Recommendations: Tax account/CPA with World bank/ IMF/IDF experience please

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You owe taxes to someone OP here or your home country. Trying to avoid paying those taxes will get you in hot water.

NP here - where did you get the impression that OP was trying to avoid paying taxes?

Because the OP said they owed a huge amount last year...meaning they didn't pay taxes properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You owe taxes to someone OP here or your home country. Trying to avoid paying those taxes will get you in hot water.

NP here - where did you get the impression that OP was trying to avoid paying taxes?

Because the OP said they owed a huge amount last year...meaning they didn't pay taxes properly.

The World Bank doesn’t withhold taxes for US citizens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Excellent responsive post. Turbotax fixed this after the Tim Geithner error.

I made the same one he did, and received an IRS notice we were due a $5000 refund that I could not reconcile. A CPA friend of mine familiar with international organizations, now sadly retired, took five minutes to figure out we in fact owed $14,000.

Before Turbotax addressed this situation, reporting correctly required going into sub-worksheets and manually adjusting. It is so much easier now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Thank you so much for confirming my benefit query. The issue is we recently returned from our international assignment and while away we didn't file DC taxes, the account from the WB CPA list told us we don't need to file DC taxes, and nor did WB gave us DC taxes when were away. The CPA who did our taxes last year (the New one) said that is wrong and we received a notice to pay DC back taxes which now my partner is working to sort with WB HR. From 2020 taxes the CPA seems to have messed up and we received another notice from IRS asking us to pay an extra $6K. Totally lost on where things are going wrong. Both years we use different CPAs and both of them went MIA after filling out taxes. My spouse in Wb staff. Don't you have to fill some form 70 and give it to HR for tax withholding? I think he might not know how to do it?? Does WB have any support for US staff on tax question?

Sick of CPAs bailing on us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Excellent responsive post. Turbotax fixed this after the Tim Geithner error.

I made the same one he did, and received an IRS notice we were due a $5000 refund that I could not reconcile. A CPA friend of mine familiar with international organizations, now sadly retired, took five minutes to figure out we in fact owed $14,000.

Before Turbotax addressed this situation, reporting correctly required going into sub-worksheets and manually adjusting. It is so much easier now.

So do you do your own taxes as well? Why the hell is the US tax system so bloody complex! We also have a few rentals in DC which make our taxes a little complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Same but I've used Block Advisors arm of H&R Block for years. I've been both IMF and WB (over 20 years) and they have always known what to do for my Schedule SE and to assist on the quarterly filings (latter shouldn't be difficult since the issued quarterly tax allowance statement basically tells you how much to pay to federal and state, including your portion).

[Anonymous]

^^I'm PP above, and forgot; I'm ambivalent about the safety net. Make sure if you are filing jointly with your spouse that the additional tax owed isn't from their income. I've had that before when applying for safety net, and in fact my so-called Q5 adjustment was a reduction in the next tax allowance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Same but I've used Block Advisors arm of H&R Block for years. I've been both IMF and WB (over 20 years) and they have always known what to do for my Schedule SE and to assist on the quarterly filings (latter shouldn't be difficult since the issued quarterly tax allowance statement basically tells you how much to pay to federal and state, including your portion).

May I ask how much does your H&B person charges? So far everyone is quoting us < $1000-1500. We both hate taxes so outsourcing it seem to be a good option to avoid arguments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^I'm PP above, and forgot; I'm ambivalent about the safety net. Make sure if you are filing jointly with your spouse that the additional tax owed isn't from their income. I've had that before when applying for safety net, and in fact my so-called Q5 adjustment was a reduction in the next tax allowance.

We file jointly and my taxes are so much easier. Do you know if the tax office is qualified to address the issues with our past returns? Or what might be going wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Same but I've used Block Advisors arm of H&R Block for years. I've been both IMF and WB (over 20 years) and they have always known what to do for my Schedule SE and to assist on the quarterly filings (latter shouldn't be difficult since the issued quarterly tax allowance statement basically tells you how much to pay to federal and state, including your portion).

May I ask how much does your H&B person charges? So far everyone is quoting us < $1000-1500. We both hate taxes so outsourcing it seem to be a good option to avoid arguments

We pay around $1500 but we also have multiple K1s, properties and have to file in other states too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You owe taxes to someone OP here or your home country. Trying to avoid paying those taxes will get you in hot water.

NP here - where did you get the impression that OP was trying to avoid paying taxes?

Because the OP said they owed a huge amount last year...meaning they didn't pay taxes properly.

So you assume that was intentional? Clearly it wasn't as OP is trying to correct the issue so it doesn't happen again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worldbank retains services of a large public accounting firm to handle their global mobility taxes, as far as I know. Why are you not covered by that agreement

We inquired about it and were told that was not an option. Maybe they give that option to Managers and above? Nightmare it is to deal with US taxes as a World Bank staff.
Also trying to ask fellow US citizens who work there for recommendations but there are so few of them.

fellow WB co-worker and US citizen here (and at the manager level). There are no secret benefits to managers or to H+ level staff to help file taxes. I've used Turbo Tax for years and never had a problem. You just need to keep track of the taxes you paid and the dates you remitted payment. Turbo Tax now has options for filing as an employee of an international organization so the turbo tax system files the appropriate schedule as part of your return.

When it comes to tax payments, as someone said, the Bank does not withhold so you need to make sure you are paying the 7.25% from your own pocket, and not just rely on the amount the tax office gives you as the tax allowance. It's a pain-in-the-a** system and can be incredibly frustrating for sure, but the tax software today is so much better and easier to use than it was just a few years ago.

and if you end up paying more in taxes, be sure to apply for the safety net - and to ask for an appointment with the tax office. They use certain assumptions to calculate the tax allowance but these assumptions really do not apply to all but a small % of US staff. GL

Thank you so much for confirming my benefit query. The issue is we recently returned from our international assignment and while away we didn't file DC taxes, the account from the WB CPA list told us we don't need to file DC taxes, and nor did WB gave us DC taxes when were away. The CPA who did our taxes last year (the New one) said that is wrong and we received a notice to pay DC back taxes which now my partner is working to sort with WB HR. From 2020 taxes the CPA seems to have messed up and we received another notice from IRS asking us to pay an extra $6K. Totally lost on where things are going wrong. Both years we use different CPAs and both of them went MIA after filling out taxes. My spouse in Wb staff. Don't you have to fill some form 70 and give it to HR for tax withholding? I think he might not know how to do it?? Does WB have any support for US staff on tax question?

Sick of CPAs bailing on us.

If I were in this situation I would just suck it up and go to Dale Mason or the Wolf Group.

[Anonymous]

One other thing to add: the Bank provides regular (annual) tax seminars featuring HR and external experts like Dale Mason. These are worth attending. You may also be able to find a video of the seminars on the intranet.

For most situations those plus turbotax are fine. But it sounds like you may have a very complex situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You owe taxes to someone OP here or your home country. Trying to avoid paying those taxes will get you in hot water.

NP here - where did you get the impression that OP was trying to avoid paying taxes?

Because the OP said they owed a huge amount last year...meaning they didn't pay taxes properly.

The World Bank doesn’t withhold taxes for US citizens.

These are foreigners clown