The Tax Decision Most US Expats Get Backwards

Your Tax Position Isn't a Filing Exercise. It's the Foundation Everything Else Sits On.

Property decisions, investment choices, retirement contributions, where you can move next: all of it rests on how your tax position is built. Get that foundation wrong, and every decision layered on top costs more than it needed to.

Joselyn Pfeil works with globally mobile Americans on exactly this problem. In this session, she walks through the foreign earned income exclusion versus foreign tax credit decision, the tax traps built into owning property abroad, how to structure assets so they work across borders instead of against you, and the six-month window before a move where every financial decision locks in for years.

If you've never modelled this decision past year one, or you're planning a move in the next 12 months, this is the session to watch.

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What You'll Learn

Why the foreign earned income exclusion suits zero-tax countries and the foreign tax credit suits high-tax ones, and why picking the wrong one causes double taxation
The hidden cost of the exclusion: it can quietly wipe out your IRA contribution basis for the year
Why owning property abroad creates reporting obligations most buyers only discover after purchase
How a foreign holding structure can get classified as a passive foreign investment company, with punitive tax consequences
Why currency movement alone can create a taxable gain even when a property's local value hasn't changed
How to structure pensions, brokerage accounts and property so they work together instead of creating surprises
The six moves that need to happen inside the six-month window before a residency change
Why the difference between saving and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars usually comes down to timing, not knowledge

Who This Is For

US citizens earning income abroad, in either high-tax or zero-tax countries
Anyone who owns, or is considering buying, property outside the United States
Expats holding foreign pensions, foreign funds, or assets through a local entity
Anyone planning an international move within the next 12 months
Those who haven't reviewed their foreign earned income exclusion or foreign tax credit position in the last two years

Why This Matters

Timing, not intelligence.

That's the difference Joselyn sees between families who come through a relocation hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead, and those who discover the same obligations after the fact and pay for it. The six-month window before a residency change is where investment structures, pensions, banking and insurance all get reviewed before they lock in, not after.

Every layer of a cross-border financial life, property, pensions, investments, sits on top of this decision. Get it structured properly, and the rest gets simpler. Leave it unreviewed, and the cost compounds quietly for years.

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Joselyn Pfeil

Private Wealth Adviser

Joselyn works with globally mobile families on multi-generational wealth planning and cross-border financial strategy. SEC-registered and independently regulated internationally, she established the Skybound Wealth Global Family Toolkit and works with clients across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and select European markets.