April 14, 2014
Panama City, Panama

Lief is busy on stage emceeing the first day of this week’s Global Property Summit. Kathleen Peddicord reports on his behalf, live from the scene…

Dear Offshore Living Letter Reader,

To the stage in the meeting room of the Riu Hotel this morning, I welcomed the first panel of global property investing experts convened in Panama City for this week’s Global Property Summit. Lief Simon, Lee Harrison, Mike Cobb, and Kent Davis took their places for an hour of discussion centered on the first question of the day:

Why buy property overseas?

Lief: “Diversification. I see real estate as the ultimate vehicle for diversification—across countries, markets, economies, politics, currencies, asset types…” Continue reading “Why Foreign Property Is The Ultimate Vehicle For Portfolio Diversification” »

April 10, 2014
Panama City, Panama

Dear Offshore Living Letter Reader,

Next week (April 15) is T-Day—that is, Tax Day—in the United States.

If you’re living outside the States, you have an automatic filing extension until June 15; however, any taxes due still must be paid by April 15 to avoid penalties. You also have the option of applying for a six-month extension, pushing your filing deadline to Oct. 15, even if you’re not living outside the United States. Again, though, taxes owed are still due by April 15.

If you are living outside the States, you can request yet another two-month extension from the Oct. 15 extension if you can show a good reason why you need the additional time.

Why all the extension opportunities? Because the tax system in the United States is probably the most complicated in the world. Even simple wage-earners with but single W-2s can have trouble figuring out which forms to complete thanks to things like the Earned Income Credit (not to be confused with the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion). Continue reading “Filing Requirements For Americans With Offshore Assets” »