Author Topic: American Working Abroad--Self-Employment & Roth IRA?  (Read 2302 times)

nikki

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American Working Abroad--Self-Employment & Roth IRA?
« on: September 22, 2013, 02:25:58 AM »
Hello everyone! I'm an American living and working in South Korea as an English teacher. This is my second year here, so I've already gone through filing taxes in America and excluding my foreign earned income via form 2555. My question is NOT about my income earned through teaching in Korea.

Instead, I'm completely baffled by how to handle income earned as an independent contractor. I am a webcam model and will receive a 1099 form. I understand that I will have to pay self-employment taxes in the US despite living and working in South Korea. But I also see some information that states I can exclude this income from income taxes by just sticking those numbers on form 2555 as well. So there's my first question: do I exclude my camming income from taxation on form 2555?

My second question is about investing. I thought I could use my camming income as a way to be eligible for Roth IRA contributions, but if self-employment tax alone doesn't open up this opportunity, I may have made a mistake and will have to correct my contribution. So my second question: can I contribute to a Roth IRA because I will pay self-employment taxes?

Any help is much appreciated; I've been researching this topic for months and continue to find information that seems to contradict what I read before.

I'm happy to answer any further questions if my situation isn't clearly explained.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2013, 02:27:44 AM by nikki »