American Expat Services

Specializing in Tax, Business, Financial and Estate Planning and Consulting Services for American Expats

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Services Provided- and how we get paid

While we believe that our time is valuable, we recognize that it is only valuable to you if we accomplish something of value to you with it. 

Service Provided


General consulting- financial or business:  $275/hr

Specialized consulting matters (eg: Investment advisory services, Strategic repositioning of assets, IRS tax dispute issues, complex tax issues, advice concerning specific insurance/annuity/retirement plans): $375/hr

Consulting and/or Assistance with Preparation of specialized documents (Quit Claim Deeds, Life Insurance loans/ assignments/ changes, Promissory Notes, Legal letters, Wills, Trusts, etc. (unless specifically covered elsewhere)):  $395/hr

Tax Assistance- American citizens and permanent residents (green card holders) are required to report world-wide income and pay taxes on the taxable portion of that income, no matter where they may reside. Failure to do so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.  Expat tax returns are complex, and many different things must be considered.  For the expat business person, whether an Employee or Self-employed, business owner or executive, they are far more complex, as special rules and reporting requirements apply.   After reviewing scores of "self-prepared" returns, we can unequivocally state that Expat Tax Returns should definitely NOT be a "Do it Yourself" project.  While errors are typically more likely to be of the "red flag" type when returns are self-prepared, many professional preparers also seem to commonly miss deductions or credits that can cost you hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars in additional taxes and penalties, or missed refunds.   "Do it yourself tax programs" are great for insuring mathematical accuracy, but not for telling you what deductions you may or may not take, for searching out sometimes "hidden" deductions, or even telling you how to balance deductions in order to maximize your refunds.  What you (or your preparer) miss (or misreport) can easily cost you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on one hand, or trigger an IRS audit on the other.  Expat returns vary greatly in scope and complexity, so we utilize a "Base plus hourly rate" to calculate fees, but often offer additional discounts for our clients, and are always willing to work with our clients if there are cash flow or payment issues.  Our aim is to insure that our clients always get more than their "money's worth" from the services that we provide.

We offer a no-obligation review- if our services are not worthwhile to you, then we have no reason to expect remuneration from such services.

Current and/or Past Year returns:

Option 1 (Base plus hourly):

Base Rate - federal 1040 (includes e-filing, where available): 
$229

Base Rate - State returns (as needed) (includes e-filing, where available):
$79

Base Rate - Form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion):
$129

Base Rate - Form 1116) (Foreign Tax Credit):
$129

Base Rate - Form 5471 (Information return for controlled foreign corporations):
$259 

Base Rate -Form 8938 (FATCA reporting): 
$129

Base Rate - FBAR (Foreign Bank & Financial Account report -(filed separately) 
$149 (includes 1st bank account; additional accounts at $35-$45 each)

Additional time required for preparation and filing: 
$225/hr

Hard copy (paper) filing (when E-filing is not available):
​$75, plus postage/shipping costs


Option 2 (Challenge, and Share the Savings/Found Money)

Prepare your own return (or have it done by another professional preparer or service), but send it to us for review prior to filing (we can also do this after a return is filed, but it's much better to do prior).  Assuming there are no major "red flag" errors, we will evaluate your return for missed deductions and/or tax credits.  If all looks good we'll give you our "Thumbs Up" and encourage you to go ahead and file it. If there are red flag errors we'll let you know, and offer to correct it.  If we have good reason to believe that we can either save you significant taxes and/or obtain tax credits that were overlooked in your original return, we will let you know, and offer to prepare and file your corrected return "Free" for you.  ("Free" meaning that our remuneration will come from a portion of the "found money" (tax savings and/or tax credits), rather than being based on our standard (Base plus hourly) rates.)


Amended Returns:


1. To Correct Serious Errors  
The IRS can potentially go back up to seven years if it suspects intentional underreporting, misreporting or fraud on a tax return.  As such, we recommend also going back that far in the event that serious mistakes are found on past tax returns, as it's always better for the Taxpayer to find and correct errors before the IRS finds them and notifies the Taxpayer.
$345/hr, plus mailing fees, if e-filing not available.


2. Treasure Hunting  
Much more fun than the previous type of amended return, these are time-limited "optional" amended returns filed for the primary purpose of obtaining refunds, rather than correcting one or more serious errors.  As these are primarily "treasure hunting, or fishing, expeditions," we typically offer our services on a “joint venture” basis, generally working on a 50-50 split (sometimes less for our part, but never more, unless major corrections are needed), with the "property owner" getting the larger share.  We will review past or present year (if already filed) returns both for errors and missed deductions and credits.  As before, we will continue to provide free evaluations, but time is of the essence, as the "property lease" (Statute of Limitations for getting a refund) expires either three years from the scheduled filing date (plus extensions) or two years from the date that taxes were actually paid, whichever is later.  Our objective is to take advantage of all legal deductions and credits, and to find money for you that you either didn't know was there or didn't know how to get.
Typically done on a "Joint Venture" basis, but if requested hourly (in advance) - $495/hr

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Our preference will always be to work on a "free" (i.e. "Share the Savings or found money") basis.  However, in some cases, where it is necessary to correct a return with "Red Flag" errors, we will either work on the same basis as that for amended returns with "Red Flag" issues.





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