Filing US taxes from abroad is mandatory for every American living overseas, regardless of country of residence, and often comes as an unexpected layer of complexity on top of local taxation.
The IRS doesn’t care where you live. If you hold a US passport, you owe the United States a tax return every year, whether you’re in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, or Bangkok. The US is one of only two countries in the world that taxes its citizens based on citizenship rather than residency. The other is Eritrea. That’s the reality behind expat taxes, and it catches most Americans off guard during their first year abroad.
How many Americans actually live overseas
Around 5.5 million Americans live abroad, according to the Association of Americans Resident Overseas. Other estimates from the US State Department and World Population Review put the figure closer to 8 million. 100% of Americans must consider US tax filing.
Most expats owe no additional tax to the IRS thanks to exclusions and credits, but they must still file.
What filing from abroad actually involves
Filing US taxes from abroad isn’t a quick afternoon job. The typical expat return has several moving parts:
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- The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114), required if the total value of your foreign accounts (checking, savings, joint accounts, and certain pension accounts) tops $10,000 at any point in the tax year, even for one day.
- Form 2555, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which lets you exclude roughly $130,000 of foreign-earned income for the 2025 tax year.
- Form 1116, the Foreign Tax Credit, which offsets taxes you’ve paid to your country of residence against your US liability.
- The relevant bilateral tax treaty (the US-Austria treaty, US-Germany treaty, US-UK treaty, etc.) must be applied correctly so you’re not taxed twice on pensions, dividends, or capital gains.
Hiring a US-based CPA who actually understands expat returns costs $500 to $2,000 a year, and many CPAs don’t specialize in this area at all.
The result is predictable: missed credits, overpaid tax, or expats who give up and just don’t file.
Where MyExpatTaxes fits in
MyExpatTaxes is a Vienna-based tax filing platform built specifically for Americans living outside the US. It was founded by Nathalie Goldstein, an expat in Austria who got tired of how expensive and slow traditional filing was and it’s now one of the most affordable options on the market.
Their plans begin at $115 (99 EUR) under Base Lite for people who are required to file but don’t need any add ons like the FBAR. The base plan starts at $175 (€149) and includes Federal, FBAR, Schedule C for the self-employed and Schedule D for investors, while competitors typically charge around $199 for the same coverage.
Because the company is based in Vienna, it handles European situations the way you’d hope: euro-to-dollar conversions, Austrian pension reporting and the US-Austria (or other country of residence) treaty are all baked into the software.
How it works
You start for free, pay only when you’re satisfied and ready to file. The basic flow looks like this:
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- Create an account and enter your situation, including where you live, your income type, your dependents and any foreign accounts.
- The software walks you through the expat-specific forms (over 40 are included).
- If things get complicated, you can upgrade to the Premium plan and have a real tax professional review and sign your return. There’s also an option to upgrade for a 30-minute video call with a Tax Professional.
- Once you confirm the numbers, they e-file your return with the IRS.
Real people, not AI, handle support at every step, which matters when you’re trying to make sense of an IRS notice at 11 pm local time.
Deadlines worth knowing
April 15 is still the main US tax deadline and it’s the date by which any tax owed must be paid. Americans living abroad get an automatic extension to June 15 to file the return itself (no form required for this extension), but interest on any unpaid tax still accrues from April 15. If you need more time after that, file Form 4868 by June 15 to push your filing deadline to October 15.
October 15 is also the FBAR deadline. The FBAR is a separate filing requirement that catches many people because it applies even if you don’t owe any US tax and even if your foreign account balance is modest. Long-term expats who haven’t owed in years can still be penalized for missing the FBAR.
What customers say
“All other providers were too expensive or complicated. MyExpatTaxes were very responsive to any queries I had and very easy to complete the forms. Definitely recommend them to my fellow expats.”
“I use MyExpatTaxes and recommend it to all my clients because it gives me back my autonomy. Once I’ve plugged in my information, the system gives me a great overview of what I made and where I might be able to save some more money.”
Getting started
Whether you’re filing for the first time this year or catching up on missed years through the IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, you can sign up free at myexpattaxes.com. You only pay once you’re ready to file. New users who subscribe to the newsletter get $25 off their first filing, which brings the base plan down to $150.
Filing US taxes from abroad doesn’t have to be the worst week of your year. With software actually built for it, it’s an evening’s work.
