At last year’s International Property Summit in Panama, one attendee asked me what gets me excited about real estate at this point after 25 years of investing in real estate overseas. I didn’t have a good answer. Honestly, I’m a real estate junkie. Even when I’m on vacation, I stop and look in real estate [...]
8938. That is the number of the IRS form you have to fill out to report foreign financial assets. If you own foreign assets, you have to fill out IRS Form 8938 even if you’ve lived out of the country for most of your life. However, here’s an important point: You do not have to […]
One sunny summer afternoon in 2012 I had the most expensive lunch of my life. Kathleen, the kids, and I were taking a driving tour through Italy, Austria, and Croatia. The Croatia leg was to check on the old stone house we own in Istria. We arrived in the nearest town, Livade, around lunchtime. Livade is a tiny place with a big claim to fame: this is the center of Croatia’s truffle region. Walking through the lobby of the town’s only restaurant we saw, in a glass case, an enormous bronze [...]
Today I’d like to speak with you about a little-known escape in Belize… Over the past few years, amid the pandemic and civil unrest and political upheaval in too much of the world, this little slice of paradise has been sought out by in-the-know freedom seekers. These savvy folks had an “aha! moment,” and suddenly [...]
In 1789, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to French physicist Jean-Baptiste Leroy. It contained a line that outlived both men and will likely still be around when you and I are long gone… “The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.” Now, far be it from me to factcheck The First [...]
There are plenty of advantages to living (and investing) overseas when it comes to your U.S. taxes. But not having to file every year is not one of them… Today, I’m going to bust five myths that are out there about expat taxes—and that’s the first of them. Myth #1: Overseas, You Don’t Need To [...]
Can living overseas mean you owe less to the IRS? In short: Yes. But you need to be careful. Simply moving outside the United States does not remove your obligation to pay U.S. taxes. U.S. citizens must file a return with the IRS every year, regardless of where in the world they reside. But living [...]
Whether you consider paying your taxes simply the price of living in a civilized society… or a pain in the proverbial… or downright theft… doesn’t really matter… Tax season is upon us and Uncle Sam wants what’s due. No exceptions. According to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy [...]
Can “boring” actually be good? There’s an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Such “interesting times” are fascinating to historians but they’re not much fun to experience first-hand…. They’re times of war, drought, plagues, and famine. It might also be a curse to live in an “interesting” country. The kinds of countries [...]
I’ve been planting flags for more than 25 years at this point… long before I had ever heard about the Five Flags Theory or any of the other terms used to simplify the conversation about internationalizing one’s life. Some of my flags were accidental… or incidental at first… just part of life. My first offshore [...]
Offshore Living Letter is a publication of Live and Invest Overseas. Our goal is to provide timely, actionable information on all things offshore, including: how to go offshore, diversifying your portfolio, wealth creation, protecting your assets, and much more.
