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Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

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Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#751

Post by junar »

hermannj314 wrote: post #743
junar wrote: post #708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you file Form 2555 or Form 1116? Were you also required to file FBAR or Form 8938? About how much time did you spend on tax preparation yourself? If you used a paid preparer, how much did that cost you?

I have no idea what form I used. I do know that I paper filed those years and it didn't cost me money, only time, a few evenings, reading IRS publications and googling 'expat taxes please help'.

The reason I ask is because for the forms I mentioned, it's very easy to either make an error or fail to file a form you were required to.

The fact that you mentioned "paper file" is a bit worrisome. You were required to file an FBAR if you had foreign accounts (such as bank accounts) totaling more than $10,000, and given your stated income, that seems likely. FBAR must generally be done electronically, and is a separate process from your tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#752

Post by refurb »

MangoCoffee wrote: post #269
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only because of US laws. I have two citizenships, but one residency. U.S. citizenship carries extraterritorial benefits. For example, we're pretty good at getting our people out of thorny situations, even at great national expense. If someone isn't paying to support that, it makes sense to force a revocation decision.

>we're pretty good at getting our people out of thorny situations, even at great national expense. If someone isn't paying to support that, it makes sense to force a revocation decision. how many American get into that kind of shit storm? it seem like this benefit isn't worth the taxes that you pay

What taxes? When I lived outside the US my wife and I would have to make more than ~$300k USD per year before any US tax obligation kicked in. And that was living in a lower tax jurisdiction.

In a country with higher taxes and a tax treaty you could earn $1M per year and never pay the IRS a dime.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#753

Post by aerostable_slug »

sunshineforever wrote: post #742
aerostable_slug wrote: post #727

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If non-PC thoughts are against the rules, post those rules in the acceptable use policy. I don't think it's hateful to critically discuss BLM. I do think it's hateful to say "x group is bad", but that's not what I read. I believe BLM to be led by Marxists and that is backed up by objective evidence. I'm not sure why that's controversial. It's also objectively true that George Floyd had a criminal record. Again, I'm n…

The Unites States needs a dose of Marxism. Things are bad here for the working class. We have more than enough resources to do better and bring our society up to par with other developed countries.

Ha, nooooo. Your deluded worldview has been proven false. Kindly bugger off with it.

Every single developed country practices capitalism. Every one. The Scandinavians practice Democratic Socialism precisely because they have a surplus to spend on social programs (largely due to a combination of oil money and a lack of a semi-permanent underclass), none of which sounds particularly socialist to me.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#754

Post by obmelvin »

Izikiel43 wrote: post #697
obmelvin wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has a $6,000 yearly contribution limit. I haven't looked into the exact details of Peter Thiel's IRA, but those have a contribution limit too, and look at all the press recently about him "abusing" [0] that. [0] I can't claim to know enough of his specific situation and the exact regulations to have an opinion on whether that's a fair characterization.

He bought paypal stock privately when it was almost worthless, which the roth ira allowed, then the stock exploded. I mean, sure, if you can tell the future you can do what Peter did.

I don't have an axe to grind against him or what he did to be clear.

My point is that he bought private stock, something that is privileged, so it's not entirely accurate to say that all people benefit from a roth IRA equally.

I personally don't think that the average person has the ability to take similar advantage, even though they both have the same limitations on paper.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#755

Post by adamjb »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #567
academia_hack wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some years are fine, just subtract the earned income exemption and move on. Others are nightmares. Unlike in America, where there are accountants lurking around every corner, the tax code here is very "simple" (the vast majority of people probably never fill out a tax return in their lives). This means accountants charge like you're some sort of multi-millionaire business owner (since that's who their clients typical…

> Prizes are tax-free here Off-topic but: this always seemed like the most bizarre thing to me. What's the rationale? Why do governments want to incentivize people winning "prizes" over "honest work"? (My HN engineer brain also wants to know what the distinction is that prevents companies from calling any payment for a one-time contract a "prize" for completing the work, but I'm sure there's some unsatisfying "you kn…

My first instinct is that its the same logic as to why gambling gains are tax free: because otherwise the losses would be tax deductible.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#756

Post by emodendroket »

AlphaSite wrote: post #745
jrochkind1 wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Googling, just the first one that comes up, suggests that median income for "software developer" in USA is $86,523. Meaning half make less, half make more. $100K is the 75th percentile, meaning 75% make less. ( https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Software-Developer-Sal... ) Some people that work in especially high-paid sub-industries have a mistaken idea of what typical "technical enough to frequent this web site"…

I don’t think that zip recruiter data is accurate, apparently the average engineer salary in Sunnyvale is 100k, where I can see new grad salaries are above 120k and do that doesn’t take into account bonuses or stocks.

We can all quibble over the exact numbers but I think the point is well taken: not only does a six-figure salary place you pretty high among American workers overall, but it also puts you in a better spot than many developers. Not everybody gets to work at prestigious tech companies

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#757

Post by dylan604 »

aerostable_slug wrote: post #747
dylan604 wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"cīvis rōmānus sum" It's not like the US made this up. The Roman citizens had this protection too as they wandered the globe.

Yes, but we can actually make it happen (relatively quickly). Last year, Navy SEALs from the Navy's Special Mission Unit parachuted in the dead of night to save a missionary. When's the last time the armed forces of Brunei did that? Or DRC? Or Azerbaijan? The answer is never. Intent != capability. I'm sure Paraguay wishes they could put commandos on the ground anywhere in the world in hours, but the fact is that they…

The Romans might not have been able to air drop centurians into battle overnight, so yeah, you might wind up a martyr for Rome, but when they eventually did get there vengance was a mofo.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#759

Post by sangnoir »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #679
PeterisP wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Residency, at least for overseas tax purposes, generally is presumed to transfer whenever (and wherever) you spend 180 days of a year somewhere, so you by definition can't have multiple residencies (unlike nationalities); you can have residency rights/permits in multiple places, but once you become resident somewhere you cease to be resident at your previous country of residence.

Can you live without residence? Say I'm sailing around the world. My home country could be thousands of miles away, pretty much unreachable in a practical way. Should that still count as my residence?

> Can you live without residence?

ding You've just discovered another hidden trick that the ultra-wealthy use to minimize their tax-burdens: in each year, they travel and ensure they do not reside long enough in each country to be considered resident fir tax purposes.

Re: Wealthy people are renouncing American citizenship

#760

Post by trainsplanes »

Aunche wrote: post #179
trainsplanes wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What percent of wealth does the top 1% possess vs the bottom 90 percent combined? Wikipedia says the top 1% possesses precisely 38.5% of the country's wealth, so it's more than reasonable that they shoulder at least 38.5% of the taxes. [1] This stat is also from 2016. That divide has grown immensely these past few years. The stat the Tax Foundation presents is made to make us sympathetic towards people who control ba…

Income and this income taxes are first derivatives of wealth. It doesn't make sense to directly compare the two. The wealthy spend relatively little of their wealth on discretionary spending.

>The wealthy spend relatively little of their wealth on discretionary spending.

So they have unnecessary wealth just sitting around that they don't need.

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