One other thing to note... The US taxes you on ALL income, including Swiss pension and school fees paid by your employer, which can be USD 60k and up for two kids under 7. Since these are not subject to Swiss tax...at least for first five years in my Canton...this results in a hefty US tax bill.

I have a friend who has been here for 15 years. He never filled when he first arrived and they caught up with him. It was a lot of stress and threats with him to comply. He had no tax liability so he wasn't dodging taxes.

If you have already filed a return as overseas at the same address they will probably catch up with you eventually.

If you plan on returning to the US to live I would really advise against it.

Hi TexanCH,
I am also a Texan living in Canton Zug.

My advice is to keep the assets in the US out of the Swiss tax
return. I.e. I would not report to Switzerland my IRA, 401K,
and other assets.

It is best to keep the US and Switzerland as separate as possible.

When you say 1000CHF for a tax advisor, are you talking about
a US cpa or a Swiss tax advisor?

For a US CPA, that is more than enough unless you go to one
of the Big 4. They charge way too much and don't offer
anything different.

You forgot the Tasmanians

just a question: someone told me that wealth tax doesn't fall under the double tax treaty and so you wouldn't get a US credit for it. might be worth checking depending on how much wealth tax you end up paying.

I believe that tax credits only apply to taxes paid on income tax.

Don't quote me on this, but I've always deducted the full amount of tax on my Steuerrechnung definitiv (final tax assessment). I've never tried to back out the portion of this tax bill that relates to wealth tax.

page 10, article 2. looks like wealth taxes are not in there. so there is probably no US tax relief on wealth taxes paid.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...4Z0G1DyNLbqDtQ

You can not claim wealth tax as a foreign tax credit, it is supposed to be reported as an itemized deduction on Sch A.

The foreign earned income exclusion is 95.1k for 2012, with housing expect to reduce your AGI by circa 200k for married filing joint both earning above 95.1k. However, you should note that when taking the section 911 exclusion by filing form 2555 you also required to subject your foreign taxes to s reduction ratio in essence to ensure the residual taxable income is taxed at a rate should no exclusion have been taken. You also can't choose when to and not to take the exclusion from one year to the next.

You will not be able to continue contributing to your 401k either and may want to consider your options there.

Also note you will be required to contribute to pillar 2 pension plan here, much like a 401k. The employer contributions are reportable and taxable on your US return, however you will at least creating a tax basis in the plan for US tax purposes.

One very important tip: always consider the US tax implications of any foreign investments you undertake. Be it mutual funds, additional retirement funds etc

You will pay 1500-2500 for a basic return, at a smaller firm, assuming your situation is simple. I.e. No foreign financial analysis, a couple of accounts, salaried Joe blogs. Some individuals may do for less. However, this year with the additional FFAR reporting for those applicable, there is a lot more reporting and thus time required to prepare US tax filings.

The big 4 charge more simply due to the risk. Most simpler individual cases want a bit more hand holding and are reluctant to complete all the required consents and organizers and instead provide whats labelled "shoebox" for their accountant.

Jordan - you sound very much like a Big 4 accountant or have had experience with them... That explanation on the reduction ratio looks very familiar

I have worked with small, mid size and top 4 firms

I have worked with small, mid size and top 4 firms

A bit late, but my Swiss tax person just advised that 401ks and IRAs are considered tax exempt by the Swiss, which is a different answer than is provided elsewhere in this thread.