RetireJapan

TokyoWart, thanks very much for this information. That was actually my next question- what kind of tax obligation do I have in Japan for my US investments? Your answer was very helpful: "If you are considered a tax resident of Japan (generally 5 years after moving here) Japan will tax you on wo...

Hey there RetireJapan. Stupid question for you, but I just wanted to double-check something. My income is earned in Japan and I file the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion every year. I can still use this income to invest in US index funds with US investment firms, right?

Hey there. Just wanted to jump in and say I have always only used Vanguard for my investing and I've not had any problems. I'm not sure where reports of them not liking expats come in. (Anyone with a contradictory experience, please feel free to let us know.) My address on record with Vanguard is my...

Thank you for the contact! I will look him up. Regarding the CP2000, yeah it means what the IRS heard about you is different from what you told them. I hired a tax representative to help me out because I do not have time to dig into my records from years ago (literally, I would if I could but I'm co...

Thank you all for your tips. One of the problems in all of this is we aren't sure where we'll be in the next five years, let alone fifteen, so for now renting sounds like the way to go. In the future, buying a depreciated house may be on the table. I've heard that some people bought only a house whe...

Thanks captainspoke. Yeah... Even though I may not be required to file in future years, I get the sinking feeling it's better to just file anyway, rather than have to justify not filing later in case I trip some flag. If it's easy to do, the time upfront is probably worth the piece of mind.

Hey RetireJapan. Question for US members out there. But before that, a brief rant. This year I found out about the existence of FBAR, some form US expats have to file if, at any time during the year, they had a non-US bank account or accounts that totaled the equivalent of $10,000 or more. First off...

Hello Retire Japan. So, this is my fifth year of living in Japan and I've never had any problems filing my US taxes (done myself), but this year I was hit with a CP2000 for 2016 and it really freaked me out. It was totally unexpected, and even today I still don't completely understand what caused it...

Hello RetireJapan. So many questions, so little time. Before getting on with it, I just want to say how thankful I am to have found a community with people who are in the same boat as me- expats staying in Japan, usually for the long haul, who want to make a sound financial situation for themselves....

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your replies. I'm still trying to digest this information along with the rest of the information in this forum, and it has been very helpful.