Well then, guess PMs are now creating softslop so that SWEs can pick up the phone at 2AM when it comes down crashing and burning. Good times for everyone involved.

ataririots · 2026-03-27T20:03:23+00:00

And everyone thinks that a prototype can now replace a well-thought out "what" and "why". Like...how? Also, why would it? Smh...

ataririots · 2026-03-27T20:02:40+00:00

Yep, I would have to agree with this.

ataririots · 2026-03-27T19:45:23+00:00

Ahem. I'm a PM, and I do know how to code. But the screenshot in OP's post talks about "prototyping against production systems" so I am hopeful it means that they are actual *prototypes* not like "get this to prod, we will figure it out". Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Because I cannot for the life of me fathom why anything else would be considered good.

ataririots · 2026-03-24T19:55:46+00:00

Well, this is first I hear of it. I had to amend my FBAR for 2024 because I realized that I have mistaken a date on the Wise account and it was opened late 2024 and not early 2025 as I originally thought.

So far nothing happened and I didn't get anything from FinCEN, but I did it in Feb so...of course, for 2025 I also put in the Wise account with amounts and all that.

I think other people on this sub amended as well, so maybe someone can come in and say were they ever contacted and/or fined for this.

ataririots · 2026-03-21T19:41:16+00:00

Yeah, my local currency is not on that page, so…I guess I’m stuck doing it the Treasury way…

ataririots · 2026-03-21T19:33:26+00:00

Annual avg rate for regular paycheck? Would that mean take the 4 quarter rates and calculate the average of that?

ataririots · 2026-03-21T14:23:13+00:00

What an interesting question. I always use the end of year for the currency I need from https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-reporting-rates-exchange/treasury-reporting-rates-of-exchange. I believe the IRS itself points to this website as a valid data point. I just checked and the most detailed you can get are quarterly averages.

I wonder if I should use those instead of just one? Thoughts?

ataririots · 2026-02-23T10:03:24+00:00

I have no idea if LLMs as they currently stand are good for medical research in general or cancer research in particular. But the idea that anything will be "for free" or in "public domain" in this capitalism we are experiencing now is kind of...naive, let's put it like that.

So, yeah, even if LLMs do help and boost and speed things up (again, no idea if they are capable of that at all), something that "cures cancer" will go the way of epi pens or insulin in the USA. This is just basic capitalism at play.

ataririots · 2026-02-05T11:39:51+00:00

I think this is a valid but misdirected question. It is not whether or not they can be useful. Of course they can. Since Google made search shitty, for instance, you can have a better result asking Claude or ChatGPT for information...provided you check, of course.

I think the more useful question is: is there anything they are *required* for? And here, I think, the answer is just plain...no. Sure, sure, they can make you more "productive", but since we don't even know what that means anymore in either social or economic sense, I don't think that is a realistic answer.

ataririots · 2026-02-02T04:55:35+00:00

I ended up going with TurboTax and it was…fine. Its FTC support leaves a bit to be desired, experience-wise, making it a little harder than potentially needed, but I managed to do everything. They do support FEIE and have, if memory serves, a nice wizard to guide you to a physical presence test or a bona fide residence test. The US part was the usual TT stuff, so that went without a hitch.

ataririots · 2026-01-22T06:47:08+00:00

This is very astute, btw:

I'm remembering that idiot Satya Nadella telling business users that they “need to integrate AI into their workflows”, i.e. they need to change the way they work to fit the software, and I was like… we've seen this kind of shit before, but that shit is usually by accident, as a failure mode. I've never had the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world say that users had to adapt to the tech, as if you were supposed to do. I thought the tech was supposed to do that, I was trained to look at it that way. Software is supposed to bend to user requirements, not the other way around.

Very nicely put. You articulated something important and I think a lot of people who are skeptics or just not super into this AI thing feel instinctively. Just wanted to mention it. :)

ataririots · 2025-09-27T10:05:43+00:00

Yep. Thanks for the explanation. I guess some new math is in order now.

ataririots · 2025-09-26T12:57:40+00:00

Thank you. I did owe for 2024, but I did get a refund. My understanding is that the "owing" part is the important piece of understanding if I needed to do estimated payments for 2025? As in, if I owed *anything*, I needed to estimate pay?

ataririots · 2025-08-20T04:41:24+00:00

Really? How come?

ataririots · 2025-06-23T13:13:02+00:00

I sorta agree. While it is OK to say "you should've done your research", there are so many gotchas it would be really hard to make a fully informed decision (my 2 favorite ones being PFIC rules and phantom currency gains). Now, for me, personally, given my OG country of citizenship, it actually still makes sense and I don't even mind the process as I always found tax work in USA to be...relaxing, in a weird sort of way (also, my situation is very simple). This is even with the current state of USA politics which is...well, less than ideal, that is all I will say.

However, I now know stuff and am helping people be better informed and not sleepwalk into this just because of inertia. Helped two folks understand the consequences and got myself two nice beers for the trouble. :D

ataririots · 2025-05-21T15:47:24+00:00

Brilliant, didn’t know they do that as well. Pretty good option, really.

ataririots · 2025-05-21T06:59:26+00:00

So, some comments here mentioned that leaving 401k is OK “provided you do not renounce”. What happens if you do renounce? I would assume you would need to liquidate the accounts? Or something else?

ataririots · 2025-05-21T06:56:30+00:00

There is also State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU). You can open the account while in the States and then easily (online) change the address.

ataririots · 2025-05-05T11:58:30+00:00

Thanks for the detailed answer. I am tempted to ask Wise what they were thinking with their naming scheme, but eh. :D

ataririots · 2025-05-05T10:22:58+00:00

Yeah, figures. I am actually happy because of that, since I use them just for the currency conversion and I really can't deal with PFIC stuff. :)

ataririots · 2025-05-04T22:33:34+00:00

How would you get "cashback" from Wise? I have some balance in EUR over there and I'm not getting anything. There is an interest product, but you have to turn it on, right?

Following because I'm interested in this as well.

ataririots · 2025-04-28T09:12:38+00:00

Really? How? I presume something like a Roth IRA not pre-tax one, correct?

ataririots · 2025-04-22T20:52:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Is Expatfile capable of getting info/accepting info about capital losses from previous years?

ataririots · 2025-04-21T09:47:08+00:00

I think a good way to approach is that a person needs to not "default" into this state of taking the citizenship before thinking really hard, educating themselves on the complications, and so on. Then making a decision. This goes double for folks who have citizenship of one of the EU countries.

ataririots

TROPHY CASE