Expat Taxes – Can you do them yourself?

I’m going to figure that out!

I am now living in Mexico City with my Mexican temporary residence. I’m self-employed so I have had an accountant in Michigan handling my taxes for the past six year. Now that I’m fully settled in as an official expat, I’ve been learning about expat taxes and some of the specialties related to them. My accountant has decided it’s best that I find an accountant who specializes in expat taxes.

I’ve reached out to some of the expat tax specialists here in Mexico City, and have had unfortunate experiences with them not following through. I’m taking this as a sign that I get the opportunity to use my Finance degree and Accounting classes from university to learn if I can successfully accomplish completing my own taxes.

I’ve been researching like crazy about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, changing my LLC to an S-Corp and deciding what seems to make the most sense for me, my company and my bank account.

I will post along my journey of exploration of doing my own taxes – for 2023 (I have an extension) and 2024. I hope writing it out will be helpful to me and anyone else curious to learn and do their own taxes as an expat.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT a tax professional or an accountant. I plan to complete my own taxes and then have them checked over my a professional before submitting them. I suggest that any questions that you have regarding your tax situation and what is best for you to be consulted with a tax professional or accountant.