Cheapest way to file taxes as US expats?

[vu7]

Hi there, say if you have some income in both the US and Japan, what's the best way, or the cheapest way to file your taxes assuming you have ordinary dividend and some capital gain tax and some W-2 income?

 

[Toritoribe]

Just to confirm, what is your purpose to come to Japan in the first place? If you really want to learn in a Japanese university, I believe it's far more useful to learn Japanese instead of asking about those kinds of information in detail.

What is your answer to Glenski-san's questions in the following thread, by the way?
Graduate admission without letter of recommendation? | Japan Forum

 

[Buntaro]

Vu,

Did you pay taxes to Japan for your Japanese income? If so, you can subtract the taxes you paid to Japan from the taxes you owe in America. I use the American standard deduction, and this means the taxes I owe to a foreign country is more than the tax charged by America, so you should come out ahead.

what is your purpose to come to Japan in the first place

Irrelevant to the question being asked.

 

[vu7]

Vu,

Did you pay taxes to Japan for your Japanese income? If so, you can subtract the taxes you paid to Japan from the taxes you owe in America. I use the American standard deduction, and this means the taxes I owe to a foreign country is more than the tax charged by America, so you should come out ahead.



Irrelevant to the question being asked.

Thanks for your response! I know there's the foreign tax credit and foreign income threshold or something like that. But do you use things like Turbo tax or something to file your tax? Or you just go hard core using pen and paper and fill out your 1040 and stuff yourself?

 

[vu7]

Just to confirm, what is your purpose to come to Japan in the first place? If you really want to learn in a Japanese university, I believe it's far more useful to learn Japanese instead of asking about those kinds of information in detail.

What is your answer to Glenski-san's questions in the following thread, by the way?
Graduate admission without letter of recommendation? | Japan Forum

I am trying to apply for some universities in Japan at this moment and if I actually move to Japan I'll still have to file my US tax return as there will be some US based income while I could potentially also have some income in Japan.:emoji_sweat_smile::emoji_sweat_smile::emoji_sweat_smile:

 

[Buntaro]

I do it by hand. By the way, if you are in Japan for more than one month of a year, I believe you can use the foreign tax credit but not the foreign income threshold (form 2555). I don't know if Turbo tax can handle the foreign tax credit.

 

[Toritoribe]

Irrelevant to the question being asked.

To that specific question in this thread, yes, it might be so, but it seemed to me that his entry into a Japanese university was just a means to come to Japan, and he actually wanted to work in Japan by his questions so far (the "cheapest" university, penalty for overstaying, no response to the question about his major/field, etc.).
He said his questions are for his future scenes, then I believe my opinion "learning Japanese is far more useful for him now" is relevant.

 

[mdchachi]

Just use TurboTax, the same way you would do it in the U.S. It's even easier than it used to be since you can now e-file. For Japan side, I'm not sure because that was handled by company in my Japan days but if you have to file yourself I believe it's relatively easy.

 

[Seiko]

Check out expat.com, and see if anyone there can help you. wish i could be more of a help. Hope this link helps with more answer

US Taxes, Saigon forum