When I first began talking about the idea of investing IRA funds offshore more than 15 years ago, people wrote to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Couldn’t be done, they insisted… the IRS didn’t allow it. Today, an industry exists to help people take their IRAs offshore. Why would you […]
What if you could go anywhere, do anything, and spend your time and your money any way you wanted? As we stand now at the start of New Year 2017, my question is not rhetorical, for, indeed, you could go anywhere, you could do anything, and you could spend your days and invest your capital […]
One thing to consider when buying real estate in another country is to do with the requirements for repatriating your funds if and when you decide to sell the property. Often, transferring money out of a country isn’t as simple as calling your bank and initiating a wire of the funds. Some jurisdictions, including Colombia […]
I listened to the presidential debate last night while finishing my 2015 tax return. I’m not sure which one bothered me more. My tax return is more than 50 pages. It’s mostly information forms reporting my assets rather than actual income reporting. My non-American friends laugh when I complain to them about what a pain […]
The Oct. 15 deadline looms. That is, any American who filed for an extension is now buckling down to prepare his 2015 tax return… myself included. One related topic that has been generating lots of questions for me lately is foreign disregarded entities. Even professional tax-filers seem to be confused as to how these work. […]
A friend is trying to figure out where to move overseas with his family. He’s a freelance consultant, so all he needs to be in business is an Internet connection. In other words, he could go almost anywhere, which is making it difficult for him to decide what to do. He started by narrowing his […]
Putting aside the challenges FATCA has created for Americans (in fact, for everyone) wanting to open bank accounts overseas, the filing requirements and