U.S. returns while living abroad
CPA-led U.S. tax-return help for citizens and green-card holders abroad with foreign income, foreign taxes, foreign accounts, and state-filing questions.
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U.S. international tax preparation and foreign reporting
Tavella CPA Group helps U.S. taxpayers abroad and foreign nationals with U.S. tax-return and reporting obligations. We can review foreign income, accounts, business interests, residency, and prior filings, then define the returns and forms needed. You can request a complete U.S. return engagement or a focused reporting review. Foreign-country returns and legal advice are separate.
Request International Tax HelpU.S. international tax situations this service can review
- U.S. citizens and resident aliens living or working abroad
- Foreign nationals with U.S. income, investments, rental property, business activity, or filing questions
- Worldwide-income reporting on accepted U.S. individual returns
- Foreign tax credit and foreign earned income exclusion questions
- FBAR and Form 8938 foreign-account or foreign-asset reporting
- Federal tax-residency, substantial-presence, and dual-status filing questions
- Form 1040, Form 1040-NR, and related state-return coordination when accepted
- Prior U.S. filing history, estimated payments, withholding, and current deadlines
Choose the U.S. tax work you need
BEFORE YOU REQUEST A CALL
See what fits this service and what is scoped separately
This service may be a fit when
- Individuals who need an accepted U.S. return prepared after living, working, investing, owning property, or doing business across borders
- U.S. taxpayers who need foreign income, foreign taxes, or foreign financial accounts considered with the individual return
- Foreign nationals who need their U.S. federal tax-residency and return type reviewed before preparation
- Taxpayers who want the included returns, international forms, jurisdictions, deadlines, and fee confirmed before work begins
These items require separate scope or another professional
- Foreign-country tax returns, foreign legal filings, and advice under another country's law
- Immigration, visa, citizenship, nationality, or other legal advice
- Treaty opinions, expatriation, estate or gift tax, and complex foreign business, trust, pension, or investment reporting unless specifically reviewed and accepted
- Every prior-year return, delinquent international form, penalty matter, notice, examination, entity, owner, country, state, or advisory project beyond the written scope
Start with the countries, dates, filing status, and U.S. tax question
For the initial call, identify whether the request concerns a U.S. citizen, green-card holder, or other foreign national; the countries and U.S. states involved; the relevant dates; the general income and account types; the tax years; and the next known deadline. Do not send passports, tax returns, account numbers, immigration documents, or other sensitive records through the public form. If the work is accepted, the exact U.S. returns, forms, jurisdictions, and fee are confirmed in writing before secure document collection begins.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about u.s. international tax preparation
Do U.S. citizens and resident aliens generally file U.S. returns while living abroad?
Generally, U.S. citizens and resident aliens remain subject to U.S. filing rules on worldwide income while abroad. Filing thresholds, available exclusions or credits, foreign-account reporting, deadlines, treaties, and individual circumstances can change the forms and result, so the complete facts and current rules must be reviewed.
Does this service include both expats and foreign nationals?
Potentially, but they follow different filing paths. A U.S. citizen or resident living abroad may have worldwide-income and foreign-account questions. A foreign national may first need a U.S. federal tax-residency and U.S.-source income review. The accepted returns and forms are identified separately for each engagement.
Are FBAR and Form 8938 the same filing?
No. FinCEN Form 114, commonly called the FBAR, and IRS Form 8938 use separate eligibility rules, reporting thresholds, definitions, and filing methods. Filing one does not automatically satisfy the other. Any accepted reporting work is listed separately in the written scope.
Does Tavella CPA Group prepare tax returns for other countries?
No foreign-country return preparation is promised by this page. Tavella CPA Group's service is focused on accepted U.S. federal and state tax work. A taxpayer may need an independent professional in another country, and any coordination with that professional is separate unless confirmed in writing.
Can the consultation and service communication be in Spanish?
Yes. Consultations and service communication are available in English or Spanish. Language availability does not expand the engagement to foreign-country return preparation, foreign-law advice, or any return or form that has not been accepted in writing.
Can every international form or treaty position be included?
No. Foreign entities, trusts, gifts, pensions, investment companies, expatriation, treaty-based positions, and delinquent international information returns can require specialized review. Availability depends on the forms, years, countries, records, deadlines, complexity, and current capacity; no form or position is included unless expressly accepted in writing.
How do I upload documents?
After engagement setup, use the secure client portal and the upload instructions provided by Tavella CPA Group. Do not send Social Security numbers, tax returns, bank information, or other sensitive documents through the public contact form or ordinary email.
Is this service cloud-based?
Yes. Organizers, secure document uploads, messages, electronic signatures, invoices, and final documents can be handled online through the appropriate secure workflow.
How long will preparation take?
Timing depends on the service, complexity, completeness of the information provided, filing deadline, and current availability. Expected timing is discussed when the scope is confirmed; submitting a consultation request does not reserve a filing deadline.
Is audit or notice representation included?
Only when representation is expressly included in the written engagement. Audit, examination, and notice-response work are otherwise reviewed and scoped separately.
PLAIN-ENGLISH TAX GUIDES
Learn what to gather and what to ask next
Use these source-backed guides to prepare for a conversation about this service. The guides provide general information, not advice for a specific situation.
USEFUL NEXT STEPS
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