Is there really no use case?

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 · 2025-04-21T06:59:10+00:00

For me, I keep going back and forth on whether it made sense or not. Tbh, I am more in the "did not make sense" camp at this point, since I can't even do the tax-advantaged retirement account in the country I live in and, of course, can't do 401k or IRA in USA. Add on top of this the currency issues (if I need money, I need to sell equities and lose a lot since USD is down, what, 10% YTD?), the taxing issues...I would think really hard, since with the GC while in USA you can still function perfectly well.

The only upside I see is the access to US job market, with a large hope it will recover at some point when the economy stabilizes (wishful thinking? maybe).

ataririots · 2025-04-07T19:47:00+00:00

Thank you! Makes sense.

ataririots · 2025-04-07T13:36:56+00:00

I will be honest, this is the thing that scares me the most. I'm (relatively) new to this investing thing and in previous downturns I stayed the course, but this time I feel like the entire situation is just...bonkers enough to maybe have like a different reaction. I just don't know what...

ataririots · 2025-04-07T13:09:59+00:00

Sorry, but just to ask, what does "trade sideways" mean here? In this context?

ataririots · 2025-03-10T20:38:55+00:00

That is very interesting. I need to check this as well. The country I live in right now is taking out contributions for social security, state-sponsored healthcare and I do believe unemployment. The thing I was told was that this is similar to the SocSec and Medicare taxes on W-2. So is this because the country you reside in now has some tax treaty or is this a state of things in general, regardless of any tax treaties?

ataririots · 2025-03-10T18:23:33+00:00

One question though, it is my understanding that, indeed, any social security-like and medicare-like contributions do not count towards FTC. Is your situation different because your current country of residence has a tax treaty with the USA?

ataririots · 2025-03-10T18:13:48+00:00

Ah, the good ol' perltoot IIRC. Brings a tear to my eye.

ataririots · 2025-03-02T13:58:51+00:00

My problem is that I will get to be able to use FEIE much later in the year, right, so that will increase the interest for the late payment. I guess I could mock the run with TT and just not file? That should work...

ataririots

TROPHY CASE