One Big Beautiful Bill: Key Takeaways for Americans Abroad

Welcome to Passport to Wealth.

I'm your host, Arielle Tucker, certified financial planner and fellow US Expat.

On this show, we bring together cross border experts and global Americans to help.

You make confident decisions about your life.

Your money, and your next move abroad.

Let's get started.

Welcome back.

I'm your host, Arielle Tucker.

And today on Passport to Wealth, we're joined by Melissa Groves, a US CPA with more than 17 years of experience.

Spirit.

Specializing in individuals, businesses and cross border taxation, Melissa has led global teams, advised clients across the US And Europe, and built her career working in remote multicultural environments.

Experience that uniquely positions her to support Americans navigating life and finances abroad.

Melissa's passion lies in making tax clear, accessible and manageable.

Whether she's guiding us expats through complex compliance, optimizing business structures, or designing smart systems that keep people and companies on track, her focus is always on reducing stress and empowering clients with clarity.

Melissa is currently based in Germany and her deep cross border expertise and practical, compassionate approach help Americans build confident financial lives overseas.

Melissa, it's so good to see you.

It's so good to have you on the podcast.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thanks for having me.

I appreciate the invite.

And I have to tell everyone how we met because it's kind of a funny story.

So I was working at a startup in Berlin and your resume landed on my desk and I was interviewing you and they were going to make you a job offer.

And what did I do?

Did I side call you?

Did I side email you?

I don't know what I did, but I was like, I like this woman so much.

I do not want her to come work for the dumpster fire that I know that this place is.

I did.

And I was like, you're too good.

You're too good to.

Because you were living in Texas at this time and you were going to move your entire family to Berlin for this company.

And I had watched what they had done to me, which is basically they gave me, they were like, we're going to pay you like half of what you want because it's Berlin and it's really cheap.

And so I had moved and then been like, wow, Berlin is actually not that cheap and I can't really afford to live here.

And thankfully my husband just has a really good.

So like, you know, I'm working all the time so my husband can pay our bills.

It was kind of crazy.

So we kind of made that relationship and then we've just been able to circle in each other's orbits for years.

And the really cool thing is now you live in Germany.

I do.

So you still got to fulfill that dream.

Have to go to a dumpster fire to do it.

Exactly.

So thank you for that.

You're welcome.

And I think like, just for anyone who's listening here, don't be so desperate to move abroad that you take the wrong job.

I think that's like a really important takeaway here.

Because if your dream is to move to a certain country or to just move abroad or do something, find the right opportunity.

Because if you end up going and following the wrong opportunity, you will pay for that in your health or in your life or whatever.

Yeah, it's not worth it.

It's totally not worth it.

So be really intentional.

Okay.

Now that we have that out of the way, a little side note, today we're going to be focusing on the obbba, the One Big Beautiful Bill act and of the impacts or updates for US expats.

So why don't we just kind of like set the stage here?

For those who are not listening to the 247 news cycle, what is the One Big Beautiful act and what was its purpose?

What's going on with this bill?

So it's essentially a large catch all tax reform bill, right?

So Congress passed it to simplify certain areas of the tax code.

Ideally, it's supposed to like modernize some of our federal programs.

Think of it this way.

It's taking a bunch of unrelated tax items and bundling them into one legislation.

So if you're a US resident, the bill focuses mainly on updating credits, adjusting thresholds, and cleaning up outdated sections of the tax code.

If you're overseas, it's not that big of a deal.

So for people like you and me, it's not a big change per se, but it has the potential, I guess, to impact your foreign income reporting and credits.

But in general, if you're, if you're an ex expat, it's not that big.

I think what happened was a lot of expats got excited because we were thinking, okay, finally here's my chance to stop having to report in the US and be done with that.

And it didn't really materialize into what we were expecting.

So from an expat experience, it no big change.

If you live in the US Depending on your income threshold, then you have some impact.

And I think like that's an important point.

So earlier in season two we had, you know, tax fairness for Americans abroad on and they were talking because originally there was some Thoughts that maybe they would like sneak in the end to citizenship based taxation, which if you're new to the podcast, basically if you're a U.S. expat, you have to file a U.S. tax return, you know, regardless of whether you earn your income in the US or not.

That's like the real big difference.

And so they did not put that into this bill.

They've kept it separate.

As we're recording December 2025, it's still up for proposal for but it has not passed anything.

We're all like crossing our fingers and toes and hoping the end of is is near.

But no major updates as of today.

No major updates.

Now Melissa, tell me about what were some of the impacts of the one big beautiful bill act, especially thinking about through the lens of US Expats.

And I know there isn't anything earth shattering, but why don't we just kind of run through some of the highlights, especially those things that have been in the media lately.

Absolutely.

So there's the typical increase to the filing threshold.

Right.

So for single individuals, you went from 15,750 to 16,100 if you're married.

I'll just pause you right there.

The reason we're mentioning these increases in filing thresholds and this is for the 2025 or the 2026 tax year.

2025.

Okay.

This is for 2025.

And that is, that is the tax return that you are going to be filing in 2026.

So.

Right.

And when we're talking about these thresholds, this is basically the amount of money that you, if you've made that amount or more, you have a filing requirement.

And so we get this question a lot.

Do I really have to file a tax return?

I'm just a student.

I'm just this, I'm just that it has nothing to do with your job.

Right.

It has everything to do with your, the amount of income that you've earned.

And even if you're just a student, it doesn't mean you don't have a couple million dollars in the bank and you have interest in dividends and capital gains on the side.

Right.

So it really again has nothing to do with what your occupation is, has everything to do with the different types of income, a lot of different types of income that you earn.

And from a US Tax perspective, and what we want to focus on is this is income that you've earned anywhere in the world, Correct?

Correct.

You're paying a lot of Switzerland is paying you interest.

That's reportable income potentially on your U.S. tax return, right.

And it's funny you should say that because I get that client, I get that question a lot from taxpayers, especially those living here in Europe.

For example, think of our kids, right?

They're growing up here in Europe.

They're not living in the US where, you know, April 15, excuse me, is tax season and you need to file.

So a lot of people go, oh, I don't live in the US I don't have US Income, I don't need to file a US return.

That is so incorrect.

If you have that beautiful blue book, you have a filing obligation.

If you have a green card, even if you're no longer living in the US you still have a filing obligation.

So back to the bill.

If your income is over $15,750 USD in 2025 or 16,100 in 2026, you have to file if you're single.

And single is not the same as I'm married to a non.

I'm married, but not to a U.S. person.

Right.

So single is, I'm unattached, I'm married.

Union overseas.

You're still single for U.S. tax purposes.

And then you have married filing jointly, the threshold rises from 31,500 to 32,200.

And then if you're head of household, which means you are not married, or you could be married but to a non US person and you have qualified dependents, then your Threshold rises from 23,000 to 24,150 married filing separately.

So for our Americans who are married to non Americans and living overseas, if you have more than, what is that, $5 or $500 in self employed income.

I think it's $5.

$5.

And that is not index for, that is not index for inflation.

It's been $5 for as long as I've been preparing tax returns, I'm pretty sure.

So you have a lot of people go, oh, I'm under the 15,000, I don't need to file.

Actually, if you're self employed and you make$5.5 USD, you have a filing requirement.

No.

And sorry.

And it's $5 if you're married filing separately and $400 if you're self employed.

Exactly.

Yep.

So those are two, like, it's kind of like here are the thresholds, asterisks.

Unless you are married filing separately, $5 or if you are self employed, it's $400.

Right.

And those are really, really thresholds.

And I tell people this all the time with, especially with the self employment.

Right.

Because everyone like wants to get their hustle on.

And I get it, I'm a hustler.

Right.

But you can make a really complex tax situation by suddenly now you're self employed and you're abroad.

Yes.

And now maybe you only made $2,000 and you have to pay your accountant $1500 of that to file your tax return.

I just want people to be aware because I think they really have to weigh the, of being compliant while you're building a business abroad on top of especially if you're in countries like Germany.

Especially.

Right.

Where being self employed is not like a walk in the park.

Right.

We have, it's completely different system and how you register.

I don't think people realize in the US how easy it is to be an entrepreneur.

It is so easy.

The barriers to being an entrepreneur in the US are so low and you don't really fully appreciate that until you're building a business outside of the US and you're like, why are all these rules?

Why is there so much bureaucracy?

And obviously we have different environments.

Right.

Europe is heavy on bureaucracy.

Right.

You go to other countries, maybe there's not as many rules and maybe the systems aren't as well established.

Talking about Europe specifically.

Yeah.

Lot of things to follow.

I talk to my clients about guilds that they're in.

I mean like, it's just crazy.

Everything is so different.

The system here is so, so, so different.

And so you have to kind of learn the system and learn it in a different language.

The other thing that I think it's important to highlight is we're talking about different filing statuses and it's so basic to you and I, we're like, we, we think about this.

It's like of course you're not, you know, you're married, filing separately or you're head of household or whatever.

Actually one of the biggest mistakes that I see when we're onboarding clients and I'm reviewing their tax returns and they haven't been working with an international accountant and or they've been self preparing and then they come to us.

And this is why I always tell people I'm like before you hire me, like I'm expensive, before you hire me, find a good accountant and hire them.

Because I always think that's the first, that's the first step, a good international accountant.

And once you have that and you have investments and your situation is complex enough, then I get to come in and I get to really add a lot of value to you.

When I'm just adding value on like basic Tax prep stuff.

I mean, we still are adding value, but that's something that someone else can do at a much lower rate.

Let's talk more about these different filing status.

So like you said, single is truly single.

You are not married.

I thought it was really interesting, the civil union point you made, because I didn't know that.

I've always wondered, like, when is that country to country, are there treaties in place to say whether they would recognize a marriage or not?

It's just blanket civil unions.

Yeah.

From a US Perspective, civil unions overseas.

So in the US Civil unions statewide might be accepted, but federally it isn't.

So I have clients a lot of times here in Europe, I want to say probably Denmark, I find like a lot of clients from there.

Everyone gets married in Denmark.

Exactly.

So but then not legally.

So they're like, they do a legal marriage.

It's a civil.

I actually have a few in Australia as well.

And I'm.

From a US Perspective, you are still single.

So no disrespect to your, your partner.

From a US Perspective, you're considered single.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

From a U.S. no, just like say, just.

I'm going to throw that out there.

Yeah.

No, because especially when you think of when you get to capital gains, right.

Married filing separately, the tax burden is higher for that person than from a single person or for a married filing jointly person.

So yes, from a tax perspective, it's not a bad thing.

Again, not.

Melissa and Ariel didn't say don't get married.

And this is not your opportunity to tell your partner, no, for my tax purposes, I don't want to.

But we're just saying yes, it does help.

Things to consider because whenever we're talking about a US Person marrying a non US Person, that comes with some additional financial planning considerations.

And I'm not discouraging marriage at all.

And in fact, there are some wonderful opportunities in marriage.

Right.

You like, wanna move to a country and you don't have a.

And you gotta get married to do that would be.

Marriage would be a really great path into that country.

Right.

It just comes with, with additional responsibilities.

And one of the things that I see over and over is so many non US people are so scared of the irs, they are so scared of the US and they start just kind of like in their head.

They're like, oh my God, we have to keep everything separate and we have to like hide my money.

And you're not you US Person.

You're not allowed to hold any assets in your name because I'm So scared that the US so like our planning opportunity is for you to just not have money.

That's a terrible planning opportunity.

I'm sorry.

Like that.

And so often I'm seeing it's women who maybe are home with the children who become basically all of their assets.

All are, all is taken away.

They're in a foreign country.

Money is power.

Okay.

And so I think you have to have really intelligent conversations about what are your compliance responsibilities and then how do you navigate things in a legal and in compliant way way without just saying to one partner, you don't get any money because you're a US Person.

Right.

Ridiculous.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And this is why I always send clients your way.

Thank you.

The next we talked about single.

So then we talk about married filing jointly.

And this one will also trip people up, especially if they're married to a non US Person.

So married married filing jointly generally is for two US People who are married or one US Person and a green card holder who are married to each other.

But asterisks, another asterisk here.

Everything with taxes has an asterisk except for this one case.

Now there are some cases where it does make sense to bring in the non US Partner and start putting them on the tax return.

So in those cases, typically what we find is when you have a U.S. person, especially somebody who is high income earner and they have partner or, sorry, a non US spouse, especially who stay at home.

So you can have a stay at home mom, stay at home dad, whichever one, or very, very low income.

While it's beneficial in that perspective to do married filing jointly, especially if they don't have a lot of investments or anything like that, that would complicate the US Filing.

It moves you now from married filing separately tax bracket to married filing jointly, which can be very beneficial.

And I see this more beneficial and correct me if I'm wrong here, when we're talking about low tax countries where we don't have a lot of foreign tax credits.

Exactly.

So that to me, like that's the planning opportunity.

And I think the, the other, that that's a really important note because I, I reviewed a tax return, right?

And it was a couple one.

I do love reviewing a good tax return.

It was one couple, he was a US Person, high earner, they were living the uae.

She was a stay at home mom.

Like no investments, nothing.

So they started doing married, finally jointly.

This does not give her any immigration status in the US no, this is just, I'm happy to put my information down on a US Tax return, your tax status and your immigration status are like so different.

And so now you've basically this, this woman created U.S. tax exposure for herself.

Right.

So if she suddenly inherits money or starts a business or something, that's all going on the tax return.

And this is not something that you can choose like you flip on, on, on and off every year.

No, no, no, no, no.

And there are a lot of people that have this conception that I can opt in and opt out as I feel, no, the US does not make it where it.

Not that they make it difficult, but it's not a whatever suits me in a current year situation, if that makes sense.

It's like, if it's beneficial for you this year, but it's going to hurt you next year, we're not going to give you the flexibility basically to just quickly minimize your taxes as it suits you, which is why planning opportunities are so, so crucial.

It might be beneficial for this one year and saves you a couple thousand dollars, but if it's going to be painful the next four years, well, was it worth it this year?

And that's where they really need to have these conversations with you.

Yep, totally.

So we talked about married filing jointly.

The other thing I want to talk about is married filing separately.

Right.

And so this is very common.

Newlyweds, no dependent children yet.

Right.

They are kind of stuck filing married filing separately.

You are penalized a little bit for that.

Right.

The 5, $5 filing threshold that you need to be aware of, you have to like, write your partner's name, the tax return, even if they don't have a Social Security number, even if they're not filing, their name still gets noted on that.

And then any joint accounts that you have together.

Right.

And this is really common.

Even if we're saying keep everything separate, oftentimes we have at least one joint account.

And honestly, I think we should have at least one joint account.

Right.

All the home expenses are going into this one account where we're paying for joint vacations or God forbid, someone dies.

And we need to like, get money from other accounts into that joint account to get.

So the spouse can get money out.

Yep.

We should still have at least one joint account if we're married.

Right.

That gets filed and reported oftentimes on the F bar on the 8938.

And so this non US person, some of their information is still going to be getting reported back to the US and so they just need to have that conversation.

They don't need to fear that that's not.

That's not scary.

We're just.

That's compliant.

We're just going to stay in compliance with the US to remain, you know, but we're not reporting any income, any other assets.

So it's, it's relatively straightforward.

And then where I see a lot of mistakes or lack of kind of planning is on the head of household.

And I think that's a really important point to touch because you as a US Person living outside of the US Married to a non US Person, if you have dependent children that you're helping to provide for, you now get to go and you get to move from not married filing separately.

But now you can do head.

No, it is a better bracket to be in from all perspectives.

So if you want to put them in categories.

Right.

Married filing jointly is by far the best category to be in.

But if you have to pick between head of household and married Fallon separately, you want to do head of household.

This does not mean go out and create children just for the sake of getting that credit, but it is more beneficial, for sure.

Whereas married filing separately, like we talked about, you do kind of get penalized on the tax bracket.

Yeah.

And another conversation that sometimes this leads to, especially if I know someone has children and then they're like, not on the return, I'm like, I know you have kids.

Why are they not on your return?

Why are we filing married filing separately still?

And so this is another thing that I hear that's incorrect.

And I just want to, like, go on the record and state right now.

They'll tell me my spouse doesn't want my children to become U.S. citizens.

And I think it's really important to just acknowledge that by getting a Social Security number, like, that is not what makes you a US Citizen or not.

Right.

There is a lot of law around how you obtain U.S. citizenship, when you obtain U.S. citizenship.

And so it's just.

I'm saying this out loud because I've had this conversation with people who are like, well, I want my child.

My child choose.

Okay, well, your child doesn't get to choose.

Right.

You either are or you're not.

And applying for a Social Security number doesn't make you one or doesn't make you one.

And I'm saying this because foreign bank compliance departments have gotten really smart.

And it used to be like, I moved here in 2011, FACA was blowing up, all the banks were auditing every account holding holder.

Compliance has completely changed in Europe.

And when people are saying, oh, it's still so hard to get you Know a US bank account as.

Or a bank account as an American.

It's less hard now.

Right.

We have, we have processes, we have procedures.

You can get a bank account.

You might not be able to get an investment account abroad, but you can get a bank account at this point, if you live abroad, you can get a bank account.

Right.

At any legitimate bank.

I'll just say that as well.

So I think one of the questions that now is being asked is not just, are you a U.S. person?

Were your parents a U.S. person?

And that is already cluing the compliance department in and saying, okay, you have a U.S. parent who is a U.S. person.

Now it is possible to have a U.S. parent, who is a U.S. citizen and you are not U.S. but it's, it's.

That's not common.

That's less common than your parent is a US Person, and therefore you are also a US Person.

So you need to make sure that you go through that workflow and decide, am I a US Person?

Am I not a US Citizen?

So you don't just get to decide when you become a U.S. person.

And now you're suddenly get to be compliant with.

With taxes.

Yeah.

And that I actually do see a lot in the last year, I've had a lot more clients come out of the woodwork because of that.

Right.

It's.

Oh, my bank informed me that I now need to get compliant from a US Perspective.

I've been in Switzerland, in Germany my entire life.

I've visited the US Once or twice, but either my mom was a US Citizen or in some cases, child didn't even realize, oh, I was actually born in California because my parents were there for whatever, and now I need to file.

So, yeah, yeah, I mean, we're still having these conversations.

And again, this all goes back to like when, you know, FACA blew up in Europe.

And here we are 15 years later, I'm still having these conversations with people.

And there are a lot of people who, you know, were really, truly born in the US 20, 30 years ago and then left when they were an infant, have spent their entire lives living not as a US Person.

Really not understanding.

Right.

Maybe there's some family folklore like, oh, you can get a US Passport if you want, but like, really not understanding any of the implications of that.

So I do have these legitimate conversations with people.

But I think what I find more concerning is the conversations with people who grew up with the US Per parent, and that US parent has raised them abroad.

Just being like, you're American.

We just.

You apply when you're ready.

Yeah.

And to me I'm like, that's, that's crazy.

Leaving money on the table.

Right.

With, with, with credits that kind of help offset some of the preparation costs every year.

And once you're 18 and you're going down to the US embassy to apply, that's very different than going through the process of registering for a birth abroad or registering with the US Social.

That's like a much more is the word that I'm looking at.

I mean, thinking about.

Well, it is more complicated.

Scrutinized.

It's more scrutinized.

Right.

Who are you person coming out of the work now claiming that you're a U.S. person.

Right.

They want, they're going to want a lot more information.

It's a little bit of a, it's a process.

Yeah.

So just, just to be aware of.

Okay.

I think we've talked through all the filing statuses.

Am I missing something?

We can talk about the add ins.

You know, you get a little bit more.

If you're a senior, you get a little bit more.

Right.

If you have, if you're blind.

Right.

Yes.

So they've increased the, what deductions for those.

For seniors, you now have an additional 6,000 that's added and it's 12,000.

That's huge.

That, that, that was big change actually.

So, yeah, I kind of glossed over it like it wasn't a big deal because I thought about, you know, married filing separately, how it was a couple hundred dollars here and there.

But no, if you are older, then an additional 6,000 for a single person or additional 12,000 for Mad Fallon jointly is a huge difference.

That's the difference between 0% tax bracket and 15%.

Right.

So yeah, it's a big deal for seniors.

We also have the no tax on tips.

So depending on your income threshold, if you're earnings on tips, also for, I believe overtime, there is no tax on those.

But again, there is the threshold to consider.

But that is that huge win for people with overtime.

Yeah.

And I think that, I mean, there's a couple things to consider because you and I are based in Europe and so we're thinking these do not apply to us.

One, a lot of people in Europe not working a lot of overtime.

That's like culturally not a thing like it is in the US and you, your resident country may and likely still decides to tax that income regardless of whether the US does.

And so all we end up here is just an unequal seesaw.

Right.

And unfortunately, as US citizens, you will always pay the Highest tax rate.

Right.

So if you're living in Germany and you worked overtime and you got tips, Germany doesn't tax in Germany.

That's taxed in Germany at, you know, almost, probably 50% compared to the US is saying it's tax free.

Well, okay, now we just end up with excess foreign tax credits on your tax return.

Right.

It's not really helping you as an American abroad.

It could be more interesting if you're working in one of those few countries that have no tax rate.

Right.

Or lower tax rate to the U.S. yeah, yeah.

Or tax rates in the U.S. now we've just kind of increased some income opportunities.

Right.

We can make more income and pay a lower rate in tax.

And that is yes, for, for people in those low or no tax jurisdictions.

But even if they're in a low or no tax jurisdiction, if the U.S. is a higher, higher rate, still paying to the U.S. and so I mean, again, we're back to.

You're always going to pay the highest rate as a US Person.

Okay.

Unfortunately, I feel like I have, I've, I want you moved abroad with your family.

You guys are building your life in Germany.

I'm curious, you know, for anyone who's in that space, who's thinking about moving abroad or maybe has recently moved, what is kind a tip that you could provide them or some encouragement that you could provide them?

Do your research.

So taxes aside, I mean, as a tax person, I am going to speak to the tax side of it.

Right.

Like you need to understand what you're getting yourself involved in as a country.

I'm going to.

Is it higher taxed, equally taxed or lower taxed in the U.S. what does that do for me on the U.S. side?

Can I do investing?

Do I want to do investing?

What does that mean for me?

Because I can tell you, for me it means I can't invest in.

Nobody in Europe wants to touch me for, for investing.

So all my investing is still done through the US but in general it's important.

What are you looking to move?

What's important to you and do your research.

Don't take the first job that's offered to you just because you eagerly want to go, because it might be a dumpster.

But I would say partner.

Find the right partners to partner with.

Find a good accountant, find a good investment manager.

And again, all of this depends on where you are, your economic, where you are economically.

Right.

So not everybody can afford an Ariel, but even so, there are so many webinars out there.

There's so many different materials that will help to educate you.

It's so important to be informed before you, before you make that move.

I completely agree.

And honestly, that is like the heart of this podcast.

Right?

And I think about this.

We want to be leading with education first.

I am very aware that most people can't afford our services.

That's why we have this podcast.

I want people to have education and they have access to resources so that as they start to.

To go down the line, they start to earn a little bit more money and they're starting to think about a business they know.

Okay, when do I need to, like, put my hand up and just ask a question before I make a decision or create an entity that is going to have a massive ripple into my financial and tax life.

And it's also why we now are offering paid expat expert calls.

And so we.

You can book a call with me and my firm for 45 minutes and we'll do a 15 minute follow up.

So you get an hour of our time.

It's no commitment.

So that you have a question, you can still access us for an hour.

We'll, we're.

We'll help you for an hour.

We are not gonna do a full engagement for you, but we can all of those.

I have a quick question that's for you.

That's what we're doing.

Can I tell you how much I love that?

Because when we were looking to move, that wasn't there.

Like, we tried.

And again, I'm a tax professional, right?

So like, I'm used to doing research.

I'm used to looking for stuff and I couldn't find it.

And I paid a lot of money to somebody who after the call, they're like, sorry, can't help you.

And I was like.

And then you and I had a chat, a sideway chat.

A side.

What is that?

Like a fireside chat.

And you gave me so much information for free at the time, so thank you.

But it was so helpful in preparing me and my family for a move.

So I love that you have this environment that individuals can get that information that I didn't have when we were initially looking to move.

So thanks.

Yeah, yeah, happy to help.

Melissa, it's been a joy to have you on the podcast today.

Thank you so much for lending your time and your expertise to our audience.

Thank you.

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