No.  U.S. citizens and green card holders are subject to the same tax filing requirements as those living in the U.S.; the common belief that you do not have to file a federal tax return because you moved out of the U.S. is simply not true. There is a tax benefit at the federal level called the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion which can reduce your federal taxes (and sometimes eliminate the entire tax liability); however, to claim this benefit the taxpayer is required to file a tax return, in order to determine the impact of this tax benefit in that particular tax return.

Yes.  U.S. citizens and green card holders are subject to federal taxation on their worldwide income.  The fact that your income came from a country other than the U.S. makes no difference.

Yes.  As long as you have a green card, you are subject to the same tax filing requirements as a U.S. citizen.  The only way to avoid this is by surrendering your green card.

In most cases, yes. Taxes paid to the “Dirección General de Impuestos Internos” (DGII), the “Tesorería de la Seguridad Social” (TSS) or the “Instituto Nacional de Formación Técnico Profesional” (INFOTEP). Depending on the nature of the tax paid, you may be able to claim a Tax Deduction or a Tax Credit on your U.S. Income Tax Return.

No.  U.S. citizens and green card holders are subject to the same FICA tax filing requirements as those living in the U.S.  The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion only applies to Federal Income Taxes, not to FICA Taxes.

Yes. If you are the type of taxpayer that generate income from non-payroll sources, the IRS will rely on you (the taxpayer) to determine your net income for tax purposes. If you do not maintain accounting records, you could expose yourself to a situation where the IRS estimates your net income for you during an audit and impose taxes based on that estimated net income, a less than desirable situation for any taxpayer.

No. If you don’t know who owes you money and who you owe money to, you have no business. Improper accounting records are one of the prevailing reasons why most businesses either go bankrupt or stagnate. Without proper accounting, you will simply lack the required information to take even the most basic decisions regarding your business; including if you should keep investing in a certain business at all.

No. In order to maintain an accounting system that reflect your needs, you first must evaluate which accounting software you require. Not all accounting platforms are the same. Second, you need to configure the chosen accounting software to your particular business operations.

No. There is not even a requirement to retain an outside accountant to take care of your books. However, bookkeeping is a delicate and time-consuming process and every hour devoted to the accounting of your business is an hour not devoted to growing your business.

No. There is no requirement by the IRS to maintain a business budget. However, without a proper budgeting process, you will not have a tool to measure your performance against expected financial results. Which in turn, will increase the probability of running out of cash and ending up in bankruptcy court.

Yes. On 2015, the U.S. Government approved a law titled “The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act”, also known as The FAST Act. This law authorizes the U.S. State Dept. to revoke the U.S. passport from anyone who owes more than $50,000.00 in taxes to the IRS.

Yes. On 2010, the U.S. Government approved a law titled the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”, also known as FATCA. This law authorizes the U.S. Treasury Dept. to imposed financial penalties to non-U.S. financial institutions who do not report ownership and control information regarding the assets held by their U.S. clients. In order to avoid sanctions by the U.S. Federal Government, financial institutions around the world began to the financial information of their U.S. clients without even informing this situation to the U.S. owners of these foreign financial accounts.

Yes. On 1970, the U.S. Government approved a law titled the “The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970”, also known as BSA. This law authorizes the U.S. Treasury Dept. to impose harsh monetary civil penalties for non-willful violations; however, it authorizes the U.S. Justice Dept. to seek criminal sanctions against willful non-compliance.

Yes. The obligation to file a “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts” (FinCEN Form 114) and a “Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets” (IRS Form 8938) are completely independent from having a tax filing obligation in the U.S.

Yes. U.S. citizens and Green Card Holders may be required to report to the U.S. Federal Government the information regarding financial assets located outside the U.S. if they have signatory control of the assets, a financial interest over the assets or if certain other situations apply.