Practical, up-to-date U.S. tax guidance for American citizens living abroad — FBAR, FATCA, Form 8938, FEIE, foreign tax credit, treaty positions, PFICs, and FATCA-friendly banking.
If you have ever walked into a European bank as an American and been told they don’t take U.S. citizens, you’ve met FATCA. Here is why it happens, why the bank’s clerk can’t help you, and the workarounds that actually function in 2026.
If you buy a local mutual fund or ETF in your destination country as an American expat, you have almost certainly bought a Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC). The U.S. tax treatment is so punitive that the right answer for nearly every expat is the same: don’t.
FBAR and Form 8938 are not duplicates — they are two separate filings to two separate U.S. agencies, with different thresholds, scopes, and penalties. Here is the decision tree for U.S. expats with foreign accounts.
Most non-U.S. banks no longer accept American customers. This guide lists the U.S. brokerages, multi-currency platforms, and country-specific banks that still work for American expats in 2026 — and the FBAR/Form 8938 reporting obligations you take on when you use them.
Plain-English 2026 deep dive into the US-Mexico Income Tax Convention. Saving clause, tax residency triggers, US Social Security treatment under Article 20, private pensions, dividends, capital gains, the missing totalization agreement, RFC and SAT filing mechanics, and how Mexico compares to Spain and Portugal on treaty mechanics.
Plain-English deep dive into the US-Portugal Income Tax Convention. Saving clause, tax residency tie-breakers, US Social Security treatment, pensions under IFICI, dividends, capital gains, totalization, FBAR/FATCA, and how Portugal compares to Spain on treaty-side mechanics.
A plain-English deep dive into the US-Spain Income Tax Treaty. Saving clause, tax residency tie-breakers, treatment of US Social Security, pensions, dividends, capital gains, the Roth IRA problem, wealth tax, totalization, FBAR/FATCA reporting, and Beckham Law interplay.
Should U.S. expats use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or the Foreign Tax Credit in 2026? Decision framework, four worked examples, and the 5-year switching lockout most people miss.
The two most-missed reporting issues for U.S. expats — FBAR (FinCEN 114) thresholds and penalties, plus the California domicile trap that keeps people taxed years after leaving.
Filing under the US-Mexico treaty? Our US-Mexico Tax Treaty deep-dive covers Social Security treatment, private pensions, the pending totalization agreement, and SAT filing mechanics for residents. Filing under the US-Portugal treaty? Our US-Portugal Tax Treaty deep-dive covers Article 20 pensions, IFICI interplay, dividends and capital gains, FBAR/FATCA, and how Portugal stacks up against Spain. Filing…
