The Best US Tax Software for Expats in 2024

December 29, 2023 | | 6 minute read
Expat Tax Blog. Tax Tips for US Americans abroad.

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Couple filing US Taxes

If you’re a US American abroad, then you probably know of the little-known fact that you have to file and/or pay taxes once a year to the IRS. Yes, folks, IRS expat taxes are a real thing. Knowing this your second question could be, which tax software is the best for US expats?

Perhaps you send your tax forms to professionals to take care of it, or manually fill them out yourself. But chances are, you will be transitioning to the “new age” of doing taxes for expats via online software. Especially in this day and age with information overload and fake news, shuffling through all the expat tax online software options available can be a lot to figure out

Today we’re going to tell you not to worry. How to file taxes while living abroad in 2024 and which online software to use will finally be answered. We’ll walk you through the top expat tax software solutions – plus our own – to see who and what really stacks up.

MyExpatTaxes

To be honest, if the popular tax software for US tax returns worked well for US Expats, we wouldn’t have built MyExpatTaxes from scratch. Our US Expat Tax Software is only for US Expats, making the process for Americans Abroad as easy as possible. Most of our expats finish filing their taxes in less than 30 minutes.

Thus, filing US taxes from the UK, the EU, and beyond has become much simpler.

US Expats just need to fill out some basic information (nothing complicated) such as where do you work abroad, how long have you been abroad, and what type of income sources you have. From there we will determine the best expat tax benefits and forms for you to use on your return including:

  • Form 2555: Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
  • Form 8833: Tax Treaty Disclosure
  • Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR)
  • Form 1116: Foreign Tax Credit
  • Form 8938: Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets (FATCA)
  • Form 8621: PFIC Forms, including instant QEF Elections* (*tax season 2023!)

Price-wise, we are the pricier tax software at first glance, but in the end a very affordable solution. For the federal US tax return and FBAR, we charge a flat rate of 149€, including all applicable sales tax. Our special software includes online expat tax filing and great customer support that even won the Best US Expat Tax Services Company of 2023 by Acquisition International and Leading Software for US Expats by Bold Awards.

You don’t need a US address to send your US tax return from abroad. Once you complete the process through our software, we’ll electronically submit all the forms needed to the IRS. It’s that awesome, and we also take a lot of unnecessary time away from you.

Additionally, we at MyExpatTaxes also assist in providing tax guides to answer the big questions. For example, we encounter questions like “How to pay US taxes while living abroad” or anything related to “American working abroad taxes” on a daily basis.

Results for Best US Tax Software for Expats

Obviously, we cannot judge the best US Expat Tax Software for Expats because we are passionate about our MyExpatTaxes expat tax software. But don’t just take our word for it, check out what our customers had to say about our Software on TrustPilot.

However, we believe our clients’ reviews can provide some perspective:

I almost panicked when I realized that I need to file US taxes. After some googling I found MyExpatTaxes and must say it made all the difference. Simple and easy app to work with, a real person who reviewed my returns and simple instructions to complete the process of the streamlined returns.

Osk, US Expat in Iceland

My Expat Taxes is the perfect way to file taxes as an American expat living abroad. Their team is knowledgeable, specialized, kind and speedy. This was my second time using their services and I will continue to each time I file; they make the process quick and easy.

Devon, US Expat in France

Since I discovered MyExpatTaxes I feel that my US tax filing requirement is not really a burden anymore. Their process/ software is really easy to use and understand and the price to use their software really reasonable. I’m very happy I discovered MyExpatTaxes

Barrett, US Expat in Germany

TurboTax

TurboTax is designed specifically for US taxpayers living and working in America. This means that their support for US Expats is limited because they are “Tax Prep USA Support.” So questions like “how to pay us taxes from abroad” may be tricky for TurboTax to answer.

The first form TurboTax has available is Form 2555, also known as Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), which allows you to exclude a certain amount of foreign earned income from any US tax. For this tax year (2023) you can exclude up to $120,000.

Turbotax Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is available, however, to claim it, you will need to do a lot of prep work yourself before the software will jump in, such as:

  • Determine which Form 2555 test you qualify under
  • Calculate the duration for of your qualifying time abroad
  • Convert your foreign earned income to USD yourself

The second expat tax form that this software only allows in its software is Form 1116, which allows expats to use their foreign income taxes paid as a Turbotax foreign tax credit on their US tax return.

The Turbotax US software does NOT offer Form 8833 for Treaty Based Disclosures, which is critical for expats. Rather, TurboTax will tell you to download Form 8833 yourself, fill it out and attach it to your prepared tax return. After, you’ll need to mail the papers in and pay for postage.

Additionally, TurboTax does not offer Form 8621 for Passive Investment Company reporting requirements. This is if you are a direct or indirect shareholder of a passive foreign investment company. US Expats who have foreign mutual funds or other types of interest in foreign passive investment companies will need to use Form 8621 to report their distributions.

As a US expat using TurboTax, you normally have to use the Premier Edition for $89, which will only cover the federal return. However, if you are self-employed, you automatically will need to use the $169 version.

TurboTax does not offer the FBAR. The Foreign Bank Account Report is a form that you as a US American abroad are required to fill out if you have a bank (or any other financial) account established overseas. You won’t be taxed on your foreign bank account because of this specific form. It is informational only. However, the fines for not filing this form can be up to $10,000.

Many US expats try to stick with Turbotax. Yet when they move abroad, they find out that the popular tax software isn’t necessarily ideal for their international situation. A new moving abroad tax return online software is required to fit the needs of US Americans abroad. Want to know what it is? Check out the expatriate tax returns reviews in the next sections below.

TaxAct

Like TurboTax, TaxAct is “tax software USA” and does support forms 2555 and 1116. However, with this tax software, you as a US expat will need to know how to find these forms within their software. Finding the forms include shuffling around through the program with sweats of frustration, which for many expats, they don’t have time for.

For example, to use Form 1116 to claim Foreign Taxes Paid, you would need to, essentially do it yourself and know to choose this option either with Form 2555 or over Form 1116.

  • Click Manual Input Worksheet to enter the information … which will populate the Forms 1116 in your return.
  • Determine which category of income you are claiming
  • Enter the amount of income in USD
  • Define the type of income
  • Calculate the foreign taxes paid or accrued in USD

Similar to TurboTax, TaxAct does not support Forms 8833 and 8621. As a quick reminder, Form 8833 is for Treaty Based Disclosures, and 8621 is for Passive Investment Company reporting requirements.

US Expat users of TaxAct will need to use the Premier+ Version, which starts at $64.99. TaxAct cannot electronically the FBAR on your behalf.

TaxAct, normally the more “affordable” tax software in America can provide less of a user-friendly guidance system to help US expats file taxes efficiently and all online.

Who has the Best Tax Software for Expats in 2024?

Paying taxes abroad, and the US expatriate tax system is two topics expats tend to Google when they realize their obligation to the IRS. But at the end of the day, filing US expat taxes already seems unnecessary. We are all in the fight for residence-based taxation. So, why not use a US tax return software that makes it as simple as possible to file from abroad?

We at MyExpatTaxes are a working tax software company that has all the tax forms for US citizens living abroad. Plus we have some exciting developments for foreign expats in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Written by Ellen M

December 29, 2023 | | 6 minute read

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