Filing Form 4852 online as a self-employed digital nomad with US permanent address - help needed!

You might be confused about which forms you need to file. As a self-employed person, you typically don't need Form 4852 - that's actually a substitute for W-2s when employers don't provide them or provide incorrect ones. Since you're self-employed, you should be reporting your income on Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business) and paying self-employment taxes via Schedule SE. Your worldwide income needs to be reported regardless of where you physically work from, since you maintain a permanent US address and are likely still considered a US tax resident. For expats, you should also look into Form 2555 for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion if you qualify, which could exclude up to $120,000 (approximate 2024 amount) of foreign earned income from US taxation. Alternatively, you might benefit from the Foreign Tax Credit using Form 1116 if you're paying taxes in your country of residence. Most tax software like TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA, or even the paid versions of TurboTax should handle these self-employment situations for Americans abroad. The free versions often don't support these more complex scenarios.

Figuring out expat taxes drove me CRAZY last year until I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It was a game-changer for my situation which sounds similar to yours - self-employed digital nomad working for US clients but living overseas. The system actually analyzed all my documents and helped identify which forms I needed to file (turns out I didn't need Form 4852 either, but rather Schedule C and Form 2555 for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion). What I liked is that it asked me about my specific situation - like how many days I spent outside the US, which countries I lived in, etc. - and then customized everything accordingly. Made the whole process way less stressful than trying to figure it out alone.

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I was also confused about my expat situation (been working from Southeast Asia for clients in the US). The system confirmed I didn't need Form 4852 since I'm self-employed and helped me identify which forms I actually needed. The document analysis caught that I actually qualified for the Foreign Housing Exclusion in addition to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which I had no idea about! Would have completely missed that deduction otherwise. It was really helpful to get clarity on exactly which tax forms applied to my specific situation before actually filing. Saved me from making the same mistakes as last year when I tried figuring everything out myself.

I spent HOURS trying to call the IRS about my expat tax situation last year and could never get through. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes who confirmed I didn't need Form 4852 for self-employment income. They have this callback system that somehow navigates the IRS phone tree for you. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I thought it was going to be a waste of time because everyone knows how impossible IRS phone lines are, but I was shocked when I actually got through and got my questions answered by a real person. The agent explained exactly which forms I needed to file as a self-employed expat.

Had to come back and say I was wrong about Claimyr. After struggling for weeks with my expat tax questions, I decided to try it despite my skepticism. Within 45 minutes I was talking to an actual IRS representative who cleared up my confusion about Form 4852 and filing requirements as a self-employed person living abroad. The agent explained that since I'm receiving income as an independent contractor, I don't need Form 4852 at all - that's only for substituting missing W-2s from employers. They walked me through exactly which forms I needed (Schedule C, Schedule SE, and potentially Form 2555). Never thought I'd admit this, but it actually worked exactly as advertised. Definitely better than the combined 7+ hours I wasted trying to call myself over the past month.

Just a heads up from someone who's been filing as a digital nomad for years - you probably want to look into whether you qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555). If you spent enough time outside the US (330+ days in a 12-month period), you can exclude a significant chunk of your income from US taxation. Also look into state taxes - some states consider you a resident if you maintain a permanent address there, even if you're physically abroad most of the year. Others will let you file as a non-resident if you can prove you lived elsewhere.

Has anyone used FreeTaxUSA for filing as a self-employed expat? TurboTax is crazy expensive for their "self-employed" version but I'm not sure which software actually handles all the expat forms correctly?