International Cross Border Tax Planning Services

It's working out, ahead of time, how U.S. tax rules apply to money and activity that crosses a border: a salary earned in London, a subsidiary in Canada, rental property in India, a brokerage account in Singapore. We look at what has to be reported, where tax may be owed twice, and how to set things up so the filings are manageable. It isn't a one time exercise. A move, a new entity or a change in ownership can change the answer.

Typical clients include U.S. companies with overseas operations or contractors, foreign owned businesses doing work in the U.S., Americans living abroad, foreign nationals who've become U.S. residents for tax purposes, and investors holding accounts or property in another country. If more than one country has a claim on your income, or you hold assets outside the U.S., it's worth a review.

They overlap but they're separate filings. The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) goes to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and is triggered when your foreign accounts together top $10,000 at any point in the year. FATCA reporting on Form 8938 goes in with your tax return and has higher thresholds that depend on filing status and where you live. Plenty of people have to file both, and the penalties for missing either can be steep.

Yes. The U.S. taxes its citizens on worldwide income no matter where they live, so filing a return is generally still required. Many expats end up owing little or nothing once the foreign earned income exclusion or foreign tax credit is applied, but you only get those by filing. FBAR and Form 8938 obligations apply separately, even when no tax is due.

Treaties can change how residency is decided, reduce withholding on dividends, interest and royalties, and spell out which country gets to tax pensions or business profits. They don't apply automatically, though. You may need to meet specific tests, claim the benefit on the right form (such as Form 8833 or a W-8BEN), and make sure the other country's rules line up. We read the actual treaty article for your situation.

If you haven't been filing FBARs or reporting foreign income, the IRS has formal ways back into compliance, including the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures for taxpayers whose failure was not willful and the delinquent FBAR submission procedures. Which one fits depends on your facts. As an Enrolled Agent, our founder can represent you before the IRS through that process, and if a balance results, we handle the tax resolution side too: payment plans, penalty relief requests and any notices that follow.

Before you sign anything, ideally. Forming a foreign subsidiary, hiring workers abroad, opening overseas accounts or buying a business in another country each create reporting duties (Forms 5471, 8865 or 8858 are common ones). Getting the structure right first is far easier than correcting it after a year of filings. For companies, our fractional CFO service can fold this into broader planning on cash, entities and growth.

Yes. Everything is handled by our own staff in the U.S., with no offshore outsourcing, which matters when you're sharing passport scans, foreign bank statements and ownership records. Some of our team also hold active federal security clearances through our work with government contractors, and we apply the same care to every client file.