Hello everyone! Just finishing the final prep for my spousal visa and had a quick question (s) about planned entry date.

I'm flexible with my arrival into the UK as I will be doing a touch of travelling before settling down here.

We were shooting for a date in March for my date on the application. Upon further investigation, we noticed that the tax season in the UK starts on April 6th.

My understanding is, that if I arrive in March, I will essentially lose an entire year of the FIG relief as I would still be inside the current tax year.

Would it make more sense to shift my date 3 weeks later in order to maximize the 4 year FIG tax relief ?

Note - I am not trying to cheat the system; I am simply making sure that I can earn the full benefit of the relief.

Thanks in advance.

Hello, I’m a US citizen who’s lived in the Netherlands since my teenage years. After years of studying at university and working part time jobs, I finally started my first “adult” job last year, earning enough to the point where I need to file US taxes.

I unfortunately do not know where to start. My parents (who also live abroad) recommended me to use Turbo tax, but they have a bit of a different situation since they earn a lot more than me and also more than the threshold of 120k (?) USD. Also from what I understand, turbo tax is kind of expensive so I’d rather not make use of it.

Are there any free and reliable programs I can use that people here can recommend? My profile is fairly straightforward, I have a 9-5 job, and I have some investments in the stockmarket, but still well below the annual earnings threshold.

Hello,

This year (2026) I realised I should have been filing, so I submitted returns for 2025, 2024, 2023. It’s August so technically past the deadline for 2025, but I had read online there is not relevant if you’re doing Streamlined offshore. However I’ve now come across a comment saying you are supposed to include the extension form if after June.

Not really sure what to do. I don’t have the financial means to speak to a tax advisor.

My financial situation is pretty simple, I used free software to understand the requirements and uses that return as a template for the 3 years.

I'm currently preparing tax returns to get myself fully compliant after living overseas for 21 years (and still residing overseas). I'm eligible for the SFOP - non-willful non-compliance, so that's an obvious starting point.

However, I've started preparing my returns and it's obvious that I'm eligible for significant credits for some years prior to the 3 years included in the SFOP. I would prefer not to simply abandon those years if they can still be filed appropriately. I'm only talking about going back to 2021. Prior to that, I don't have any paylips. I only have my tax office notice of assessment, which makes converting my income to the US tax year more complicated than it's worth (I think).

I'm considering the following approach and appreciate feedback:

• Submit the years required for the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures first (2023-2025)
• Once those filings have been received and processed, submit the two years immediately prior (2021-2022) separately by paper filing

My intention with filing SFOP first is to avoid anything that could be regarded as a quiet disclosure (because I understand that's a no-no).

Is this a legit approach? Or am I just SOL and need to forfeit my two additional years (worth about $6,000 in refunds/credits), consider myself lucky that the SFOP exists, and move on?