Heyooo
To my fellow Americans: Since we have a ball and chain attached to our ankles thanks to our expensive, blue little passports, what tax software do you use? TurboTax, H&RB, etc.?
Just curious.
curtez
I have not used those mentioned softwares. I know they are popular with those living in the US, however I am familiar with expats trying to use those and finding there are some gaps and posting on community forums for assistance
For example with a totalization agreement they dont have awareness in the calculation logic…then the validation logic fails. Can be a real hassle on top of a hassle
A lot of expats have to paper file to claim exemptions under totalization for fica/seca which still to this year require a paper filing with adhoc documentation that cant be efiled. I have yet to find any efile system that can handle all the quirks
It will depend on the specifics of your situation.
For me…so far, its filling out the PDF forms with a no frills efile service. It catches math errors…and basic fields overlooked (more than once helped) but it doesnt try to harness and validate all the logic of a complicated intra-form expat tax return. Then if i have to paper file I export to pdf and mail with chilexpress to uncle sam.
Thanks so much. I will check out that way… I have used H&RB, but they are expensive.
I always used TurboTax (especially when I was in Chile). It can be bought thru downloading, has a neat feature of eFile, and you can always print out the PDF form for record keeping.
TP