I don’t think you quite understand the concept of expatriatism.
At this point I shall beat a retreat into embarrassed silence.
Then it is incumbent on the CPA to say, “dude, I don’t understand this shit, and you should find somebody who does” instead of trying to muddle through.
Why do you need a cpa then?
Hmm I’ve used TT for the last 4 years and haven’t been contacted about a class action lawsuit.
Funny HOW?!?! Do I AMUSE you?! 
(not being funny)
If you didn’t make more than $52,000, or you and your spouse did but filed separately, you’re not part of the class. The lawsuit is pretty fanciful.
Really? I would think that being a CPA carries with it ethical obligations. Is that one of them? Because it seems counter-intuitive to suggest that no professional should do anything that other than mundane and routine.
BTW, is this CPA in-country? Who is the licensing agency? Why should an in-country CPA or equivalent be an expert in US laws? And if they are so common where Paul lives, and he didn’t hit it off with this guy, why not simply go across the street to the next guy?
That’s interesting.
It was a long time ago when I was at Intuit, at the very dawn of the commercial internet in fact, but those are the very types of issues we were identifying and anticipating in laying out short, mid, and especially long term strategy.
I bet this suit is related to or inspired by similar ones involving “FreeCreditReports.com”.
Paul, if you live in a community of expats, ask one of them, hey, who’s your tax guy? Get some recommendations about some tax preparer names, and use one of them.
IRS has told me I need to report foreign earned income and pay the Soc Sec tax. Only income tax, not Soc Sec tax, is subject to the exemption. I’ve been doing this, and they haven’t been refunding it. :smack:
You need the citizenship for your job? Otherwise I think there’s some Affidavit of Valid Reason Other Than Taxes to Renounce Citizenship you can fill out to apply for permission to renounce U.S. citizenship. I don’t know what the fee is.
Knowing when you’re in over your head and informing your client that he needs to consult a specialist is an entirely ethical thing for a professional to do.
Perhaps that’s why the Third Circuit affirmed its dismissal it more than a year ago. 
Thats kinda what I was suggesting in my post. Don’t like paying American taxes, don’t be/stay an American citizen.
Though, given your description of the affidavit, it sorta sounds like you can cease to be a US citizen yet still be on the hook for taxes :eek:
I hope I haven’t contributed to your embarrassed silence - I wasn’t being sarcastic; a CPA who deals with a lot of expats should indeed be able to handle your questions.
Can you do that without having citizenship in another country? I wonder how many people are wandering around with no citizenship at all? Does the UN issue passports to stateless people? Otherwise, how would one legally cross a border?
It it required ethically? Is there an ethical code for the profession? (don’t know but I guess yes there is, and no it’s not)
How is a third party to know when someone is in over their head, simply because “a guy on a web site” is upset?
Exactly. I used to have Professional Engineer’s license. If you looked up my licensure status in Illinois, it would have said I was a Professional Engineer. That’s all. My license didn’t indicate that my specialty was in pressure vessel design. If someone comes to me and says, “Hey, you’re a Professional Engineer, I need you to design a programable logic controller to {insert task here},” what’s the more ethical thing for me to do? Take their money and put a bunch of marks on paper that have no bearing on reality? Or say, “Wow, that is so far out of my area of expertise that I don’t even know what you’re talking about. You need to go find yourself a good electrical engineer who knows something about PLCs?” I know which answer I would give.
A CPA is the same thing. My wife is a CPA, but she wouldn’t even attempt to advise someone on a matter regarding personal income taxes (and has, in fact, refused to do so in the past). Why? Because it’s not her area of expertise, and it would be unethical for her to claim otherwise.
To answer your first question, yes.
(bolding mine)
In short, CPAs have an obligation to maintain a level of competence, and to know when a specific engagement lies outside that area of competence.
That ios different than the situation at hand, and as an ethical engineer, you are required to recognize this.
If your wife doesn’t do income taxes fine, but that is hardly the same as saying that you don’t do ICs when you do floating vessels. It is more akin to you considering an opportunity to repair a skiff when you have spend your entire career maintaining on a floating Chinese junk, and then acting all surprised when the random potential client tells the world how incompetent you are because your skills repairing floating vessels can’t possibly apply to a vessel of a different shape and size.
Those bolded statements (didn’t read the rest) are pretty much the same as my gf’s licensed psychologist ethics say. They are pro forma in the ethics business. Y’all are gonna have a tough row to hoe to make a case based on that passage and Paul’s OP that there is anything unethical going on.
Plus, it iis hardly clear to me that the person in the OP is US CPA, and if he is, and is in the US (also not clear) then why should he know the vagaries of international tax laws, and if he is whereever Paul is, then why would he either be a US CPA or, if he is, why would he be assumed to be a specialist in US tax issues.
Further regarding the current case and ethics, we don’t know the seniority of the CPA in his organization, or if he DID consult or not with others. All we know is we have a disappointed (potential?) client. So what?
BTW, licensed or subject to training and/or ethics codes or not, be aware that pretty much every specialized work field has the skill and competency level distributed according to Zipf’s law (call that the not_alice hypothesis). Ignore the implications at your own peril.