What is the best virtual mailbox service in usa?

[Franck Woodman]

I’ve been trying to decide which online mail service to use. Any recommendations?

[onthemoon]

What's an "online mail service"? An email provider?

[taxout]

It's a service that opens your mail, scans it, then forwards the scans by email.

[Jingthing]

I'd like to know of any that banks and credit card companies would accept as your actual residence address. Not sure that exists.

[gk10002000]

I believe there are several in Nevada. As many of you may know, Nevada is fairly liberal with LLCs and other corporation filings. Many places "host" the company and there is a real house with a real address where all the mail goes. They charge a fee for things like opening mail, scanning it, forwarding it or whatever you want. I used to use one of the local mail box service stores and they would forward my mail, but those places don't work as an address any more because they list a PO or Mail box number and most organizations that want a real mail address won't accept those as valid mail business or residence mailing addresses.

GK

[taxout]

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence on the web suggesting there's something of a blacklist of mailbox service addresses, which banks, credit card companies and such seem to use at their discretion. No doubt it's all been made easier since the USPS started requiring these services to register with it some years ago.

Edited February 20, 2015 by taxout

[watcharacters]

I'd like to know of any that banks and credit card companies would accept as your actual residence address. Not sure that exists.

EarthClassMail uses a store front address and credit card and brokerages accept their address, guaranteed.

It is not inexpensive, however.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Basically, there are two kinds of these services:

1 that deal mostly in scanning and emailing copies of the mail you receive.

and

2. that deal in saving and then actually forwarding by intl mail the paper mail you receive in a larger envelope periodically, like once a month.

Most will do both, but usually their pricing and plans are geared mainly toward one or the other.

They also tend to be located in no state income tax states, such as Florida, Nevada, Texas and Washington.

The problem with the scanning types is that doesn't really do you any good when your banks want to mail you a new credit card or debit card to replace the periodically expiring ones you have. Or any other similar situations where you actually need the original thing being mailed, not a scanned copy of it.

For years, I've used USA2Me.com in Texas to handle mail forwarding, which includes them giving you a valid U.S. mailing address (though they also do scanning for a small extra charge), and Shipito.com in California for package forwarding.

USA2Me.com is a bit expensive for package handling, since they tend to use private couriers like DHL instead of USPS Intl. But they're great and affordable for mail management. Whereas Shipito.com is very good for package forwarding, but they're not really set up to handle paper mail management.

As for blacklists, I've used USA2Me as my principal address for years and only twice had any financial account issue among many many transactions, and both were in new account opening situations. Never any problem with existing accounts and changing the address to them. So IME that's not an issue for them and their customers, either for keeping existing accounts or even opening new ones, most of the time.

However, there are some retailers that won't ship to them like Walmart and Target because, apparently, their addresses show up as commercial instead of residential in whatever data systems those retailers use. But for most retailers including Amazon, it's not a problem and they ship there just fine.

If you use the forum search function on the ThaiVisa website and enter the term "mail forwarding," you'll come up with at least a half dozen past TV threads on U.S. mail forwarding companies and members experiences with them.

Also... PS... you want to avoid any that give you a Post Office Box address...since that can create problems... You want an address that includes something like Unit #, or #, or Suite #.....

Edited February 20, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Langsuan Man]

Here, at $10 a month which includes envelope scans of all mail and 5 scans of contents it is the best deal around

https://www.postscanmail.com/

[onthemoon]

It's a service that opens your mail, scans it, then forwards the scans by email.

Thanks, I had never heard about this.

[gk10002000]

Well done fellow posters. I think you gave the OP all the pointers he asked for. I really do like Thaivisa

Edited February 20, 2015 by gk10002000

[MJKT2014]

As for blacklists, I've used USA2Me as my principal address for years and only twice had any financial account issue among many many transactions, and both were in new account opening situations. Never any problem with existing accounts and changing the address to them. So IME that's not an issue for them and their customers, either for keeping existing accounts or even opening new ones, most of the time.

As mentioned in another thread my broker Etrade won't mail to a virtual mailbox like this without a utility bill as proof of address. I have Shipito and I presume USA2Me is the same problem? Or should I check them out?

[CaptHaddock]

I'd like to know of any that banks and credit card companies would accept as your actual residence address. Not sure that exists.

I think you mean that will accept a mail forwarder's address as your physical address when opening an account, right? Certainly most banks will not. If you already have an account at a bank changing your address to a mail forwarder is not likely to be a problem since they don't require verification.

I was able to get a Capital One credit by using my mail forwarder address while in a phone conversation with the CapOne rep. He immediately asked was that my mailing address to which I said yes. I then waited for him to ask for my physical address, but he never did. However, I don't think I would be able to open a checking account with CapOne on the same basis. Anyway, that was a couple of years ago and who knows what procedure they use currently, but I am sure that the mail forwarders are all identifiable by the banks.

[CaptHaddock]

I recommend the mail forwarder, St Brendan's Isle, located in Florida.

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

For these reasons:

1. basic service is $20/month, includes a scan of all envelopes, and shredding of junk mail, if requested. Not the cheapest, but still cheap. No price increase in the several years of my use.

2. Scans of contents, when requested, are prompt and cheap.

3. They forward packages, including repacking, if requested, at shipping cost + $2.

4. As a small company, on the rare occasions when I have called with a question or a problem, I speak to a partner, usually Scott, not some everchanging voice in a corporation. Emails with questions or requesting special handling get a response the same day.

5. They will provide additional, exceptional services as requested. For instance, if you want an envelope of your own mailed from Florida, they will handle it for you. They will deposit checks for you, etc.

6. After several years of service from them, exactly zero problems.

[Jingthing]

No, I don't mean only with opening accounts, but being challenged later with existing accounts.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I think you mean that will accept a mail forwarder's address as your physical address when opening an account, right? Certainly most banks will not. If you already have an account at a bank changing your address to a mail forwarder is not likely to be a problem since they don't require verification.

I think that may be over-generalizing quite a bit regarding opening new accounts, at least based on my experience with USA2Me in TX.

I've opened many new accounts during my time with them, and only rarely -- two instances I can recall -- was it ever a problem. And I've never had any problem converting existing accounts to using that address.

I do think it's helpful if everything matches up on your credit profile/report -- the mailing address you're using matches the address on your driver's license or state ID card, if you have one. And the address you're using is the address you use for everything... not one address among several different ones that show up on your credit report.

But I will say, among the various banks I've encountered large/mega and small, Cap One seems to be among the most picky on address issues.

[CaptHaddock]

No, I don't mean only with opening accounts, but being challenged later with existing accounts.

That has never happened to me.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I recommend the mail forwarder, St Brendan's Isle, located in Florida.

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

For these reasons:

1. basic service is $20/month, includes a scan of all envelopes, and shredding of junk mail, if requested. Not the cheapest, but still cheap. No price increase in the several years of my use.

2. Scans of contents, when requested, are prompt and cheap.

3. They forward packages, including repacking, if requested, at shipping cost + $2.

4. As a small company, on the rare occasions when I have called with a question or a problem, I speak to a partner, usually Scott, not some everchanging voice in a corporation. Emails with questions or requesting special handling get a response the same day.

5. They will provide additional, exceptional services as requested. For instance, if you want an envelope of your own mailed from Florida, they will handle it for you. They will deposit checks for you, etc.

6. After several years of service from them, exactly zero problems.

Thanks for the info on St. Brendan's, Captain. I think I had seen them before, probably after I had already started using USA2Me.

I would have liked to be able to do a price and features comparison between the two, but St Brendan's website doesn't specify some details, including what their actual postal envelope or package forwarding rates are, which is going to drive the monthly cost, unless someone is doing scanning exclusively.

With USA2Me, for forwarding to Thailand, you get everything you need for handling postal mail using their Just Mail plan priced at $29.99 per month, which includes the mailing every month of one USPS Flat Rate Global Priority international envelope (9.5 x 12) with contents up to 4 lbs.

Under that plan, you get an email with a photo of the mail piece's front face every time something is delivered, and that includes the weight and dimensions info. You have access to their web-based mail management system, which allows you to save or delete individual items at will, order them shipped right away, or let them sit until it's time for your monthly shipment. Document scanning, which I rarely do, is $3 per order for up to 6 pages.

If you do order mail scanned, the resulting PDF files are posted for viewing and/or download in your online account.

https://www.usa2me.com/signup/pgeRatePlans.aspx?Country=Thailand&Region=67

USA2Me has other plans available also, but they're more oriented to packages and using private couriers like DHL, which IME experience is both overly expensive and oftentimes leads to problems with Thai Customs duties. On the other hand, I've rarely if ever had any Thai Customs issues with contents sent using the USPS Flat Rate envelopes.

Overall for USA2Me, they've done an excellent job over the years of forwarding my postal mail without problem and their online mail management system is very good and easy to use, and you have the advantage of pretty much a fixed monthly price.

On the downside, their in-person/telephone customer service is weak, and one reason I avoid them for package shipping in favor of Shipito.com is that USA2Me does all their package shipment pricing based on DIM (dimensional) weights instead of actual package weights, which can really jack up the price of package shipping. Shipito, on the other hand, uses actual weights for their most economical services.

In looking at the St Brandan's website, I couldn't quite tell how you got to the $20 a month figure you mentioned above. I saw they offer a basic membership plan for $12 per month that includes a very basic level of online mail management (keep all, delete all bulk rate, etc.), but doesn't include any actual mail forwarding shipping.

And they don't seem to say on their website much of anything about what their shipping rates would be, other than $2 more than the actual mailing cost. They seem to be saying they use USPS Flat Rate, but there are varying prices for that (retail vs commercial pricing, etc).

They also seem to offer a custom mail plan for $29.99 a month, but it's not quite clear from their language whether or not that includes any postal mailing expenses. "This fee includes your mail forwarding services plus custom sorting or bill paying, etc."??? It kind of sounds like that doesn't include the actual postage expenses.

And I don't see any mention of them offering mail contents scanning in lieu of mail forwarding... Can you fill in any of the various blanks based on your personal experience with them?

Edited February 21, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[CaptHaddock]

I recommend the mail forwarder, St Brendan's Isle, located in Florida.

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

For these reasons:

1. basic service is $20/month, includes a scan of all envelopes, and shredding of junk mail, if requested. Not the cheapest, but still cheap. No price increase in the several years of my use.

2. Scans of contents, when requested, are prompt and cheap.

3. They forward packages, including repacking, if requested, at shipping cost + $2.

4. As a small company, on the rare occasions when I have called with a question or a problem, I speak to a partner, usually Scott, not some everchanging voice in a corporation. Emails with questions or requesting special handling get a response the same day.

5. They will provide additional, exceptional services as requested. For instance, if you want an envelope of your own mailed from Florida, they will handle it for you. They will deposit checks for you, etc.

6. After several years of service from them, exactly zero problems.

Thanks for the info on St. Brendan's, Captain. I think I had seen them before, probably after I had already started using USA2Me.

I would have liked to be able to do a price and features comparison between the two, but St Brendan's website doesn't specify some details, including what their actual postal envelope or package forwarding rates are, which is going to drive the monthly cost, unless someone is doing scanning exclusively.

With USA2Me, for forwarding to Thailand, you get everything you need for handling postal mail using their Just Mail plan priced at $29.99 per month, which includes the mailing every month of one USPS Flat Rate Global Priority international envelope (9.5 x 12) with contents up to 4 lbs.

Under that plan, you get an email with a photo of the mail piece's front face every time something is delivered, and that includes the weight and dimensions info. You have access to their web-based mail management system, which allows you to save or delete individual items at will, order them shipped right away, or let them sit until it's time for your monthly shipment. Document scanning, which I rarely do, is $3 per order for up to 6 pages.

If you do order mail scanned, the resulting PDF files are posted for viewing and/or download in your online account.

https://www.usa2me.com/signup/pgeRatePlans.aspx?Country=Thailand&Region=67

USA2Me has other plans available also, but they're more oriented to packages and using private couriers like DHL, which IME experience is both overly expensive and oftentimes leads to problems with Thai Customs duties. On the other hand, I've rarely if ever had any Thai Customs issues with contents sent using the USPS Flat Rate envelopes.

Overall for USA2Me, they've done an excellent job over the years of forwarding my postal mail without problem and their online mail management system is very good and easy to use, and you have the advantage of pretty much a fixed monthly price.

On the downside, their in-person/telephone customer service is weak, and one reason I avoid them for package shipping in favor of Shipito.com is that USA2Me does all their package shipment pricing based on DIM (dimensional) weights instead of actual package weights, which can really jack up the price of package shipping. Shipito, on the other hand, uses actual weights for their most economical services.

In looking at the St Brandan's website, I couldn't quite tell how you got to the $20 a month figure you mentioned above. I saw they offer a basic membership plan for $12 per month that includes a very basic level of online mail management (keep all, delete all bulk rate, etc.), but doesn't include any actual mail forwarding shipping.

And they don't seem to say on their website much of anything about what their shipping rates would be, other than $2 more than the actual mailing cost. They seem to be saying they use USPS Flat Rate, but there are varying prices for that (retail vs commercial pricing, etc).

They also seem to offer a custom mail plan for $29.99 a month, but it's not quite clear from their language whether or not that includes any postal mailing expenses. "This fee includes your mail forwarding services plus custom sorting or bill paying, etc."??? It kind of sounds like that doesn't include the actual postage expenses.

And I don't see any mention of them offering mail contents scanning in lieu of mail forwarding... Can you fill in any of the various blanks based on your personal experience with them?

TallGuy,

The monthly charge comprises a Service Fee for $11.99 and a Mail Scan Pro Service Fee for another $7.99. For that you get just autoshredding of junk (if you choose), and scans of all envelopes. No mail shipments or scans of contents are included. For mail shipments you can choose a variety of carriers (USPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc.) and a variety of their shipment services. The only mail deliveries I take are Amazon products and delivery of credit cards, otherwise it's too slow and too expensive. I always choose USPS first class international mail, but all carriers and methods are available at all times. As mentioned, shipping charges are the carrier costs plus $2, including repacking if called for. To calculate the carrier's charge in advance you would have to go to the carrier's website. On occasion I have emailed St. Brendan's asking them to detail shipment costs in advance among alternative methods and they have done so promptly.

Mail scanning charges are 50 cents to open an envelope and 10 cents per page. Scan results are pdf files that I download from their site. They are not emailed. This is the service that I use by far the most often.

This pricing model works well for me since I rarely call for a shipment. For other usage patterns there may be better pricing options from other providers. As far as service goes, I have the highest confidence in them. They have been flexible and prompt in responding to every request from me. They have even found my mail when the sender mistyped the address. I just don't worry about my mail at all these days.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

So how much are you typically paying them for month, in total? Your $20 in basic fees, plus I assume the content scanning charges -- 50 cents per envelope plus 10 cents per page???

For me with USA2Me, I usually get 10-15 envelopes per month, depending on the time of year (tax season more). So that kind of volume with Brendan's -- just for account fees and scanning alone, not any envelope or package forwarding -- would seem to get you close to USA2Me's $30 per month flat pricing that includes the one monthly USPS flat rate envelope shipment.

I checked the USPS website, and for sending a Global Priority Flat Rate envelope to Thailand, they seem to show pricing of $24.75 retail and a $23.50 commercial rate. For First Class large envelopes to Thailand, USPS rates look like $8.48 for 8 oz., $12.13 for 1 pound and $19.41 for two pounds. Add Brendan's $2 a piece handling fee on top of any of those per envelope rates, and again you're getting above the $30 per month pricing level if someone was forwarding a collection of letter mail in a single periodical mailing.

With my monthly USPS Flat Rate envelopes, they usually seem to arrive here between 1 and 2 weeks after shipment. If I need something sooner, which is rare, I'll pay extra to have the the letter content scanned and uploaded. USA2Me doesn't offer regular USPS First Class mail for their postal mail forwarding, only the Global Priority Flat Rate envelopes, so I can't speak to the typical delivery times for First Class shipments to here.

Edited February 21, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[CaptHaddock]

So far this month I have spent $0 beyond the basic monthly charge. For Jan, the only extra charge was $1.50 for scanning, no shipment. For Dec. it was $0.90 for scanning, no shipment. November $0.70, no shipment. Nevertheless, my total charges from SBI for 2014 were $576. Scanning charges were probably small in every month like the ones cited, but then I had a number of Amazon shipments which were expensive, as much as $60 in shipping charges for a single shipment, all using USPS international first class mail.

So, it depends on your usage. I don't make much effort to minimize mail charges, other than by only buying items I really want from the US that I can't buy here. Even if I could save a little money by switching to another mail forwarder I wouldn't consider it, because the service I get from SBI is worth it to me. YMMV.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

So it sounds like you're doing very little/almost no business in terms of scanning or forwarding postal mail envelopes. I've tried as much as possible to convert everything possible to emailed statements. But various of the financial entities keep sending misc. paper mail regardless, including things like balance transfer checks, no fee balance transfer offers, stuff other than regular monthly statements, etc etc. I can't seem to get mine much below 10 or more letters per month -- after discarding junk and catalogs I don't need or want.

It's also difficult sometimes to identify just what's inside an envelope -- without paying to have it opened and scanned. Sometimes, innocuous looking envelopes have contained my replacement bank cards, so I'm pretty glad I didn't decide to junk/trash those. Other times, what I think is something important from one of my financial entities turns out to be a marketing pitch to buy life insurance or credit protection, etc etc. So most of the time, I just save up my postal mail, unless it's clearly junk, and have it mail forwarded once a month, since there's no extra cost to me whether I forward 1, 5, 10 or even 25 regular letters, since they all fit within the USPS Flat Rate 4 Lbs envelope.

FWIW, Shipito's Economy Airmail service to Thailand runs about $10 per pound of actual package weight, inclusive of all costs. It's going to be a whole lot less expensive than USPS First Class for most package kinds of things. I order from Amazon all the time (judiciously ), but doing it thru carriers like DHL and FedEx with their pricing would make it prohibitively expensive (as in, the shipping often costing more than the actually delivered items).

[CaptHaddock]

That's right, I get almost no snail mail from banks and brokerages these days. It's all e-statements. Medicare does send a paper statement every month.

$10/pound is quite cheap. What's the carrier? Maybe I can get SBI to start offering it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re the approx $10 a pound package forwarding using Shipito's Economy Airmail service, it's kind of their own proprietary thing.

In the past, normally, those packages would arrive here with a BPI transit sticker on them, meaning Belgian Post International. But lately, they seem to be showing up with some kind of weird USPS tag... So I'm not clear exactly what Shipito is using, and whether it perhaps changes from time to time or based on package particulars. They don't really say who they use, in their informational materials.

But one thing I do know... I'm now in excess of 100 packages sent thru them over a period of years, and yet to have a single one go missing. So that's a pretty good track record for international shipments. Usually about two weeks delivery time. No online tracking, but insurance available at a small added price. And the best part is, apart from the good pricing, almost never any Thai customs charges, though I consciously try to keep the package declared values below $30 or at most $50 per box.

[JimGant]

but then I had a number of Amazon shipments which were expensive, as much as $60 in shipping charges for a single shipment, all using USPS international first class mail.

According to Amazon's website, most orders can be direct shipped to Thailand. Were the Amazon items you ordered not eligible for direct shipment? Also, you can go completely paperless with Medicare correspondence -- just need to have an on-line account with them to switch to paperless.

For those who've not yet made the move, having a mail forwarder in a non income tax state (which the ones mentioned here are --Tx, Nv, and Fl) could prove useful. For example, Virginia (and some others) insist you haven't given up residency in Virginia, unless you move to another state (or US territory). So, as you exit Virginia, and file your part-year tax return, having a Tx, Nv, Fl address on that PY tax form definitely mo' betta than a Thai address, which could become a red flag.

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return? Probably advisable, if you're from a tricky state like Virginia, who could easily ask the Fed's for your address on your Fed 1040 (and a Thai address might cause the revenuers in Richmond to salivate).

Edited February 21, 2015 by JimGant

[CaptHaddock]

but then I had a number of Amazon shipments which were expensive, as much as $60 in shipping charges for a single shipment, all using USPS international first class mail.

According to Amazon's website, most orders can be direct shipped to Thailand. Were the Amazon items you ordered not eligible for direct shipment? Also, you can go completely paperless with Medicare correspondence -- just need to have an on-line account with them to switch to paperless.

For those who've not yet made the move, having a mail forwarder in a non income tax state (which the ones mentioned here are --Tx, Nv, and Fl) could prove useful. For example, Virginia (and some others) insist you haven't given up residency in Virginia, unless you move to another state (or US territory). So, as you exit Virginia, and file your part-year tax return, having a Tx, Nv, Fl address on that PY tax form definitely mo' betta than a Thai address, which could become a red flag.

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return? Probably advisable, if you're from a tricky state like Virginia, who could easily ask the Fed's for your address on your Fed 1040 (and a Thai address might cause the revenuers in Richmond to salivate).

If I remember correctly when I considered direct shipment from Amazon to Thailand, it wasn't always available, depending on the seller, and it was going to take a month or six weeks. So, I take the free shipment to the mail forwarder and pay from there.

My last US address was in New York State, which is not as aggressive as VA. In addition, I scrupulously severed every connection to NYS. So, I am not worried that they will come after me for taxes. I have been using the mail forwarder address when filing with the IRS, but I guess I will have to start using my Thailand address going forward to avoid having to pay a penalty for not signing up for Obamacare. As I remember the 1040 forms do not allow the filer to provide both a physical and a mailing address. That would be a PIA since if the IRS ever were to communicate with me I would want to read the scan at the mail forwarder's the next day rather than receive the letter weeks later in Thailand.

Thanks for the tip on going paperless with Medicare. I've got an online account with the SSA. Will investigate to see that I have to do to avoid the paper.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return?

Yup... always have...since day one. I use them for everything address-related. So it IS my address. And never had any issues about doing so. Though...after filing my tax return, if I get any correspondence back from the IRS, those letters are ones I ALWAYS have scanned and emailed...

On the other things mentioned above:

1. Re Obamacare obligation, AFAIK, that only kicks in if you fail to meet the IRS foreign residency requirement/exception, which IFIRR means being outside the U.S. at least 11 months out of the year, or approx that.

2. Re Amazon direct shipping, A LOT of Amazon products, including a lot of electronics stuff, are NOT eligible for direct shipping outside the U.S. And even if they were I wouldn't use them for two reasons. 1. Their shipping rates are higher than Shipito's for almost everything (I'm not sure about their shipping rates for books/DVDs). And 2. Amazon's shipping methods are more likely to involve/incur Thai Customs charges, whereas those can mostly be avoided with Shipito, especially for lower value shipments.

Edited February 22, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[CaptHaddock]

John/Capt -- do you use your mail forwarder address for your Federal tax return?

Yup... always have...since day one. I use them for everything address-related. So it IS my address. And never had any issues about doing so. Though...after filing my tax return, if I get any correspondence back from the IRS, those letters are ones I ALWAYS have scanned and emailed...

On the other things mentioned above:

1. Re Obamacare obligation, AFAIK, that only kicks in if you fail to meet the IRS foreign residency requirement/exception, which IFIRR means being outside the U.S. at least 11 months out of the year, or approx that.

2. Re Amazon direct shipping, A LOT of Amazon products, including a lot of electronics stuff, are NOT eligible for direct shipping outside the U.S. And even if they were I wouldn't use them for two reasons. 1. Their shipping rates are higher than Shipito's for almost everything (I'm not sure about their shipping rates for books/DVDs). And 2. Amazon's shipping methods are more likely to involve/incur Thai Customs charges, whereas those can mostly be avoided with Shipito, especially for lower value shipments.

Re: foreign residency, how does that come into the picture when filing the 1040? Do you check a box or file a form asserting that you have been outside the US for at least 11 months? I don't work in Thailand so I am not invoking tax credit or the FEIC that involve foreign residency. I notice that TurboTax asks what country I live in, but that information doesn't seem to appear on any filed form, just the mailing address.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I've had those exact same questions, since I also use Turbo Tax for my filing. And of course, Obamacare is a new obligation in terms of tax issues.

When I checked last year, I was told that when you indicate that you live outside the U.S., TurboTax told me that info gets coded into the info they send to the IRS as part of your tax return, though I agree, I don't see it anywhere in the printed version that they'd produce.

But what really matters, if that you meet the non-U.S. residency exception in IRS rules, meaning, being outside the U.S. for 11 months out of 12... or not more than 30 days in the U.S., -- the requirement is something like that.

I believe, this year, TurboTax will have questions relating to Obamacare, and whether you qualify for any of the exceptions.. I'm guessing one of those will be the foreign resident status. Haven't gotten into my TT for this year, as yet.

[Langsuan Man]

I have used TT in the past but this year they really screwed the pooch. They initially would not include certain schedules in their "Deluxe" version, thus forcing you to upgrade to the Premium version just to get those schedules. After a massive outcry from customers they relented but in many cases (like mine) it was too late. H&R block responded with an offer of their "Premium" version for free and this year I am going to try them

Despite TT claim that you can just transfer the information from last years return to this years return that also is a little bit of sleight of hand. Yes, it will transfer all your pedigree information (address, SSAN, etc) but every year I have to print out last years return to insure that they pick up my non taxable contribution to my pension. I should not have to do that if it really "remembered" the information from last year

But getting back to mail forwarders they can sometimes be more than you bargain for, as far as reporting is concerned. I used them quite a bit in the past, especially when I had APO addresses, since so many online retailers continue to feel that they are Post Office Boxes and not legitimate addresses for shipping. Unfortunately some of these addresses have made their way into my credit reports, so I have to remember them, for the occasional "security" questions asked by some banks and credit card companies. The biggest offender of this credit history requirement is State Farm Bank who drive me nuts with their security questions gleaned from "public records". Obscure information like when my house was built. Hell I don't know, I bought it from the third or fourth owner. When I asked how i was supposed to know this the CSR at SF said I should go to the County Courthouse and find out !!!!

That being said, I am sorely tempted to open up a credit card with only the mail forwarding address just to deal with those vendors and shippers who will only ship to your billing address