Mel Whitney

If you're a US citizen or green card holder earning income abroad, one of the first tax decisions each year is whether to use the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC), the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), or both. The choice affects how much US tax you owe, whether you qualify for refundable credits like the Additional Child Tax Credit, and whethe...

Form 1040-NR is the US Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return.You file it if you were a nonresident alien during the year and had a Form 1040-NR filing requirement, such as effectively connected income, reportable US-source income, a refund claim, or a t...

FBAR and FATCA are two separate US foreign asset reporting regimes. FBAR is filed on FinCEN Form 114 with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the US Treasury. FATCA is filed on Form 8938 as an attachment to your Form 1040 with the IRS. Many US expats file both in the same year because the thresholds and asset sc...

If you hold money outside the US, two separate reporting rules may apply to you. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network if the aggregate maximum value of your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000...

Many US taxpayers discover years later that foreign income, bank accounts, or FBARs were never reported — often because they did not realize the rules applied to them. To help eligible ...

Most late FBAR cases do not automatically lead to maximum penalties. The biggest risk factor is whether the IRS sees the failure as non-willful or willful. ...