[yapcguy]

What may be driving some people is simply the fear of getting the paperwork wrong. The penalties listed on the forms are scary.

You can't just do it in Turbotax for 50 bucks, you need a qualified tax professional to help you. Good luck finding one familiar with the latest US regulation when you're abroad. The fees will be in the thousands, every year, for the rest of your life.

The financial toll and mental stress all adds up and I guess at some point people just give up. It's a shame that the burden of paperwork results in people giving up their citizenship.

[LekkoscPiwa]

I do it with Turbo Tax for 50 bucks. The thing is not to open an account outside of the US. If you follow that rule you are fine and your return won't be longer than US return. If you really, really need that account in a foreign bank simply don't advertise left & right you are an US citizen and open an account using your local (German, Canadian, whatever) driver's license. I have lived in Poland 3 years so far with US citizenships it costs nothing. And the benefits outweight any issues that might be there in any case.

[philiphodgen]

The strategy of using your local ID (and hiding your U.S. status) will work for a little while longer. Google for the acronym "FATCA". Sooner or later your bank will ask you to certify that you have no U.S. connections.

No, the real key to keeping your paperwork simple is to keep the balance in all of your non-U.S. bank accounts below USD 10,000 at all times. The form is TD F 90-22.1.

Your U.S. tax return should be vastly more complicated than a resident's return if you want to avoid double taxation of your income. You will either be attaching Form 2555 (to exclude income from U.S. taxation) or Form 1116 (to claim credit for the taxes you pay in Poland) or both.

If you have a little investment account with some savings in it and you buy mutual funds, you will be filing Form 8621 for each mutual fund you buy.

If you are a startup entrepreneur and you own stock in your company, you will be filing Form 5471.

Seriously, it's a pain factory. I'm glad you have found a simple way of doing things, but for most people the annual cost of doing this paperwork is staggering.

[yapcguy]

Worth adding that most expats probably want to live a 'normal' life in their adopted country.

That means using local bank accounts / credit cards, getting a mortgage, etc.

Being resident and working probably means the state will automatically open social security and pensions in your name.

Also, expats still have to do the tax return for their adopted country, and the tax year may not be based on a calendar year so they can't just re-use the same figures!

[LekkoscPiwa]

Well, all my income comes from the US too. The only time I worked about 6 months for Polish branch of Intel in Poland, it was easy like piece of cake. I did it with Turbo Tax.

I just can't take seriously anyone claiming that somehow US taxation is worse than that of the EU and the same goes with dealing with burocracy in general. It is MUCH worse in the EU. Just had to pay 1,000 EUR of fine on a border for 'smuggling' a MacBook I bought on a trip to the US. And that's on top of the VAT and other taxes. So, not really sure what all that BS is all about. Because when you compare EU to the US, EU leaves its population just with enough money to pay for day-2-day living expenses and not much more. HORRIBLE!

[LekkoscPiwa]

> Google for the acronym "FATCA". Sooner or later your bank will ask you to certify that you have no U.S. connections.

Trust me. In Poland. It won't. Why? Because I'm a native here and nobody knows that I have US citizenship too. It's like saying that in your US bank branch you will be asked if you have no Polish connections. No, they won't. They want their business. And on top of that there is no way for them to know.