Who are we?
For U.S. citizens (and Green Card holders) that live abroad,
Expat Tax Online provides the best low-cost U.S. tax prep on the market, because our IRS-licenced tax professionals tailor your tax return by hand for best-advantage today while protecting your tomorrow.
Software platforms cannot do that and large tax firms charge too much.
The majority of Americans living abroad don’t need a super-experienced, expensive CPA.
Expat Tax Online & Expat US Tax are owned by Andrew J. Landin, check him out on LinkedIn.
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Why not just use free file software?
There are three major problems.
The first big problem is this… the software can only work with the information that it is given. In practical terms, the tax return is as good as the user’s understanding of international US tax. If the user misunderstands a question or calculation and enters the wrong information (which is easily done), the tax return is inaccurate.
One of our clients that works for a major airline put it nicely…
“Most commercial airliners spend many hours flying on autopilot, but it is programmed by a pilot, not a passenger.”
The second and the most common error we see is users not providing all their information, usually because they genuinely believe it’s not required, but they’re often wrong so the tax return is wrong or results in penalties.
A typical example is a person in Australia not considering all their Superannuation as taxable income. We regularly see Americans in the UK put extra money into their pensions tax-free without zero knowledge of the hole they are digging for themselves.
The third problem with cheap tax software is that it can’t consider how international tax treaties relate to a client’s present situation or future requirements. US tax law needs to be interpreted when it comes to applying it to international situations. What works for one person doesn’t work for another, and the approach can be different for each person. An American in Montreal needs a different tax return to a Green Card holder in Dubai but these tax programs spit them all out the same.
It’s cheap for a reason, often wrong, and usually, a costly mess to clean up.
How much responsibility does the software provider take? None.
Easy-to-use, low-cost, quality tax returns checked and signed-off by licensed IRS tax professionals.
Expat Tax Online is headed up by Clark Stott and his mission is to make the whole tax preparation process simple and cost-effective while maintaining excellent client service. This is what he has to say about Expat Tax Online (ETO)…
“ETO is an online tax platform designed from the ground up for American citizens and Green Card holders that live outside the United States. Our clients get an easy-to-understand tax questionnaire and a dedicated real person to guide them through the process.
ETO constantly evolves, it’s never finished and it’s never perfect. We constantly ask clients for feedback on every aspect of our business operation and so many have come up with great ideas for us. We run updates and make improvements to our systems weekly! We want our clients to see the changes they’ve asked for, and to see them implemented quickly. We appreciate people taking the effort to help us make our expat tax solution better, faster, stronger and we want to repay that effort by showing them that their time wasn’t wasted. We listen, we care and we adapt… quickly.”
Who is Andrew J. Landin and why do we have two tax firms?
2021 marks Andrew’s 18th year of expatriate taxes in a career that started with Ernst & Young in London, before relocating to Melbourne and joining PricewaterhouseCoopers. While in Australia, Andrew was a US/ Australian expatriate tax manager focusing on the financial services and oil and gas industries. In 2010, Andrew undertook a secondment to PricewaterhouseCoopers based in the Middle East where his main clients were two of the most prestigious American universities before leaving PricewaterhouseCoopers to establish Expat US Tax in February 2011.
Expat US Tax is a sensibly priced alternative to the “Big-4” accounting firms. It’s a full-service, face-to-face tax advisory and tax preparation provider. It caters to clients that have complex tax situations, require year-round support, and financially benefit from a close ongoing relationship with a highly experienced international tax adviser.
Expat Tax Online “ETO” caters to clients that need a high-quality tax return at a cost-effective price. It’s custom-built software combined with real human decision-making. It’s our tax specialists that decide how the tax return will be best prepared. The software does the grunt work so we can save time and keep fees low.
“I’m really proud of our 100-strong team, I don’t believe in contractors and I don’t believe in outsourcing work to other companies. We have a hand-picked team that really care, go beyond the call of duty and constantly strives for excellence. Our business grows leaps and bounds, year on year and that’s because we all share the philosophy of genuine client care, we treat every client like a VIP, because to us, they are. In the early years, our business was built purely from client referrals and nothing else, frankly, that’s all the work we could handle while maintaining our standards of excellence. In fact, several business units within our company still don’t advertise to this day. ETO was created to serve the US market that we couldn’t compete in at the time. Our main business, Expat US Tax was structured to provide a bespoke, face-to-face service with highly qualified, experienced accountants. That service comes at a cost, and it was a cost some people didn’t get value from because their personal situation simply didn’t require that level of expertise and hand-holding, they needed a solution with a lower cost but one that still provided 5-star service and delivered exactly what they needed.”
The IRS publicly lists licensed tax professionals on their official website.
There is an entire directory that the public can search to make sure they are dealing with a real, licensed tax professional. Use the official IRS link below to check the IRS professional directory, note the website is the official IRS website.
In name field, type in Andrew’s surname “LANDIN”, and in the country field, type in “AUSTRALIA”.
As you will see from Andrew’s Bio, he was in Australia for many years which is why he is listed under Australia on the IRS website.
All our senior accountants are licensed by the IRS and we’d be happy to send you the whole list.
Access the official IRS directory by clicking the button below, and verify us there.
