The Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI) is a life insurance policy which can provide a death benefit of up to $500,000. Likewise the Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) may allow you to keep your life

Giving money to a noble cause is something which in most countries will earn you a tax break of some kind. Obviously, there are differences in what the various governments of this world consider a

Starting 2025 German tax law holds some changes in how it will tax distributions from US retirement plans. Some basic understanding upfront: As laid out in previous articles before, it is currently and up until

When going through a year one accrues all sorts of expenses for a variety of reasons. What would be more logical than trying to cut the tax office in on some! However, for Americans it

We have discussed in previous articles which benefits Military Survivors can receive on an ongoing basis. In this article, we want to touch on a very specific benefit provided through The HEART Act. We think

While it does likely sound a bit uncommon switching your TSP retirement plan to a regular retirement plan (Roth or not) can at times make sense. It can be useful for people who would be

Earlier (see article“Can you tell me differences between US and German tax law?”) we covered some general differences between US and German tax law. In this article we would like to highlight the differences between

Crypto was likely one of the hottest assets in the market in recent years – even more so than real estate. So, congratulations on getting into the business in time, and getting out when it

Gold is a very popular asset to own, and some advisors even recommend about 10% of your total portfolio should be made up of gold. Some of our clients also inherit these assets as their

It is not uncommon for our American clients to make a living not by working for somebody else, but working for themselves. This pertains to both regular Americans living and working in Germany but also

Student loans are a common way for US students to pay their way through college. However, as with any loan they need to be paid back. So, since there is a good chunk of money

Since it is far more common in the US to own real estate it is also pretty common place to use a US home for creation of rental income, or sell it when moving. As

We covered in a previous article why filing German returns usually feels like a fairly tedious process where the taxperts need to ask all these detailed questions about single items and then still need to

US stimulus checks were a one-time benefit (even though paid in increments) during the COVID pandemic during the years 2020-2022. Essentially the US government helicoptered checks to mostly every single American (with a few exceptions

First of all, thank you for your service and protecting all of us. We certainly prefer learning English in Germany rather than being forced to familiarize ourselves with Russian – at least the ones of

Yes and no – and trust us, we understand how this feels confusing. First things first. When you register at town hall upon moving to Germany the German “Bundeszentralamt für Steuern” or “BZSt”, essentially the

The answer is yes – that is if they want to and you let them. Honestly, we do not know why some German tax office are so gung ho about taxing US money that is

US Reservists are an essential part of the US Military footprint in Europe. Thousands of US citizens who have otherwise “normal” jobs and lives on the German economy dedicate so many weeks out of every

We understand that filing a tax return under the best of circumstances is a very unfun subject. So, we do not expect you to find it a joyous thing when it comes to doing it

We have a great number of American clients who – due to their time in the US Military and corresponding deployments – suffer from some sort of posttraumatic stress. It is not very surprising when

Mostly every American who leaves the Military receives education benefits. Established after World War 2 and with various changes to the program over time, today the so called “Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33)” provides financial

Usually, child-care in the US (or on the US system when assigned to Germany) is not free and contributing towards a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) can be a great way to save towards