Happy New Year, 2020 Fellow Expats!

Our view of the Harbor in La Paz, BCS

Happy New Year everyone! ​It's been a wild ride so far.  We have the chance to look back and reflect on everything we've done and all the places we have been (and all the places we plan to visit this year too!)

We are planning a very quick trip back to the U.S. for business this week. We are finding that our trips back to the U.S. are getting shorter and shorter, and most of what we need to do we can now do online. 

We finally bit the bullet this year and got a foreign bank account, (we also kept our US-based accounts) but this means that we have to file an FBAR this year (bummer). My wife is filing our FBAR because she has an accounting background, but she only plans do it for us (she doesn't file FBARs for any clients because of the liability attached it it).

Similar to regular U.S. tax filings, there is no need to register as a professional to file the FBAR as an individual, but most expats get professional help from a CPA, enrolled agent, or attorney to file their FBARs. 

Most of our banking can be done online, and if we have anything that needs to be signed and mailed back to the U.S. with a wet signature (i.e., an "original signature")  we have found that DHL is the most reliable method for mailing documents outside the U.S. 

Some trips are inevitable, of course. But everything is getting easier for us to manage, our lives, our finances, everything. 

Here's to another year of expat living!