Comments on: How to File U.S. Taxes From Japan

By: Robert Skope

Robert Skope — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:09:12 +0000

With due respect, first comment from Doug is nonsense – as a US citizen you are legally required to file US tax return every year. Not doing so risks losing the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. See more here: http://www.taxesforexpats.com/expat-tax-advice/why-file.html

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:23:57 +0000

I put my foreign address. Didn’t use my home address anywhere.

By: M

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:58:27 +0000

So for the 1040 in the address blank, did you guys enter your US address or your foreign address despite the foreign info needed on 2555(ez)…? I cant find a straight answer on what to do. Im hoping its just home because thats what I typed on my PDF print out….

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:00:28 +0000

Also, your blog is really interesting and a fun read! It’s been added to my google reader :)

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:59:06 +0000

Daniel: Thanks again, sound good. I will send in the 8802 form, for shits and giggles if not anything else. Haha that’s interesting that you can see where we are… yep, CIR here in fabulous Fukuoka City. How long were you in Fukushima? And how is living in big, bad Tokyo? I’d love to hear more about your experiences.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:40:24 +0000

Emily – Glad to be of help. I would talk to your Contracting Organization and see if anyone knows anything about it. It sounds like Doug filled it out, so it might be worth doing, and you still have plenty of time before you need to do anything. (And can I just say that I’m extremely jealous that you’re CIRing in Fukuoka…shows me the IP of all commenters, heh.)

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:53:30 +0000

Hi Daniel, thanks for writing up this great resource! I’m glad I stumbled onto it, since I’m a first year CIR and am preparing to file my US taxes. So are you saying even CIRs SHOULD file the 8802 form? Thanks again!

By: Van

Van — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:27:25 +0000

DANIEL-SAN! DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!!! TOTEMO TASUKARIMASU!!

This is so detailed too!!

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:38:40 +0000

Daniel: no prob, I think it’s great to have this kind of info up online all in one place, should help plenty of people – not just JETs – a whole bunch.

I believe the place I used was http://www.taxactonline.com if I’m not mistaken… if you decide to keep your records on their database (totally secure, of course) then it’s totally simple as most everything is already done but the numbers, simple plug and play, electronic submissions and all. As long as your home state’s cool with that, which most are nowadays.

And yeah, I don’t think they really care as much when they know they’re not getting a red cent from you anyway.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:39:59 +0000

Doug – Thanks for the tip! Confirms my suspicion that the IRS doesn’t really care about you when you’re abroad as long as you’re making less than the amount you can exclude. What site do you use to do your taxes electronically? I tried to do that my first year on JET but couldn’t find a site that was user-friendly.

Wes – Thanks for the info – even if it comes at the expense of shameless self-promotion. ;o)