For International School Teachers
Most years, no. If nothing has changed and your filing position is already clear, you need a return prepared, not advice about it. Advisory work earns its fee in the years where a decision is still open — and those years are easy to recognise once you know what to look for.
The difference between advice and preparation
A return tells the IRS what already happened. By the time it is prepared, the facts are fixed: you moved on the date you moved, the account existed or it did not, the election was available or the year had closed. Preparation reports that accurately. It cannot change it.
Advisory work sits earlier, while the decision is still yours to make. That is the whole distinction, and it is why the two are priced and booked separately.
The years where advice changes the outcome
You are moving, or you just did. The date you leave, arrive or change countries can decide how much of the exclusion you get to use. The 330-day test runs over any rolling twelve months, so in an arrival or departure year the period you pick is a choice, not a given — and it interacts with the state you left.
The treatment is not obvious. Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or foreign tax credit is the common one. In a high-tax country the credit often beats the exclusion, and it leaves room for retirement contributions — but revoking the exclusion binds you for five years without IRS consent. That is a decision to make deliberately rather than by default.
Something new appeared this year. A new employer, business, country, bank account, investment or property can change a return that was straightforward last year. A foreign pension may need reporting. An overseas account may belong on the FBAR, on Form 8938, or on both.
You are several years behind. Here the first question is the route, not the forms. Filing years independently can foreclose the Streamlined option that would have fitted, so the sequence matters more than the speed.
When you do not need an advisor
If your situation is the same as last year — same country, same employer, same accounts, same filing position — a review will mostly confirm what you already know. Pay for preparation instead.
The same applies to a single foreign account below the threshold, or an FBAR you are confident about. FinCEN’s own system files an FBAR at no cost, and if that is genuinely all you need, you should hear that rather than be sold a review.
If one of the situations above does apply to you, it may be worth speaking with an expat tax advisor before the decision is finalised.
If this is your year |
Start with |
Nothing changed; position already clear |
Return preparation |
A move, in either direction |
Advice, before the dates fix |
Exclusion or credit still undecided |
Advice — the election binds for five years |
New foreign account, pension or business |
Advice on what reports |
Several unfiled years |
Advice on the route, then filing |
One straightforward FBAR |
File it yourself, free, through FinCEN |
Sources
IRC §911 and §901; IRS Publication 54; 31 CFR 1010.350; IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures; FinCEN BSA E-Filing System. Directional only — which route fits depends on filing status, host country tax and the mix of income. Checked 11 September 2026.
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