As IRS Claims Foreign Tax System is Simple, Some Citizens Scoff Abroad
The Internal Revenue Service claims that its stance on international taxation is a simple one, but many of the country's citizens and business owners would be inclined to disagree. The IRS claims that income earned by Americans anywhere in the world is subject to the same taxation as prevails in the United States itself, which would seem to be a relatively simple system to understand. In fact, though, a range of potential loopholes and standard deductions and shelters make the actual situation a lot more complicated.
That could be seen as impressive, given how complicated the country's domestic tax system is known to be already. While there are continuing efforts to simply things on the domestic side, though, international taxation has received far less scrutiny and attention of this sort over the years. That leaves the international tax situation every bit as complex as it has always been and no less.
While many individual taxpayers working in the United States, for example, feel comfortable filing their own taxes, far fewer who work abroad take advantage of this option. Although the forms that need to be submitted and the taxes that need to be paid are said to be the same, the reality is that a number of factors will tend to make the tax situations of those located abroad more complex.
One of these is that, contrary to what the Internal Revenue Service claims, the basic rules are different. Instead of only income below a poverty-level limit being free of tax, those working abroad are allowed to write off much more of their foreign salaries or other compensation. In some cases, simply being apprised of this and taking advantage can make a difference of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the tax bill that will ultimately be owed.
Because of this, in many more cases than is usual on the domestic front, people living abroad seek out professional help with their tax situations. Companies like http://www.flottco.com/ offer up economical services to people in this situation, making it easy to judge whether the fees paid will be justified by the tax savings to be expected.
While the humble rosy picture that the IRS paints of the country's taxes on international income might be suspect, then, the reality is that there is often relatively little reason to worry. Working abroad might mean needing to seek out some additional help, but there is plenty of that to be found at reasonable prices.
