Tax advisor recommendations? (U.S. expat in Japan)

[Jonathan Michaels]

Hi folks,

Does anyone by any chance have a tax advisor in Japan, for U.S. taxes,
whom they like enough to recommend?

Someone who doesn't mind consulting primarily via email/Skype/phone
would be ideal, but I could get into Tokyo a few times if necessary.
(Actually, if they don't mind consulting remotely, it could even be
someone stateside.)

I've always done my U.S. taxes myself with TurboTax, and in fact find
it interesting and not a burden (the preparing and filing part, not
the paying part), but since my Japanese tax advisor saves me so much
money over what would happen if I did my Japanese taxes all by myself,
I've started to wonder whether the same might be possible with my U.S.
taxes.

Many thanks in advance for any recommendations or thoughts of any
kind, and please look upon the tangentially-related question with big
eyes ;).

Jonathan

----------
Jonathan Michaels
Mito, Japan

[David J. Littleboy]

From: Jonathan Michaels

I've always done my U.S. taxes myself with TurboTax, and in fact find
it interesting and not a burden (the preparing and filing part, not
the paying part), but since my Japanese tax advisor saves me so much
money over what would happen if I did my Japanese taxes all by myself,
I've started to wonder whether the same might be possible with my U.S.
taxes.
<<<<<<<<<<

FWIW, I have a generic US tax accountant (who lives in the US) do my US
taxes. My impression is that the US tax experts in Tokyo are either way out
of a translator's price range or flaky.

David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

[Joel]

I, too, use two accountants: one Japanese acct. for my J return and
one American acct (in the US) to handle all the US paperwork for the
self-employment / foreign earned income jazz.
FWIW
Joel Dechant

[Jonathan Michaels]

David, Joel, thanks for the tips. 言われてみると it makes sense that a U.S.
tax accountant in Tokyo would be overpriced. Do you have any specific
recommendations for people stateside? If not I'll just start
Googling.

Thanks again,

[Stephen A. Carter]

On 12/07/13 18:13, Jonathan Michaels wrote:
> Does anyone by any chance have a tax advisor in Japan, for U.S. taxes,
> whom they like enough to recommend?
>
> Someone who doesn't mind consulting primarily via email/Skype/phone
> would be ideal, but I could get into Tokyo a few times if necessary.
> (Actually, if they don't mind consulting remotely, it could even be
> someone stateside.)

I've been happy with one Yuji Suzuki, who's based in Nagoya. He's local
to me, but even so, most of our communication is by e-mail.

http://www.usa-zeiri.com/

You don't mention whether you're a freelancer or incorporated. I happen
to be incorporated, and Suzuki was the first tax adviser I met who was
fully up on the details of things like FBAR compliance and that horrible
Form 5471.

--
Stephen A. Carter
sca...@hticn.com
Nagoya, Japan

[pg...@gol.com]

The U.S. Embassy Website (http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/) has a list of
tax preparers at various locations in Japan. The site stresses that
inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of any.

FWIW,
Perry E. Gary
Tokyo

[Jonathan Michaels]

On Jul 14, 8:03 am, "Stephen A. Carter" <scar...@hticn.com> wrote:
> You don't mention whether you're a freelancer or incorporated.

Ah, I guess that might be important, I'm a freelancer.

Well, anyway, thanks folks, I appreciate the responses.

[martha mcclintock]

I also highly recommend that you have a US cpa who specializes in expats in Japan. I can highly recommend Cynthia Vogt who was based in Tokyo and is now in Kentucky. Similarly I recommend having a Japanese tax advisor who is familiar with the intricacies of expat US taxpayers working in Japan. Each person'stax profile in each country is different, but i have consistently found that the small fees my tax advisors charge in US, Japan and Australia are greatly offset by the money, hassle and time they save me.

please contact me if you want contact info offlist.



Martha McClintock
An American living in Australia with 100 percent of my income from Japanese clients

mjm...@mac.com
Skype: mjmink

Sent from my MJM Ink Pad

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