Editorial standards

Sources we rely on

Every claim about U.S. tax law on this site is sourced — implicitly or explicitly — from one of the following authoritative places:

1. The Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations (the statute and the official interpretation).
2. IRS publications, forms, and instructions (Pub 54 for Americans abroad, Pub 514 for the foreign tax credit, Pub 519 for residency, etc.) — available at irs.gov.
3. FinCEN guidance for FBAR (FinCEN 114) and related anti-money-laundering reporting — at fincen.gov.
4. Social Security Administration guidance for totalization agreements and contribution rules — at ssa.gov/international.
5. U.S. Tax Court decisions and federal court rulings for case law on contested points (residency, bona-fide-residence intent, willfulness for FBAR, etc.).
6. Bilateral treaty textsfor country-specific interactions — typically via the Treasury's treaty page.

We do notrely on, cite, or treat as authoritative: Reddit threads, forum discussions, tax-firm marketing pages, lead-generation sites, personal blogs, or any source whose authority we can't immediately verify.

How articles are written

Each article on Expatax Guide is researched against the sources above, drafted in plain English, and reviewed before publication. We aim for articles that:

• Explain the rule, not just describe it.
• Cite specific IRS forms and sections by number — so you can verify independently.
• Use worked examples where the math is unintuitive (the bracket- stacking on FEIE, the FTC basket allocation, the PFIC excess- distribution allocation).
• Acknowledge edge cases and contested points rather than glossing over them.
• Cross-link to related articles so a reader can follow a thread of related questions.

The “last reviewed” date

Every article shows its last revieweddate in the byline. That's the date a human last verified the article's factual accuracy against current IRS guidance. We re-review articles when:

• A new tax year begins (current-year amounts and thresholds update).
• The IRS issues a Revenue Procedure or Notice that affects the topic.
• A federal court issues a decision that changes the analysis.
• A reader or professional flags a possible inaccuracy (see corrections below).

Corrections policy

If you find a factual error on Expatax Guide, email support@expatax.guide with the article URL and what you believe is wrong. We respond to credible corrections within five business days. Corrected articles carry a visible “updated” note at the byline with the date and a brief description of what changed.

Substantive errors are not silently overwritten. The history matters.

AI usage in content

We use AI tooling (large language models) as a writing aid: outline generation, prose drafting, and consistency checks. Every article is reviewed by a human, verified against the authoritative sources above, and edited before publication. We do not publish unreviewed AI output as editorial content.

The Expatax Advisor (the on-site chat tool) is a separate AI system that answers user questions in real time, grounded in our article corpus and authoritative IRS sources via Google Search. The advisor is subject to the same sourcing constraints described above: it can't cite forums or marketing pages, and it explicitly tells users when it cannot verify a claim against an authoritative source.

How we evaluate firms in the directory

Our Find a Pro directorylists tax firms we've evaluated against four criteria:

1. Credentials. The firm staffs returns with EAs, CPAs, or tax attorneys — not unlicensed preparers.
2. Expat focus. A substantial portion of the firm's book is Americans-abroad work, not domestic 1040s as a side business.
3. Pricing transparency. The firm will provide a written fee quote for the scope of work up front, rather than open-ended hourly billing without a cap.
4. Form-specific experience. The firm has demonstrable experience with the forms most likely to apply to expats (2555, 1116, FinCEN 114, 8938, 8621, 5471) — not just generic 1040 preparation.

Firms that don't meet all four criteria are not added regardless of what they offer to pay. Firms that do meet the criteria are listed regardless of whether their payout structure is most lucrative for us.

Conflicts of interest and disclosures

Referral fees. When you engage a firm through our Find a Pro directory, we earn a referral fee. Specific arrangements vary by firm and are negotiated independently. The fee structure does not influence whether a firm is included in the directory, only — when applicable — whether a firm can pay for a featured placement (which would be visibly labeled as sponsored).

Advertising (future). Once we display ads, they will be standard programmatic display via Google AdSense. Ads will be visually distinct from editorial content. We will not run sponsored articles, native ad placements that mimic editorial style, or paid editorial commentary.

Personal positions. The publisher does not hold equity in any of the firms listed in the directory. If that ever changes, the holding will be disclosed on this page.

What we will never do

• Accept payment to write favorably about a firm.
• Publish AI-generated content without human review and verification.
• Hide negative facts about a firm in our directory.
• Sell or rent visitor email addresses, browsing data, or any personal information.
• Pretend to be a tax preparer or to give personalized advice.

Contact

Editorial concerns: support@expatax.guide