For various reasons, people, including those with U.S. tax obligations,  have long taken advantage of the option to use so-called "nominees" to hold legal title to some of their non-U.S. assets. But while there can be arguably good reasons for doing so, especially in countries where Shariah Law can dictate how assets are distributed when someone dies, it can also result in huge and unexpected problems.

Here, in an excerpt from her most recent blog, Dubai-based tax expert Virginia La Torre Jeker considers some of the issues that can arise.

Some 97% of a cross-section of American expatriates surveyed by the overseas arm of the Democratic party in January and early February report that they have "serious problems addressing their U.S. tax filing obligations" every year.

The U.S. government may still be largely shut down, but non-U.S. resident Americans who have U.S. tax reporting obligations may now be able to kick off the 2018 reporting season by filing their 2018 Foreign Bank Account Reports, as the official FBAR exchange rates have just been published.

The U.K.'s royal family is looking to recruit "a firm of U.S. financial consultants" to help its in-house aides as they "struggle to deal with the Duchess of Sussex's "American tax 'nightmare'," a U.K. Sunday newspaper is reporting today, in what it says is an exclusive report.

A video of a seminar held last month in London, which focused on legislative efforts currently under way in Washington to address the significant tax problems currently facing many American expatriates, has been posted on YouTube. 

The American Citizens Abroad, the main non-partisan Washington lobbying group representing American expats around the world, today urged the U.S. Treasury Department to introduce a so-called de minimis rule to its latest draft of new tax regulations, in order to address what it said were problems inherent in the legislation that, if not changed, would cause major problems for many U.S. citizens living abroad.  

Paul Hocking, one of the best-known figures in the U.K.'s American expat-focused tax community, has died in an accident in Africa, it has been announced.

The U.S. has announced it is extending the right to qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) to U.S. citizens and resident aliens who can demonstrate that they have supported the U.S. Armed Forces in designated combat zones, even if their “abode", or tax home, were in the United States rather than abroad.

 In 2015, Congress enacted a law that would revoke the passports of U.S. citizens who were “seriously delinquent” on their U.S. taxes. The enforcement threshold was set relatively high, however – at US$50,000 in outstanding tax, interest and penalties. (A provision was included to adjust annually for inflation going forward, so the amount now stands at US$51,000.) 

It used to be so easy: Americans moved overseas for work or other reasons, paid taxes – or didn’t – and then either returned home, or stayed on.