# American Expat taxes?



## salimkhop89 (Mar 11, 2021)

Any U.S. expats living and working in Barcelona that can share some insight as far as paying taxes to the US? Are you paying a lot? I’m trying to figure out how much I would pay in taxes off of a €50,000 yearly salary. I know the best way to find out would be to go to a tax accountant but thought I’d ask here first. Thanks!


----------



## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

Without knowing specifics of the US-Spain tax treaty, or Spanish taxes, I would expect that if you had no US sourced income then the chance of you owing US tax would be small.

There are two main means to reduce your US tax liability.

One, if you are eligible, use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to exclude up to $107,600 USD of earned income (limited to wages, but not including any foreign pension contributions)
Two, use Foreign Tax Credits for Spanish taxes paid or accrued during the US tax year.

Very broadly, if your foreign tax liability is less than your US tax liability it can be better to use the FEIE, but if your foreign tax liability is greater than the US liability it is better to go down the FTC route, as you can carryover any excess tax credits to help cover a future tax liability. 

Pub 54 is a tax guide for US Citizens and Resident Aliens abroad..



https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf



Pub 514 goes into the details on Foreign Tax Credits



https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p514.pdf


----------

