FileAbroad

Foreign employer consultation

Paid by a Foreign Employer? Map Your U.S. Wage, Payroll, Benefits, and Social-Tax Questions Before You File.

Foreign payroll does not automatically tell you what belongs on a U.S. return. The answer depends on your U.S. status, legal employer, employee relationship, work locations, pay and benefit components, foreign taxes, social coverage, currency, and prior filings. In a paid consultation, I map those facts, separate employee-side U.S. reporting from employer and local-law issues, and define the preparation or referral work that should come next.

Start My Foreign Employer Intake

The preliminary intake is free. Do not send sensitive tax documents through the public intake form.

30 minutes · Directly with Chip

The consultation

What we'll review

The consultation focuses on the facts that determine what needs further attention.

Employer, status, and work locations

Your U.S. status and residence, the actual legal employer and related entities, employee-versus-contractor facts, assignment or shadow payroll, and the dated locations where services were performed.

Foreign payroll to U.S. wages

Gross pay, local taxable pay, net deposits, bonuses, allowances, benefits, deductions, service periods, currencies, and the records needed to translate foreign payroll into U.S. reporting.

FEIE, foreign tax, and estimates

Tax-home and qualifying-period facts, foreign income tax, source and credit categories, exclusion/credit coordination, prior elections, and whether U.S. estimated-tax or withholding work needs a separate calculation.

Social coverage and certificates

U.S. work, foreign-employer and affiliate facts, local contributions, the exact totalization agreement if any, certificate evidence, and questions that belong with the employer, SSA, or a local agency.

Benefits and connected reporting

Foreign pensions, equity, insurance, housing, deferred compensation, accounts/assets, state issues, treaties, prior filings, and whether another FileAbroad path or specialist should handle the next stage.

After the call

What you leave with

By the end of the consultation, you should understand the issues that need attention and the next practical step.

  • A dated employment, payroll, residence, and work-location map for the U.S. filing years under review.
  • The wage-source, FEIE/FTC, social-coverage, benefit, account/asset, state, and connected-form questions that require further work—without treating the foreign payroll label as the answer.
  • A targeted records list for pay, benefits, taxes, social contributions, workdays, currencies, certificates, and prior returns, with secure-document instructions after intake.
  • Whether FileAbroad can accept the U.S. return/preparation stage, whether a pension, equity, totalization, or other pathway fits better, and which employer or foreign-law issues need referral.

You are not required to hire FileAbroad for preparation after the consultation.

Scope

What the consultation does not include

The consultation is a review and scoping session. It does not include preparation or filing of a tax return, FBAR, information return, amended return, or Streamlined submission.

It also does not create an open-ended support engagement. Additional research, document review, preparation, or follow-up work is included only when it is specifically agreed or purchased.

FileAbroad does not provide legal advice or tax litigation services.

The process

How it works

  1. 1

    Start the intake.

    Tell me the broad facts of your situation without uploading sensitive tax documents through the public form.

  2. 2

    I review the inquiry.

    I personally review the intake to determine whether a FileAbroad consultation appears appropriate.

  3. 3

    Book the consultation.

    If the situation fits, you'll receive the next step for scheduling the 30-minute paid consultation.

  4. 4

    We review the situation together.

    We use the call to identify the relevant filing questions, missing information, and practical next step.

  5. 5

    Preparation is separate.

    If FileAbroad can accept preparation work, the scope and price are confirmed before that work begins.

Before you book

Questions we'll use to map your foreign payroll

Which tax years need review, what was your U.S. citizenship or residency status, where did you live, and on which dates did you physically perform work in each country, including the United States?
What is the exact legal name and country of your employer, is there a U.S. parent, affiliate, employer-of-record, secondment, shadow payroll, or separate client relationship, and how does your contract describe the work?
What salary, bonus, commission, leave, severance, allowance, reimbursement, housing, or other cash and noncash pay did you receive, in which currencies, and what local payslips and annual wage certificates are available?
What foreign income tax, social insurance, pension, insurance, or other amounts did payroll withhold or the employer contribute, and did you receive equity, deferred compensation, retirement benefits, loans, or a certificate of coverage?
Which U.S. and foreign returns, Forms 2555 or 1116, state returns, account or asset reports, pension/equity forms, estimates, certificates, or notices exist, and what feels missing or inconsistent?
What should I send before the consultation?

Start with the public intake and describe the broad facts of your situation. Do not send Social Security numbers, tax returns, bank statements, or other sensitive tax documents through the public intake form. If documents are needed later, I will provide secure upload instructions.

Will you tell me exactly what I need to file?

The consultation is designed to identify the filing issues that need attention and the information required to determine the next step. Some questions can be resolved during the call; others may require records, additional research, or preparation work outside the consultation.

Do I have to hire FileAbroad afterward?

No. The consultation stands on its own. If FileAbroad can accept preparation work, you can decide whether to proceed after the scope and price are confirmed.

Can you review documents during the consultation?

Limited document review may be possible when agreed in advance, but the consultation is not a substitute for a full document review or tax-preparation engagement.

Related paths

If this is not the right starting point

Remote employee abroad consultation

Use this path instead when you remain on a U.S. employer’s payroll while performing services abroad.

FEIE consultation

Use the narrower eligibility path after the employer and work-location facts are organized.

Foreign tax credit consultation

Compare creditability, source, category, timing, and exclusion coordination for foreign income tax.

Totalization consultation

Use the agreement-specific path when social coverage or a certificate is the central problem.

Foreign pension consultation

Use the plan-classification path for employer pensions, retirement accounts, contributions, growth, and distributions.

Equity compensation abroad consultation

Use the grant-to-sale timeline for options, RSUs, ESPP, or compensation earned across countries.

Foreign pensions guide

Review why local retirement treatment does not automatically control the U.S. income or reporting result.

Start here

Tell me what's going on.

You don't need to know which form, filing procedure, or service you need. Start with the broad facts, and I'll review whether a FileAbroad consultation is the appropriate next step.

Start My Foreign Employer Intake

Prefer email? info@fileabroad.com

Do not send sensitive tax documents through the public intake form or ordinary email.