FileAbroad

Self-employed abroad consultation

Working for Yourself Abroad? Reconcile the Business, Books, Work Locations, and Tax Systems Before You Choose the Forms.

Freelancer, contractor, and LLC labels do not determine a U.S. return. The answer depends on the real activity and entity, owners, where services were performed, complete receipts and expenses, currencies, FEIE and foreign tax facts, Social Security coverage, estimates, accounts, and prior filings. In a paid consultation, I map that business year, identify the U.S. workstreams and foreign referrals, and define the records and preparation scope that should come next.

Start My Self-Employed 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.

Activity, worker, and entity

Each trade or business, employee-versus-contractor facts, legal entities and owners, elections, partners or spouse, local registration, and the U.S. classification questions that come first.

Books, receipts, and currencies

Invoices, information forms, platforms, bank deposits, cash/property receipts, refunds and fees, accounting method, original currencies, exchange method, and reconciliation to the proposed return.

Work locations and expenses

Service-day allocation, tax-home and travel facts, ordinary and necessary costs, personal allocation, home office, equipment, inventory, subcontractors, capitalization, depreciation, and substantiation.

Income tax, social tax, and estimates

Section 911 and housing facts, excluded-income expense allocation, foreign-tax credit evidence, Schedule SE, agreement/certificate coverage, withholding, estimated payments, and state exposure.

Accounts, structures, and filing history

Foreign accounts and payment platforms, pensions, funds, entities, Forms 8858/8865/5471/8621, FBAR/Form 8938, prior returns, mismatches, missed years, notices, and specialist routes.

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 business-by-business and period-by-period map of activities, worker status, entities and owners, service locations, clients, receipts, expenses, currencies, foreign tax, social coverage, and prior filings.
  • The Schedule C or other entity-return, source, FEIE/FTC, expense-allocation, SECA/totalization, estimate, state, account, asset, and international-form questions that need further work.
  • A focused records request for contracts, entity documents, books, invoices, platform and bank reconciliations, expense support, travel, foreign assessments, certificates, accounts, and prior returns, with secure-upload instructions after intake.
  • Whether FileAbroad can accept a defined U.S. preparation stage and which entity, payroll, country, state, legal, classification, totalization, account, PFIC, correction, or other specialist should handle the remaining work.

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 business years

Which tax years and countries are involved, what was your U.S. citizenship or residency status, where did you live and physically perform each type of work, and what U.S. days or former-state ties remained?
What services or products did you provide, when did each activity begin or end, who were the clients or payers, could any relationship be employment, and which U.S. or foreign LLC, company, partnership, spouse, or other owner was involved?
What invoices, Forms 1099, platform reports, bank receipts, refunds, chargebacks, fees, receivables, cash or property payments, original currencies, accounting method, and reconciled books support gross receipts for each activity?
What business expenses, inventory, equipment, software, contractors, home-office space, travel, vehicle, insurance, taxes, retirement or health costs were paid, what records support them, and which items had personal or multi-activity use?
What foreign income taxes and social contributions were assessed or paid, is an agreement and certificate involved, which FEIE/FTC/elections/estimates/accounts/entities/international forms were filed, and are any years, notices, or mismatches unresolved?
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

Self-employment abroad tax guide

Review the activity, Schedule C, expense, FEIE, social-tax, entity, and estimate framework.

Schedule C abroad guide

See how invoices, platforms, expenses, service location, currency, and entity records fit a Schedule C workpaper.

Totalization consultation

Use the coverage path when an agreement, certificate, contributions, and Schedule SE treatment are the central issue.

FEIE consultation

Use the focused section 911 path after the net business, expense, service-location, tax-home, and abode facts are organized.

Foreign tax credit consultation

Use the credit path when foreign income-tax liability, source, category, timing, refunds, and limits are central.

Business abroad consultation

Use the structure path when a foreign entity or multi-owner business must be classified before the individual return.

Digital nomad tax consultation

Use the mobility path when repeated countries, changing homes, and multi-country workdays are the primary problem.

Expat tax filing

Review broader U.S. preparation only after the business, entity, books, international forms, and records are scoped.

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 Self-Employed Intake

Prefer email? info@fileabroad.com

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