Travel
Ask questions, share adventures and information, have fun!
FAQ
"How much does traveling cost?"
Cost of living(rent, utilities, wifi, groceries) is $500 USD per month for most countries, $1000 for most others.
"Health care and insurance?"
Health care and insurance are both pennies on the US dollar abroad via medical tourism
"What about visas?"
Usually don't need them, the ones you need are almost all entirely online now, a fifteen minute form and nominal fee that is offset by the drastically lower cost of living in that country.
"How do you make money while abroad?"
Any job that nets you $500 a month works. There are over 2 billion English students globally right now, so native English speakers have lucked into a guaranteed job on or offline.
"What qualifications do I need as an English teacher?"
Some countries and schools require a TEFL certificate or prefer candidates with an associate's degree depending on the position, but if you want to teach English, all you need is to be a fluent English speaker.
Rules
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I definitely have questions as will be leaving soon. Do I still have to file my normal taxes? Like can this be done through one of the filing services (taxact or whatnot?) or do I just fill out this form and mail it too…the embassy?
You file taxes normally every year at the regular time, absolutely use an online service and then e-file directly with the IRS. Cheapest, fastest, easiest way to do it. Taxact will work fine.
Snail mail, you would mail it back to your US state's IRS office, but it's not at all worth the trouble.
Feel free to ask me as many questions as cross your mind, I seriously have an absurd amount of free time and like helping people get independent.
Thank you! I assume something like taxact would prompt me with that form then. This is really good to know as I was worried about having to pay taxes I absolutely could not afford with my lower income in a different country
For sure!
It's been hit or miss that I've been prompted for 2555, but i've used several online services and they definitely all have the form available with guidance to fill in. Long and short is, fill out basic info(name, address, annual earned income), check the "physical presence test" box, write out the dates and countries you lived in that year outside of the US. If those dates are over 330 days, you qualify. It's a pretty short form and saves travelers a looot of money.
You mentioned sending it to the State office. As an expatriate I do not file state taxes as I earn no income in any state.
That question was regarding federal income taxes, not state income taxes.
You're doing state taxes right.
You do not need to file state income taxes for a state you have not earned any income in.
Then why not send returns to the main IRS office in Austin? Why choose a state office?
Different US states and tax preparation services ask filers to send their federal tax returns to different IRS tax centers for processing around the country.
If you want to file a paper federal return as an expat, which I don't recommend, you can mail it to the Austin office, or any IRS office, which may forward your federal return where it needs to go(IRS HQ is in DC), but if the US address you use on your federal taxes is in a state that designates a specific IRS office to mail your federal taxes to, I suggest following the IRS instructions.
To belabor the point, I strongly recommend e-filing instead of paper filing to avoid the above and many other complications and costs.
I don't put a US address on my federal tax forms because I don't have one.