Message us on WhatsApp

What we need

IF YOU	WE'LL NEED
Pay taxes in your resident country	Document showing amount of tax paid in your resident country - the Annual Tax Summary or a copy of the resident country tax declaration.For example - UK P-60, Australian NOA or Hong Kong BIR-60
Visited the United States during the year	Calendar of your U.S. visits
Filed U.S. tax return in the last 3 years	Your last filed US / State tax return
Have dependent children	Details about your children - names & social security numbers
Have dependent children	We’ll need copies of these forms (i.e., 1099-MISC, 1099-R, 1099-B, 1098-T, etc) They are issued by U.S. financial institutions (such as banks or investment companies) and are sent both to the IRS and the taxpayer.

How we use your information

TYPE OF INCOME EARNED	DOCUMENTS WE ASK
Wage employment	Any document (formal or informal) with Employer name showing amount of wages received throughout the year and tax withheld. Alternatively pay stubs as a substitute.
Investment income/loss	Year-end financial institution statement
Employer stock options	Document with details of stock option grant and/or stock option exercise
Foreign pension benefits	Year-end bank statement from the institution where the pension is held
Alimony, unemployment	If alimony recipient has a Social Security number, please provide it.
Real estate income	Proof of mortgage interest paid on rental property

Some common questions

1. I am solely self-employed - do I have to provide proof of income and expenses?

Please see our page for small business owners. We will not ask you for any documents supporting income or loss from an unincorporated business as long as all income was from sources outside the US.

2. I don’t pay tax in my local country - how can I demonstrate income?

www.taxesforexpats.com/articles/financial-planning/tax-documents-required-to-file-us-tax-return-from-countries-with-no-personal-tax.html

3. I get paid cash - what should I do?

Keep the log of cash receipts and report the total amount on Self-Employment questionnaire.

4. I don’t have a scanner - how can I upload documents to you?

Please download Camscanner and you can easily use your phone to make clear PDF images.
Alternatively, you can find a Kinkos-type store and ask them to scan and email the documents to you. As you see the list of required documents is short, so it should not cost you much. Faxing is the worst option because the quality of faxed documents is subpar.

5. My local country documents are not in English - is that a problem?

We do not ask for an complete translation of the entire document. However, depending on your situation we may ask that you provide English translation for certain items on the foreign document.

6. If they are foreign documents

Then we will simply prepare your return solely based on the information you provide us. However, you have to understand the risk from incorrect data reporting as we would not be able to cross-check your information.

7. If you do not have a copy of U.S. tax documents

Which you know should have arrived (i.e. form W2 from a previous employer) - then we recommend to obtain a copy of your tax account from the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript

8. These are the most important documents to obtain.

If you report any U.S. income on your return that does not exactly match the figures that IRS receives (they receive copies of all these forms we ask you), this will invariably result in manual review of your tax return and follow up letters from the IRS.

Updated RMD guidelines effective from 2025: What you need to know

Updated IRS guidelines for inherited retirement accounts

Understanding tax extensions and payment obligations 2024

Updated RMD guidelines effective from 2025: What you need to know

Updated IRS guidelines for inherited retirement accounts

Understanding tax extensions and payment obligations 2024

TFX Mobile app

Phone

Contacts

Documents we need

What we need

How we use your information

Some common questions