Essential guides for Americans living abroad
Every guide here is built around a real filing decision — not a textbook definition. The goal is to help you choose correctly, file confidently, and avoid the mistakes that cost expats money every year.
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
Who qualifies, how the exclusion works, when it helps, and where expats get tripped up.
Read the guide →FEIE vs Foreign Tax Credit
The most important strategic choice you will make. The right answer depends entirely on where you live and what you earn.
Compare options →FBAR and FATCA Filing
Foreign accounts, balance thresholds, reporting rules, and how to avoid penalties that start at $10,000 per violation.
Check requirements →Country Guides for 🇺🇸 Americans Abroad
🇲🇽 Mexico, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇬🇧 UK, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇦🇺 Australia, 🇦🇪 UAE, and 11 more — where you live changes every filing decision you make.
Browse all countries →Streamlined Filing Procedure
Missed returns or FBARs? The IRS has a legal, penalty-free path back into compliance for non-willful cases. Here is how it works.
See how it works →Expat Tax Deadlines
April 15, June 15, October 15 — what each date means for you, and why extensions delay filing but not always interest charges.
View timeline →Moving Abroad Checklist
Documents, banking, U.S. tax setup, health insurance, and FBAR awareness — what to handle before departure and in the first months after arrival.
View checklist →Country Guides for 🇺🇸 Americans Abroad
Where you live changes everything — which elections make sense, whether a tax treaty applies, how your bank accounts are classified, and what the IRS expects from you. These guides cover the specifics for 17 major expat destinations.
🇦🇺 Australia · 🇯🇵 Japan · 🇫🇷 France · 🇹🇭 Thailand · 🇵🇭 Philippines · 🇮🇱 Israel · 🇰🇷 South Korea · 🇪🇸 Spain · 🇮🇳 India · 🇶🇦 Qatar · 🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇨🇳 China
Understand your situation before you file
Fourteen free tools built around the decisions expats actually face. Use them to orient yourself before diving into the guides — or to pressure-test what your tax preparer is telling you.
FEIE Eligibility Checker
Answer five questions and see whether the physical presence or bona fide residence route looks stronger for your situation.
FEIE vs FTC Calculator
Enter your income and foreign taxes paid. See which strategy may leave you with a lower U.S. tax bill before you commit to either.
FBAR Threshold Checker
Track combined foreign account balances and understand whether you are approaching or crossing the $10,000 reporting line.
Expat Deadline Calendar
See the full filing timeline with extension dates, FBAR deadlines, and practical reminders built for 🇺🇸 Americans living overseas.
Residency Day Calculator
Track travel days to model FEIE 330-day eligibility and estimated tax-residency status across India, UAE, Singapore, Thailand, and more.
The five above are the most-used. The full tools hub adds Physical Presence Test, Form 8938 Threshold Checker, Foreign Housing Exclusion, SE Tax Abroad, Streamlined Filing Cost Estimator, Take-Home Pay Abroad, International Transfer Cost, Travel Medical Insurance Estimator, and Cost of Living Abroad.
Fourteen years abroad. Filed from three countries. Built this because nothing else was honest enough.
Fourteen years in international operations — eight-plus years in Qatar's energy sector, three-plus years on manufacturing assignments in China, and now based in Hyderabad, India. The FEIE elections, FBAR filings, and treaty headaches are real: I navigated them personally.
"Most expat tax sites either drown you in jargon or oversimplify everything into uselessness. I built ClearedExpat because I wanted the resource I wished existed when I was filing from Qatar."
This site is educational content written from direct experience — not a law firm, not a CPA practice. The guides reflect real filing decisions made across multiple countries and tax situations. Always verify important choices with a licensed professional who knows your specific circumstances.
Know where you stand before you file a single form
Four documents compiled from real filing experience: the FEIE vs FTC decision framework, FBAR checklist, software comparison, and country-specific cheat sheets. Free. No hard sell. No fluff.