Blog
News, tips, and resources to help with the business end of your vacation lifestyle.Home Loans and Refi’s—Be Prepared
by Tom Andrews, CPA Over the past six months our office has been busy assisting clients who are either applying for a new home loan or refinancing their current home. As real estate prices have increased and it now appears interest rates start decreasing again...
read moreForeign Tax Credit
by Tom Andrews, CPA The career of a professional mariner sometimes affords opportunities and circumstances that the crewmember might not have planned on. The travel requirements of a mariner often result in a nomadic lifestyle in which the crewmember lives overseas,...
read moreTax Treaties and Crewmembers
by Tom Andrews, CPA Nonresident crewmember that have worked on a foreign flagged vessel have probably been asked to sign form 8233 “Exemption Form Withholding on Compensation for Personal Services of a Nonresident Alien”. By properly executing this form the...
read moreSALT (State and Local Tax)
by Tom Andrews, CPA While we regularly focus on federal income taxes it is important to keep in mind that SALT can have just as much of an impact on yacht crew as do the federal taxes. In my experience the state and local taxing authorities can have more aggressive...
read more2019 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Update
By Tom Andrews, CPA The FEIE (foreign earned income exclusion) is so frequently asked about I write an update column every year. Unfortunately the most common misconception about the FEIE is that if an American lives outside the United States for more than 183 days...
read moreEstimated Tax Payments
by Tom Andrews, CPA Many yacht crewmembers end up filing extensions to file their tax returns, the most common reason is that crewmembers are normally traveling when the April 15th deadline arrives and filing an extension will give them an extra six months to get...
read moreIRS Phone Scams Are Still A Threat
By Tom Andrews, CPA The Internal Revenue Service has received almost 100,000 complaints from tax payers who have received unsolicited calls from individuals demanding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS. This can be especially troublesome to yacht...
read moreRoth IRA
by Tom Andrews, CPA Now that 2018 has ended many taxpayers are looking forward to 2019 with their renewed financial goals. One of those goals is to start contributing to a retirement account. While the yachting profession does provide a number of advantages one of...
read moreForeign Corporation and the Transition Tax
by Tom Andrews, CPA The tax reform bill that was passed at the end of 2017 is now of primary concern for any tax payers that are about to file their 2018 income tax returns. While the new tax bill has provided many benefits to the average US taxpayer there are also...
read more2018 Pass-Through Deduction
by Tom Andrews, CPA As we approach the end of the year many yacht crewmembers are contemplating how much income they should be putting aside for taxes. In past years tax payers could reasonably rely on their recent history to determine how their tax calculation might...
read more