Filing taxes

[jenh]

My CPA and my company's accountants from Deloitte have confirmed with me that you are eligible for the foreign income exclusion if you live outside of the US for the requisite numbers of days/year (330 I think) even if you are paid in US dollars by a US company into a US bank account. If you are resident in another country, it counts.

I know many Americans who do this, and yes, the exemption is up to a certain amount (used to be 80,000 but I think you are right that it is now higher in the range of 91500)

 

[gouchobob]

Lee
If you haven't already talked to a CPA, I would really recommend you do so. Given what you've shared - that you run your own business(es), that you live overseas, that you earn a comfortable living - a CPA would probably have a lot of strategies to help you maximize your deductions and return.

Turbotax is great - I used it for years but after a certain complexity level (and I definitely include any business owner in that category), a CPA is a better bet and really, not that much more expensive. A professional is up to date on all the latest changes to laws, knows things that most of us never will and will make your life much, much easier.

I used Turbotax for years and when I switched to having a CPA prepare my taxes, they went back and found a lot of things I had overpaid on. It wasn't the fault of TT, I simply didn't know what I didn't know and there were lots of deductions I missed inputting.

It really comes down to your own personal expertise and complexity of your tax situation that dictates which way a person should handle theirs.