# Tax preparers



## Kathryn22 (Jan 14, 2018)

Hello,

I am looking for a tax preparer who can help me complete all the necessary forms. Can anyone recommend an affordable one?

Thank you!
Kathryn


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Are you looking for someone to do only the US forms, or US and Spanish?

And your definition of "affordable" may be different from someone else's. 

For the US forms, you may want to check the IRS website for their Free File program. If your adjusted gross income is under certain limits, you may be able to access professional tax software and e-file for free. Otherwise, you could take a look at the various tax filing softwares. Prices for preparing and filing (e-filing) seem to run from as little as $25 to $200 or so, depending on the complexity of your situation.

H&R Block now has a site for expat taxpayers, where they do your tax returns for you. It's a bit pricier than the regular software, but it may meet your needs.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Kathryn22 (Jan 14, 2018)

Thank you for your suggestion, Bev. Since it's the first time I'll be doing this abroad, I'd prefer to have someone help me with it. I looked up H and R Block but they're quite expensive. Does anyone know of any others?
Thank you!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Unfortunately, if you think H&R Block is expensive, you'll really freak out when you see what the "in person" tax accountants and attorneys charge. 

Take a look at IRS publication 54 for Overseas Taxpayers and see if you think you might be able to get through on your own: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-54 It really does depend on your situation - employed, retired, married to a foreign national - and your sources of income.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

You indicate this is your first filing from overseas... Did you file yourself when you were in the US? If you did then you should find it really no more difficult, although there are a couple additional forms to consider.. Always having to file Schedule B, choices regarding using Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (2555) or Foreign Tax Credit (1116) , 8938 if your foreign accounts are above your threshold and the FBAR.

I used to always do my own taxes using just the old-fashioned fill-in PDFs (and paper and typewriter before that). I can't speak for any of the others, but I have started playing around with one of the commercial downloadable software packs. I assume that others, like it have a reasonable Q&A that walks you through all of the forms . I found that the $50-ish dollars that it cost (for the version I needed) made up for its cost by me not having to do a bunch of manual calculations as it used the input data to do all of the worksheets and refreshing myself on all the instructions. 

You may find that if you are reasonably financially literate that one of these tools with a Q&A driving your completion of the return is a happy medium (both cost and effort wise) between a fully DIY approach and a hand the problem over to someone else approach.


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## BearDown (Sep 20, 2014)

Bevdeforges said:


> Unfortunately, if you think H&R Block is expensive, you'll really freak out when you see what the "in person" tax accountants and attorneys charge. Bev


Agreed, most big accounting firms will charge at least $1,500 for a simple nonresident return and more than that for 1040s.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

As Moulard says, the various tax prep softwares (online or downloadable) are generally a relatively painless way to do a return without too much in the way of "fancy" investments. There is the IRS Free File program, though the number of options available to overseas filers is somewhat limited. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

If nothing else, the listing of tax preparation sites taking part in the Free File program gives you a reasonable list of the main online tax preparation softwares available. You can always go to their main site to see how much they charge for their services.
Cheers,
Bev


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## nzsb (Feb 16, 2018)

I'm in the process of looking for tax preparers (or maybe TurboTax) . . . One of the places I've been in contact with is Tax Samaritan. He has a downloaded e-book about expat taxes and will also provide an estimate of what it will cost you and the forms you will require. Also on his site are suggestions of about four or five other online tax prep sites and some comments about each of them. 

Anybody have any experience with Tax Samaritan or Expat Tax Professionals?


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