Andrew Coleman
Articles
Form 6166: IRS certificate of US tax residency explained
Form 6166 is the IRS-issued certificate that confirms a taxpayer was a US resident for federal tax purposes for a requested period. You do not fill out the IRS Form 6166 yourself. Instead, you apply for it by filing Fo...
Form 5471 penalty: What happens if you fail to file?
The IRS imposes a $10,000 initial penalty for not filing Form 5471 per tax year – regardless of whether any tax is owed (IRC §6038(b)). The penalty multiplies per foreign corporation: a taxpayer with three foreign corporations who misses one year faces $30,000 in initial penalties alone. In addition, a missed Form 5...
Form 8993 and the FDII deduction: how it works
Foreign derived intangible income FDII is a Section 250 tax benefit that can lower the US tax rate on certain income earned by domestic corporations from serving foreign customers. In plain English, the FDII deduction is designed for qualifying foreign sal...
Form 8854 initial and annual expatriation statement instructions: who must file and when
At a glance Who must file: US citizens who relinquish citizenship, long-term residents who end US tax residency, and certain individuals with ongoing reporting obligations for deferred tax, eligible d...
US tax forms for expats explained (2026 update)
Most US expats filing for tax year 2025 start with Form 1040, then add Form 2555 if they are claiming the foreign earned income exclusion, Form 1116 if they are claiming the foreign tax credit, and FBAR and/or Form 8938 if they meet the separate ...
ECI tax: what effectively connected income means and when to use Form W-8ECI
Effectively connected income (ECI) is income the IRS treats as directly tied to a trade or business conducted in the United States. Unlike passive US-source income, ECI is taxed on a net basis – meaning deductions are allow...