I was approached with a free offer to do my U.S. taxes last year by Taxes for Expats, a service that specializes in preparing tax returns for U.S. expats. Every U. S. expat living abroad must annually file a U.S. income tax form even if they have made no income in the U. S.
I was already happy with the services of another accountant in Paris, but decided to accept the offer from Taxes for Expats.
Once I accepted I went to their website and filled out an initial form. I received an email from one of their tax consultants who would be handling my tax returns with a brief outline on how the process worked. Once I filled in all the paper work, the turnaround time was fifteen days. Although it was a little complicated, the forms were very thorough. There were a few things I didn’t understand and asked the consultant to explain. She was very prompt with her responses and she explained things clearly. There were also a few things I learned that I didn’t know before, like the IRS requires that you (or your tax preparer) prepare your return according to the U.S. tax year, which means taking your tax statements from your host country for two years and extracting the appropriate information to then plugging it into your U.S. tax return and I have to keep up with all the tax legislation changes happening from one tax year to the next. I also learned there is a special form you have to fill out and send with your foreign bank account info.
My tax accountant here charges 500 euros plus 19.8 VAT. Taxes for Expats charges only $350 and they do a thorough and professional job. I was pleased with their services and would use them again without hesitation.
Thanks to everyone who "liked" my Facebook page and for leaving comments yesterday.
The winner of The French Kitchen Cookbook by Patricia Wells is Hilary from Australia and the winner of Flyover Lives by Diane Johnson is Harriet from the U.S.
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte's professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.
Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday,Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 2 students, maximum 6 students.
Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
Tours cost 210 euros for up to 3 people, and 70 euros for each additional person. I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
Click here to watch a video of our famous Marais tour
