Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year • Hacker News Board

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#111

Post by cfcosta » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:05 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #95

sokoloff wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you need to claim a local US address? Previous poster seems to be willing to tell their company "I'm working from XYZ country; send my direct deposits to bank PDQ."

> US salary ok i read that as 'salary paid to a US resident' , then not sure what 'US salary' means. It would be 'Barbados salary' if they are getting paid in barbados.

I think op meant "salary on the range of the ones paid to US residents" as in working remotely to a US company and getting paid appropriate salary to do so.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#112

Post by paranoidrobot » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

EE84M3i wrote: post #46

paranoidrobot wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the residency rules that matter here. For an Australia, you pay income tax if you're a resident for taxation purposes. For an Australian Citizen to answer that they're not a resident for taxation purposes is complicated and depends in part on the type of Visa you have. Last I looked, for me, as an Australian citizen, to not have to pay tax would mean getting a permanent Visa in another country and being resident…

>They specifically excluded time-limited visas Even if the time-limit is years at a time?

Yep. Because you're not a permanent resident of that country.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#113

Post by throwaway894345 » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:10 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #64

throwaway894345 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but the cost of living in Europe is already considerably higher than in the US (barring of course the popular but disingenuous comparisons between SF/NYC and rural Europe). I'm not an economist, but I wouldn't expect an influx of Americans to drive up the cost of anything except perhaps real estate. Moreover, I wouldn't expect a significant influx of Americans period--relocating to Europe would only be for the…

> Maybe, but the cost of living in Europe is already considerably higher than in the US (barring of course the popular but disingenuous comparisons between SF/NYC and rural Europe). Living costs in Europe are incredibly uneven, like they are in the states. Denmark is much more expensive than next door Netherlands, for example, which is actually quite reasonable (and perhaps Americans might even find it cheap outside…

It does vary a lot, but it’s still more expensive on average than the US. https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?cou...

Note that they say cost of living excluding rent is 8% higher but that rents are lower—I don’t think their rent analysis is by area but rather by number of bedrooms. Typically rent per sq foot/meter/etc is much cheaper in the US than in European countries, and I would wager that it’s the same with Netherlands specifically.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#114

Post by throwaway894345 » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:13 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #106

throwaway894345 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was moving for the long term (whatever the legal requirement is for an address change), then I would report my new address. There is no requirement that a US company can only employ US residents to the best of my knowledge.

> There is no requirement that a US company can only employ US residents to the best of my knowledge. I understand this, obviously. You seemed to have implied that you would still be paid 'cushy us salary' in ireland, thats what i am talking about. does your current employer still pay you US salary if you live in ireland? I would love to work for such an employer, i want to move back to my home country and still keep…

> does your current employer still pay you US salary if you live in ireland?

Yes, but this varies by company, and is predicated on the assumption that the move wouldn’t interfere with my job performance. E.g., I would still work my normal US hours because my job requires some amount of communication with my team.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#115

Post by aunty_helen » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

"Digital nomad visas" are starting to become more common as countries realise they bring in low impact wealthy online based 'tourists.'

Currently, it's very possible to travel on a 3-6 month basis between countries under tourist visas and to work remotely in a somewhat illegal fashion. These nomad visas are an attempt to capture that market offering legitimacy for a fee.

Unfortunately, Barbados hasn't really hit the sweet spot here. It's possible to exist in Barbados for 6 months purely as a tourist and do the usual remote working gig where you just don't walk up to a tax official and start telling them you're working in an illegal manner. Or, you can now apply for this visa, stay the whole year, be legit, but you have to meet some conditions and hand over 2k USD which is pretty steep.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#116

Post by dominotw » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:14 PM UTC

dmurray wrote: post #65

GordonS wrote: post #37

This is really interesting - I wonder if, in our post-COVID world, we'll see other countries doing the same. I'm trying to see any disadvantages for countries that do this, but the only thing I came up with is the possibility of distorting local rental prices. But presumably if enough countries offered such a visa, applicants would be spread over those countries, causing less distortion.

The disadvantage is that you may become a burden on the host country - you cost more in public services than you bring in revenue. This could happen if the host country supplies plentiful public services funded mainly by income taxes rather than consumption taxes. Or simply if you lost your job and turned to begging or crime, and the host country finds it expensive or politically difficult to deport you. These are pr…

> funded mainly by income taxes rather than consumption taxes.

Why would you not pay income taxes in barbados though?

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#117

Post by buran77 » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:19 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #116

dmurray wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disadvantage is that you may become a burden on the host country - you cost more in public services than you bring in revenue. This could happen if the host country supplies plentiful public services funded mainly by income taxes rather than consumption taxes. Or simply if you lost your job and turned to begging or crime, and the host country finds it expensive or politically difficult to deport you. These are pr…

> funded mainly by income taxes rather than consumption taxes. Why would you not pay income taxes in barbados though?

Many countries have laws so that if you are a resident there you also pay taxes there. They may also have agreements with other countries in order to avoid double taxation. But I'm fairly certain that barring any weird legal setup living in a country for a year means you pay the income taxes (at least) in that particular country.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#118

Post by paranoidrobot » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:21 PM UTC

sk0g wrote: post #43

paranoidrobot wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the residency rules that matter here. For an Australia, you pay income tax if you're a resident for taxation purposes. For an Australian Citizen to answer that they're not a resident for taxation purposes is complicated and depends in part on the type of Visa you have. Last I looked, for me, as an Australian citizen, to not have to pay tax would mean getting a permanent Visa in another country and being resident…

Do you mean if you pay, say, 20% tax in Switzerland as an Australian, never setting foot in Australia for an income year. Then you lodge tax in Australia and the ATO says you only have tax credits for 20% of your income, meanwhile you'd be paying 32% of your income as tax - you would then have to pay ATO the 12% difference out of pocket? Do you have any links to information regarding Australian citizens being taxed a…

It's complicated, but assuming that the ATO thought you were a resident for taxation purposes, then yes you still lodge a tax return in Australia, claim the tax paid in Switzerland as a credit (assuming it's recognised) and pay whatever gap there is.

It's made more difficult because tax years don't align, so it needs to be worked out that way too. Oh, and because Switzerland probably put their tax records in Swiss-Fench/Swiss-German all your documents would need to be formally translated.

I'd start by checking put the ATO site they had a bunch of tests for your residency there.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#119

Post by MrPowers » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:23 PM UTC

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #79

AFAIK, U.S. imposes income tax on all of its citizens, even those who reside in other countries. IIRC it applies to all earnings above $110k(?). There's also the notoriously difficult hassle of complying with FATCA's [0] reporting requirements. I would imagine that sours the value proposition quite a bit, at least for U.S. citizens. [0] https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/foreign-account-...

US citizens can lower their effective tax rates by moving abroad, but it's complicated. Expats can take advantage of the foreign earned income exclusion that you alluded to and are not subject to state taxes. The savings can be quite large - email me for more details.

FACTA is burdensome if you have foreign bank accounts. You can avoid having foreign bank accounts to sidestep those rules.

Re: Barbados introduces plan to allow visitors to work remotely there for a year

#120

Post by nogabebop23 » Sun, Aug 30, 2020, 6:23 PM UTC

dmurray wrote: post #65

GordonS wrote: post #37

This is really interesting - I wonder if, in our post-COVID world, we'll see other countries doing the same. I'm trying to see any disadvantages for countries that do this, but the only thing I came up with is the possibility of distorting local rental prices. But presumably if enough countries offered such a visa, applicants would be spread over those countries, causing less distortion.

The disadvantage is that you may become a burden on the host country - you cost more in public services than you bring in revenue. This could happen if the host country supplies plentiful public services funded mainly by income taxes rather than consumption taxes. Or simply if you lost your job and turned to begging or crime, and the host country finds it expensive or politically difficult to deport you. These are pr…

even countries with lots of publicly funded services usually exclude tourists. For example, a visitor to Canada would either not be allowed to take advantage of many services (ex: Employmnet Insurance / Welfare) or get billed (Healthcare) although it would be unlikely to be refused service in the later if you could not pay. In countries like Barbados the divide between citizens and visitors is even more stark. Deportation from these countries is usually easy and fast to countries that have resources (like the US or Canada); it's deporting from western countries back to poorer or "democratically challenged" countries that is hard and takes forever. Anyone who wants to turn to crime would be better served to stay at home and do it (I'd rather deal with the Canadian criminal system as a citizen than Barbados as a foreigner).