why: so the government won’t be able to use your money for whatever the fuck they’re planning for the next 4 years.
as a traveler, none of my money has been funding Israel, for example.
one-step method: you basically fill out one extra tax form called FEIE while you’re doing your taxes, write down the dates you were outside of the country, and then since you aren’t in the country and are not receiving any services from the US, you don’t have to pay income tax up to a certain amount (it’s a little over 125k this year).
man I’m not going to read all that garbage. the fact is, your tax professional who didn’t know about the 2555 was an utter hack. someone else mentioning it to you is fortuitous for yourself, but its not the secret sacred hack you think it is. it’s understood by everyone else I know that lives outside the US. if you were paying taxes on your income to the US under 125k its because you hired an incompetent to help you with your taxes, or can’t read.
“man I’m not going to read…”
consistency is key.
“your tax professional who didn’t know about the 2555 was an utter hack”
proving you can’t read properly straight away, I see.
“it’s understood by everyone else I know that lives outside the US.”
this is incorrect, the feie is not commonly known about by US expats in my real experience in the real world(which you can infer by the fact that I know what I’m talking about and am burdened with correcting your numerous errors)
I have yet to meet a single person that knows about the feie abroad.
“if you were paying taxes on your income to the US under 125k…”
I was not. that is the whole point of this post.