It’s now been a few years since moving away from the US and calling Canada home.  And let me tell you the worst thing about it.

The IRS.

Damn Uncle Sam gives me so much anxiety when it comes to residing abroad.  There are so many headaches a US expat has to be aware of when it comes to investing abroad.  But the most annoying thing is that the US taxes based off citizenship, not residency.

Oh suck it up they say.  That’s what you get for leaving the country.  Everyone who moves away has to do this.

Everyone?  No.

There are literally two countries in the entire world who tax based on citizenship.  TWO!  The US and Eritrea.

Call me crazy, but the IRS is out to lunch.  They think we are all money launders trying to come up with some tax avoidance scheme.  Rather than try to target those people who are actually doing this (or hmm… maybe change the tax structure so people/corporations don’t feel compelled to do such a thing?!) they just make us all suffer.

And anyone who is a US expat knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Here in Canada, the marginal tax rates are higher compared to the US so every single time I’ve filed, I’ve owed the US a whopping $0.  But I still have to fill.  Every.  Single.  Year.

Can you tell I am so over it?!

Breaking Up With Turbo Tax

Up until 2021 I had been using Turbo Tax to file my US taxes each year.  And every year, there would be some sort of massive headache involved.

Note that Turbo Tax for US residents is great.  It’s like SimpleTax in Canada where if you have a pretty standard filing, you can be done within a few hours.  But for those of us abroad, it is NOT built for us. I’d slowly chip away at it for 1-3 hours each night once the kiddo was asleep trying – begging – pleading for it to work.

For example, last year when clocking in hour 26 (more likely hour 40) on Turbo Tax it asked if I had any property tax from a rental outside of the US to report.  Yes, we have a rental now on our townhouse up here.  Well Turbo Tax did NOT like this and kept saying that my property taxes outside the US cannot exceed my property taxes from the US.  I don’t have any property taxes in the US!!

The online support questions and answers are pretty useless to help move on and I never felt compelled to pay extra for the online support as again the platform is not built for expats.  Let’s just say I always feel so defeated in April and I swear I’m going to renounce my citizenship each year.

During that frustration I was ready to give up and start from scratch.  I was doing a Google search trying to find a good tax filing website for US expats living abroad.

And that’s when I found my personal savior (ok that’s a bit strong but you know what I mean).

Not All Hope Is Lost

Oh Expatfile. Thank you for entering my life. As long time readers know, I only promote things that I personally use and enjoy.  And Expatfile is definitely one of those services.

Expatfile is a relatively new website (I think it started in 2019?) but it’s software is built around you, a US expat.  Turbo Tax is definitely not.  Each year they are continuing to enhance it’s features to make it more and more user friendly (this year they recently added a way for you to auto-populate your information from last year to make filing even easier if you had relatively minor changes to make year over year).

Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit)? Check

Form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income Inclusion)? Check

FBAR Instructions? Check

See the screen shot below for their pricing and coverage (and for anyone finding this post later on, check their website for current pricing):

I literally cannot tell you how much easier it was to file with this software.  I had one question which their online chat feature (with a CPA available real time – NOT A BOT!!) was super helpful with.  I was done the same day I started (granted I was very in tune with tax return numbers at this point thanks to all the hours put in with turbo tax!).  What?! I honestly could not believe it and refused to file that day as I swear I thought I missed something because it was too easy in comparison.

Now, of course Expatfile is not the only tax filing software out there to help US expats.  So please do your research and find the one that’s right for you.  But I can say from personal experience, I was very pleased with Expatfile and plan to continue using them.

You can also check out Trustpilot which has over 760 reviews for Expatfile. At the time of this writing, they have 4.9 out of 5 stars based off all of these reviews.  If you are considering using them, please read through this as I cannot stress how helpful this switch has been for me and hopefully any questions/concerns you have can be found in a review that someone else has written.

Save $20!

I’ve been working with the Expatfile team for a little while now trying to get a promo code for anyone here looking to use them.  I’m excited to announce if you use the promo code “MODERNFIMILY” (all caps, no spaces) you will receive $20 off your filing!  So if you were planning to use the $99 plan it’s now only $79. Again, here’s the link to their site to get started.

Note that they occasionally have promos going so if you see something for more than $20 of course use that one instead!  Some of those have deadlines that you must file by to get that specific promo.  But here’s an instant way to get $20 off with no strings attached.

The IRS has started accepting e-filings for 2021 returns as of January 24th, so happy tax season y’all! 🙂 🙁

And please, if you do end up using them I would love to hear from you!  Please leave a comment below letting me know if you found it easy to use as well.   I am so glad my days with Turbo Tax are over 🙂

Lastly, this is a friendly reminder for any US/Canadians out there to be aware of also filling out the FBAR with the IRA and Form T1135 with the CRA.

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7 thoughts on “Expatfile: My Favourite US Expat Tax Filing Software”

  1. Thank you for this! We’re in our second year of Canadian residency, and I’m using a professional again this year, but I’d like to start doing our taxes again myself in the next year or two. I will definitely give ExpatFile a try!

    1. You’re welcome! Hope you give Expatfile a try once you’re feeling ready/comfortable and it all goes smoothly for you!

  2. I’m so excited to try out Expatfile! (Did I just say I’m excited about tax season? I better go take my temperature…) I’VE tried a few and none have been even okay experiences. Being done in a single evening…I can’t even imagine what that would be like. I’ll let you know if I have the same experience 🙂

    1. Hahaha right – tax season is not supposed to be exciting! Granted, I was VERY in tune with my numbers after all the hours with Turbo Tax so maybe that’s why I was able to do it in a day?! Yes, please let me know how it goes from your end once you try them out 🙂

  3. Pingback: Quarterly Life & Spending Update: Q2 2023 - Modern FImily

    1. Happy to provide insight on them!

      Ah, thanks for letting me know. I reached out to the Expatfile team and they informed it that code was only good for that tax filing year. I will try to get a new one in early 2024 for the ent tax filing season and hopefully you’re able to use it!

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