What makes it contractors different from an ordinary filing?
An independent IT contractor abroad is running a business, which raises the permanent-establishment question about the contractor's own company and, in some systems, the personal-services-business rules that deny it ordinary treatment. An ordinary preparer applies the general rule and stops there, which is how the relief in the specific provision goes unclaimed.
Can you work with my existing accountant?
That is how most of these engagements run. They keep the domestic file, we take the cross-border piece, and the boundary is agreed in writing so nothing is done twice or missed.
How do you sequence two countries' filing deadlines?
For a contractor moving between a home country return and a host country return, the order matters because one return often needs a figure from the other before it can be finished — a foreign tax credit calculation, for instance. We map out which return has to be substantially complete first, request extensions where the rule allows it, and track both calendars together rather than treating them as separate engagements. The goal is that neither return gets filed on stale figures.
What if my contract ends partway through the tax year?
A contract ending partway through the year does not shorten your filing obligation, and in some cases it changes it — a departure from a host country mid-year can trigger a part-year return there in addition to the full-year return in your home country. We build the calendar around your actual contract dates rather than the calendar year, so a short assignment does not get filed as though it ran the full year on either side.
Does a short-term IT contract still require filing in both countries?
Length of the contract is not what decides whether a filing obligation exists — presence, source of payment, and residency ties are. A short contract can still create a filing requirement in the host country if you were paid there or physically present for enough of the year, while your home country return continues regardless because your residency there has not changed. We review the specific contract terms before setting the calendar, rather than assuming a short assignment means no additional filing.
What is double taxation?
Double taxation means the same income being taxed by two authorities. It comes in two forms: juridical, where two countries each tax one person on one amount, and economic, where two different people are taxed on the same underlying profit — a company on its earnings and a shareholder on the dividend paid out of them. Relief comes from a treaty, a foreign tax credit, or an exemption, and which one applies depends on the income type. How to avoid double taxation sets out the routes.
Do American citizens living abroad have to pay taxes?
American expats and green card holders need to file US returns for life, and many of them pay little or no US tax once the relief is applied — but the filing is what unlocks the relief, so the two questions have different answers. The exclusion for foreign earned income, the credit for foreign tax already paid and the treaty between the two countries between them usually leave the total at roughly the higher of the two countries' tax rather than the sum. Skip the return and none of it applies. See Americans abroad.
