Expat tax advisor

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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BeaverFood
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:29 pm

Expat tax advisor

Post by BeaverFood »

Can anyone recommend a good, trustworthy expat tax adviser? Ideally, I'd prefer to work with someone in the US or Middle East, but we would be happy to conduct business via the web and Skype calls if needed. Bottom line, I want to work with someone who really knows their stuff. Live abroad, 2 incomes--1 salaried and 1 self-employed.

We got burned by a financial adviser, so I'm leery of whom we might get and don't want to pick someone at random off the internet.
CFM300
Posts: 2534
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:13 am

Re: Expat tax advisor

Post by CFM300 »

You might want to poke around the following site, particularly the various options under "Resources." Lots of useful info there.

http://www.overseastaxservices.com/

Good luck!
Karamatsu
Posts: 1447
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:42 am

Re: Expat tax advisor

Post by Karamatsu »

In my experience there are no generalists as far as expatriate taxation goes. What you really need is someone closely familiar with both US tax law and the laws/language of your specific host country. In Japan, at least, the US embassy maintains a list of tax accountants (as well as doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc), though of course they are quick to point out that the list does not constitute any kind of recommendation. You need to check them out on your own. Another source, possibly biased but also perhaps more useful, is a local US chamber of commerce, or similar group where expats gather. That kind of thing is good for word-of-mouth recommendations, and if you go to a meeting and announce you're interest, chances are you'll have a few business cards by the time you leave.

But if none of that works out, the best choice would probably be the local branch of a big US firm. My higher-income friends use PWC and I've used BDO in the past. You'll pay through the nose, but because they have staff worldwide there's probably an expert on dealing with anything you care to name. That said, you can't take them for granted and should check returns yourself for anything that doesn't look right. You're paying them to answer your questions, so... ask questions!
MC2014
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:00 pm

Re: Expat tax advisor

Post by MC2014 »

CFM300 wrote:You might want to poke around the following site, particularly the various options under "Resources." Lots of useful info there.

http://www.overseastaxservices.com/

Good luck!
Just curious to know from CFM300 if you yourself have ever used this vendor? I would be leery of using a site like this with the many tax frauds that are happening.
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