# Self employed expat taxes



## Katthecat (Apr 18, 2012)

Hello,
I am a US citizen that has been living in Poland for almost 10 years now. Two years ago I started my own company in Poland (services, it is me and a couple of employees - a small business). 

I have read through pub 54 and pub 334. I'm trying to figure out where to start. I have a number of invoices but I do have expenses (renting office space, employee salaries, etc). Where do I start? It looks like I have to do double accounting (Polish and US) for my business (this is just insane). The $92,900 exclusion for 2011 is that gross income (so for me that would be the sum of sales before expenses?) 

I'm lucky because Poland and the US signed a totalization agreement in 2009 so the self-employment tax doesn't affect me because I pay the Polish equivalent. At least that is my understanding for this issue. 

I would appreciate some help with this. Definitely feeling overwhelmed with this.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

If you are truly "self-employed" then, yes, the $92,000 does seem to include your gross revenues before you take your expenses on Schedule C. BUT, is your business registered in any form with the Polish government and does it pay its own taxes in Poland? 

You mention having to do double accounting - if you're reporting your business' results in Poland and paying tax on that, you may be able to treat your business as your employer and just report what you are paid (or what you take out of the business) like you were a salaried employee. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## Katthecat (Apr 18, 2012)

The form of registration I have here in Poland is that it is me as the individual paying taxes based on invoices not a salary. I would have to be something like an LLC as then it would be the company paying taxes to the government. 

Re: my business being my employer, where can I read more about that? 






Bevdeforges said:


> If you are truly "self-employed" then, yes, the $92,000 does seem to include your gross revenues before you take your expenses on Schedule C. BUT, is your business registered in any form with the Polish government and does it pay its own taxes in Poland?
> 
> You mention having to do double accounting - if you're reporting your business' results in Poland and paying tax on that, you may be able to treat your business as your employer and just report what you are paid (or what you take out of the business) like you were a salaried employee.
> Cheers,
> Bev


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

That sounds like of like our "auto-entrepreneur" statute here in France. Actually, if they have the same sorts of limits on it in Poland that they do in France, what I would do is just declare your invoices as your revenue, and exclude them under the FEIE. (The limits for the AE registration in France are well under the $92K limit for the FEIE.)

You never actually HAVE to take the deductions you're entitled to, so no need to fuss with Schedule C. As long as you can exclude all your income on the form 2555 you can simplify your returns tremendously. 

It's only if you have a self-employment business that is taking in more than $92K (or whatever the limit is this year) that you need to get involved with the Schedule C.
Cheers,
Bev


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