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You may not be aware of how to file your taxes if you are an American citizen working and living abroad. You may not be aware that even if you are outside of the country, the IRS and the US government actually require that you file your taxes. Although it is a different method, it’s certainly a better option than not filing at all because it is quite easy and you can steer clear of severe IRS problems.

Numerous people assume that they have a free pass for not filing their taxes if they work overseas. They also believe that their taxes don’t need to be paid, either. This isn’t the case, however. The IRS expects everybody to file their tax returns to steer clear of considerable IRS issues, regardless if you live in a foreign country or in the US.

IRS Form 2555-EZ and the Foreign Earned Income form, or Form 2555, are two types of tax forms that citizens residing and working abroad are made to accomplish. To be able to fully qualify and be able to utilize either of these 2 forms, the taxpayer should be a citizen of the United States of America, or even a resident of the United States, but living in a foreign country.

You’ll need to file your tax return on April 15 of each year like everyone else. But a 2-month extension is automatically given for American citizens residing overseas. This would offer you more time to pay outstanding tax debts and file the right forms correctly. To utilize this 2-month extension, you will need to attach a statement to confirm that you qualify for it.

Among the problems that some people who have recently moved abroad is that they did not bring all of their tax information with them, or they moved before they could get all of their W-2 forms from their employers and they were actually sent to the old address in the United States. It is your responsibility to get those documents. Regardless if that takes asking a good friend or family member to find your mail, or asking your company to send a new copy to your new address, it needs to be done. Another option is to let your company send you electronic copies through email, while the official ones are being sent through regular physical mail systems. This will allow you to complete your tax returns in a timely manner and prevent an IRS problem.

You have a few choices in how to file your tax return if your spouse isn’t an American citizen. Filing as Married Filing Separately is one option. This means that you, as a taxpayer, would just report your own income that you have earned for that year. But if you also have children and you are the provider of more than half of each child’s support, then you can qualify under the status of Head of Household. Lastly, you can choose to declare your spouse as a resident alien as a third option. You would essentially be filing as Married Filing Jointly for tax reasons.

When filing taxes from another country, it’s advised to consult a tax preparer. This is the best way to avoid IRS issues, considering the various factors involved.

Darrin T. Mish is a Nationally recognized Attorney whose practice focuses on representing clients across the United States with IRS Problems. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbel and is a member of the American Society of IRS Problem Solvers and the Tax Freedom Institute. He has been honored by a listing in Martindale-Hubbel’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. His passion is providing IRS help to taxpayers with both individual and payroll tax problems. He teaches attorneys, CPAs and Enrolled Agents in the finer aspects of IRS representation all around the United States. He can be reached at his website at http://www.getIRShelp.com

Okay…so you might be wondering…can you rollover 401K into self directed IRA? Yes, you can!

Many people are considering this option, because there is so much more you can do with a self-directed account. You can invest tax all of the traditional vehicles, but more importantly you can also tap a largely untouched market…real estate!

Real estate, in particular the housing market, is really the way to go right now. Sure, prices are down taxes but all of us know that very soon, they’ll start to rise again. If you don’t act quickly, you could…no…you WILL miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime!

The best time to invest in houses is right after you rollover 401k into self directed IRA, because that’s when you have the most “cash” on hand. If you don’t have enough cash, you can consider forming a group with other investors and basically create your own bank.

You can buy a house, fix it up and flip it quickly for a short-term gain. Or, you can hold on to it for a while. Maybe, lease it out on a 2 year lease-purchase agreement. Even if you make no improvements on the property, the value will almost surely go up in a couple of years.

If you find the right deals, you may even have instant equity. Many houses are being sold at below market value, because sellers are motivated. People who want to avoid foreclosure and protect their credit are really motivated sellers.

If you rollover 401k into self directed IRA holdings, you may be able to grow that fund faster than you ever dreamed possible. I’ve seen it happen before. One of my good friends began with $20,000.00. He now has over a million saved for his future and it was all because of the “down” real estate market.

Of course, you always want to diversify. Never invest too heavily in one market or the other, but many financial advisors suggest that you make the least profitable investments, with your personal funds. Put the most profitable ones in your retirement account, because of the tax savings.

As you may know, real estate investors that use their own funds pay capital gains taxes, as high as 35% of their profits. Within an approved retirement account, there are no capital gains taxes.

Depending on the type of account you have, your distributions may be taxed as regular income. But, distributions from a Roth account are never taxed. Currently, you can rollover 401k into self directed IRA of the Roth type, as long as you make less than $100,000.00 per year.

You would pay income taxes on the converted amount this year, but once you retire and begin to take distributions, there are no taxes. As long as the account has been open for at least five years and you are at least 59 ½, withdrawals are free from taxes.

Wouldn’t that be nice? If you make the right investments now, you could be a millionaire by the time you retire and you could live like one without ever paying any more income taxes. Get as much tax mistakes as you can before you rollover 401k into self directed IRA and start securing your future.

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Joe Fazchas is a Real Estate investor as well as owner and founder of http://www.iLOCAdvantage.com – a company that partners with private individuals and lending corporations nationwide for the sole purpose of financing and/or rehabbing investment properties. All of which is done using a proven “turn-key” Real Estate system…The ILOC IRA.

The ILOC IRA was created in 2004 by national Real Estate speaker, author, and investor, Adam King. To learn more on how you can obtain among the highest rates of return on your IRA, 401(K), CD, or other source of private money, simply click and visit: http://www.iLOCAdvantage.com

Networking is about getting face to face with potential customers and partners and building relationships through trust. Good business contacts are achieved by getting to know people and establishing a mutual understanding and liking, not simply bombarding them with what you are selling. Networking is so hugely effective because you get straight into a face to face relationship, and people buy from people they know and like.

1. Warm Up

The majority of people walking in to an unfamiliar group will feel some level of anxiety, just thinking about being in this demanding situation can produce strong emotions. You need to remind yourself that everyone at these events feels the same and they are there for the same reason, to network, so there will be lots of people wanting to talk to you. Before you walk in get yourself in to a positive mind set, hold your head high and smile.

2. Break the Ice

You will have something in common with everybody in attendance, whether that’s how you travelled there, being associated to the same organisation, or having mutual acquaintances. You have something in common and you are there to learn something new, so start every conversation with an open question like how are you? or if you are feeling bold – how’s business?

3. Approach New People

Its fine to spend some time with the people that you feel comfortable with, in fact its good to strengthen existing relationships, but remember you are there to meet new people so make sure you don’t spend too much time hiding behind your friends. You can approach people on their own, even groups of 2 or 3 will usually welcome you to join, however, avoid closed groups of 2, 3, 4 or more unless you already know members of the group.

4. What to Say

You don’t have to be loud or overtly confident to be a good networker, overly loud personalities are quite often particularly bad at networking. You don’t learn anything by talking, the only way to learn something new is by listening. An excellent networker will have bags of self esteem and will spend the vast majority of their time listening and learning new things.

5. Don’t Hog People

When you do hit it off with someone be mindful that they are there with their own objectives, most likely to meet new people, so don’t spend too much time with them. Just because they have intimated that they buy what you have to sell from time to time and their current supplier isn’t great doesn’t give you licence to follow them around like a stray. They will be keen to make the most of their time and maximise their networking. Take their card and arrange to call them back or perhaps meet another time. If you are in a group and are not part of the conversation excuse yourself and move on.

6. Buy Things

We are all motivated to network for the same reason, to meet new people and win new business, the whole thing breaks down however if nobody is prepared to buy. Supplier relationships are as important as customer relationships and we would all prefer to be buying from people that we know and like and meet face to face from time to time, this is why networking works. So, if you meet someone and you like the look of their stuff and their attitude give them a go. It’s also worth noting that supplier relationships can quickly and easily become referrer relationships.

7. Prepare

As well as having a brief outline of what you do as a person or business, what you want to say and a good amount of business cards there are a few other things you may find useful. Most networking groups provide name badges, however some, perhaps the more casually arranged events don’t, so having your own will make it easier for people to remember you. Also a pen and a small pad will be useful for making notes on who to contact, when and about what as notes written on the back of cards or cigarette packets can easily be lost.

8. Hang Around

The really good networking very often takes place before or after the scheduled time of the event, remember this when you put it in your diary and aim to get there a little early and stay a little later. Why not set your self a target of not leaving until you have spoken to at least 5 new people and gained 4 new pieces of information or gossip.

9. Keep Your Promises

Diarise any follow up calls or actions that you have promised, make notes of the information you gained and add it along with the name of the event into your database. Memories fade quickly so if you have made a useful contact invest a little bit of energy in following them up in the way that you said you would, failed promises will be seen as an indication of unreliability on the networking circuit.

10. Go A Lot

Networking is about building relationships through trust which takes time. You will need to keep attending the networking events on a regular basis to get to know the members really well, and be on the tip of their tongue when they are referring somebody.

11. Spread The Net

Networking is a fantastic way to get your name known in areas you don’t usually work. The internet is the best way to find new networking groups, however you should also speak to your customers, suppliers and any other business associates as they may be attending events that they could introduce you to.

12. Enjoy It

Most networking goes on in pubs or restaurants in the evenings or hotels around breakfast time. Networking is a necessarily social affair and could become the most social aspect of your job, if you compare it to other forms of prospecting like cold calling or knocking on doors its easy to see how people grow to love it and the people that they meet on the networking scene become really good friends. So, smile, have fun, put your best foot forward and go win yourselves some business.

So here are The Effective Marketing Company’s tips on Effective Networking to go along with our Sussex Networking Directory. If you are running a networking event in Sussex and you would like to see it included forward us the details to webenquiry@effectivemarketingcompany.co.uk and we will publish it for you.