International tax compliance
Crossing a border doesn't simplify a tax return.
Two kinds of clients end up here, for opposite reasons. Both usually arrive after being told the US side was straightforward.
You're American, living abroad.
The filing obligation followed you. Returns, foreign accounts, foreign investments — and catching up if several years have gone by.
What we handle →You're not American, and you're starting a US company.
Entity choice, an EIN without an SSN, and the filings with penalties attached whether or not you owe any tax.
What we handle →US persons abroad
You live abroad. The IRS still expects a return.
US citizens and green card holders file on worldwide income regardless of where they live, and most of the expensive problems come from the forms attached to the return rather than the return itself.
Annual returns from abroad
Form 1040 with the foreign earned income exclusion, foreign tax credits, and the international forms your situation actually carries.
Foreign accounts
FBAR (FinCEN 114) and Form 8938 — including the thresholds most people are told about too late.
Foreign investments
Form 8621 for PFICs, and the election decision — QEF or mark-to-market — that determines how you're taxed for as long as you hold it.
Foreign entities and trusts
Forms 5471, 8858, 3520 and 3520-A. The filings that carry penalties whether or not there's any tax owed.
Foreign gifts and inheritances
Form 3520 reporting for money received from abroad, where the penalty is calculated as a share of the gift itself.
Family across borders
Returns where one spouse isn't a US person, and the elections and estate consequences that follow from that.
If you're behind
Behind is a fixable problem. Ignoring it isn't.
Most people who fall behind on US filings from abroad do it the same way — nobody told them the obligation followed them, and by the time they found out, several years had gone by. The IRS has procedures built for exactly that, and they are considerably cheaper than being found.
Streamlined procedures
For non-willful failures. Three years of returns, six years of FBARs, and a signed certification.
Delinquent FBARs
Where the income was reported and the tax was paid, and the FBARs simply weren't filed.
Delinquent information returns
Missed Forms 5471, 3520 and 8938, submitted with a reasonable-cause statement.
Which procedure fits depends on facts we'd need to look at — including whether the failure was non-willful, which is a legal conclusion and not a box you check. That's the first conversation, and it happens before any fee is quoted.
Founders outside the US
Launch a US company without the tax surprises.
"Delaware C-corp" is the advice everyone repeats, and it's the right answer when you're raising from US venture funds. If you're not raising, it's answering a different question than the one you asked. The entity choice takes an hour — it's the calendar behind it that catches people.
Entity selection
LLC or corporation, and what each does to foreign owners. A US LLC taxed as a partnership can hand every owner a personal US filing obligation; taxed as a corporation, that exposure stops at the company.
EIN without an SSN
Form SS-4 for a responsible party with no US tax identification number, plus ITIN applications where the owners need them.
Form 5472
Required for a 25% foreign-owned US corporation — and for every foreign related party it transacted with, including owner loans and fees paid to companies an owner controls. The penalty is $25,000 per form, not per return.
BE-13
The Commerce Department survey nobody tells you about, due 45 days after the US business is established. Since October 2025 the reporting threshold is $40 million, so most founders file the Claim for Exemption instead — still required below the threshold, whether or not BEA ever contacts you. Most guidance online is still on the old $3 million figure.
Banking and payments
US banking as a non-resident, and getting W-8BEN versus W-9 right the first time — wrong forms mean withholding you'll spend a year recovering.
Sales tax nexus
Economic nexus for SaaS and digital goods, state by state, plus franchise tax and annual reports in your state of formation whether or not you ever did business there.
Some of these windows don't reopen.
Form 8832 backdates an entity classification election up to 75 days. Use the window and the company was never anything other than a corporation for tax purposes. Miss it and your first months get partnership treatment retroactively, whether you planned for it or not.
BE-13 runs 45 days from formation. Form 5472 runs annually and the penalty applies per form. Talk to someone before you file the formation documents — it is considerably cheaper than unwinding it after.
How it works, either way.
Where you are, what you have, what's been filed, and what you're about to do. A few sentences is enough to start.
In writing, before anything begins. No hourly billing and no surprise on the invoice.
Most clients keep us for the annual work once the first engagement is done — the return, the 5472, the estimates. That part is straightforward.
If the US company is operating and needs books as well as filings, the monthly engagement covers both.
Start with a description of your situation.
Tell us where you are and what's been filed — or what you're about to file. If it's a fit, we'll send a flat-fee quote, usually within two business days.
General information only. Whether a filing failure was non-willful, which IRS procedure applies, and which entity structure fits depend entirely on your specific facts. Nothing on this page is advice on your situation, and nothing here creates an engagement. © 2026 Gentry Tax & Advisory.