I'm a digital nomad. Should I renounce my US citizenship? • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm a digital nomad. Should I renounce my US citizenship?

#91

Post by silverpepsi » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 12:56 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #79

silverpepsi wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to assume they didn't know what they were talking about as my employer is US based. And by legal definition, the income I'm getting from them is foreign sourced income at least 330-365 days of the year. I'm taking the FEIE deduction yearly. Source doesn't mean what it does to the layman for intl taxes.

I didn't ask "why", I asked "how". That someone wants to pay SS and Medicare in order to accrue rates (planning to come back and perhaps retire in the US at some point, keeping options open), but was advised there is no way to accrue those rights without US income, even if they pay out of pocket.

That's what I'm confused about. It seems you were advised to engage in illegal tax evasion or something? If you do your US taxes, which is required until the day you die, those charges will simply come out of completing the forms properly. It's unavoidable. The reason I clarified about US income is that the way you described it doesn't exist as a concept in tax law. The money amounts you're going to write down on your taxes don't ask where the person who sent you the money was seated in the world.

Re: I'm a digital nomad. Should I renounce my US citizenship?

#92

Post by gregjor » Sat, Mar 05, 2022, 9:23 PM UTC

toastal wrote: post #90

gregjor wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Estimates of Americans living overseas vary from 5 million to 9 million. A lot of those are retirees (presumably past the age of contributing to Social Security and Medicare), and government employees and military posted overseas. The number also includes students (generally not earning a taxable income), "accidental" Americans who got citizenship by birth (like Boris Johnson). Actual expats and nomads are probably a…

Normally I share your sentiments because it's not really worth the fight and I can understand the situation and why generally "no one cares", but in a comment section, I'm more inclined to put how I really feel. I've been out of the country for a while so I know the numbers, but it still really sucks . It sucked when I got lower priority for COVID vaccines because the embassy didn't want to comment, and it sucked see…

Having lived abroad as a US citizen I understand and don’t disagree with your frustrations. The nomad or expat or retiree overseas life comes with some trade-offs and frustrations. Living abroad and constant traveling do get glamorized. Digital nomad forums are full of stories of immigration hassles, money problems, loneliness, alienation, culture shock. Sometimes the nomad makes obvious mistakes that complicate their life. Sometimes government bureaucracies and banks and employers add friction and hassle.

On the other hand, finding the information you need to travel and live abroad is fairly easy these days. A little planning and setting your expectations smooths the process out. It’s not for everyone, and definitely gets presented as more glamorous and exciting than it sometimes turns out. A person who is unhappy, lonely, insecure, financially unstable, or operating from unrealistic assumptions will just take those problems with them — living abroad isn’t a clean slate.

Some things in life you can change. Some things you can’t. It’s not always worth getting mad or fighting against screwed up rules or banging your head against obstacles. Every person has to make their own decisions about what they can live with.

Re: I'm a digital nomad. Should I renounce my US citizenship?

#93

Post by toastal » Thu, Mar 17, 2022, 8:28 AM UTC

gregjor wrote: post #74

toastal wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TurboTax lobbies to keep the taxes overly complex so they can sell their services, so actually screw them. Almost all of their competitors don't offer service to those without a US address and US filing so your other choice is hiring a CPA.

Nomads and expats should keep a US address and bank account. It makes everything simpler. You don’t have to tell the IRS or your bank your moved overseas. No one comes looking for you, no reason to complicate your life with foreign addresses. Intuit may be an evil company, that’s a different subject. But their TurboTax product does handle the FEIE, which is the point I meant to make. You don’t have to hire a tax pro…

Paragraph 1 & 2 are definitely relate though. I just want to pay the bill and TurboTax has a line that says something to the effect of "Yes! You can pay the service if you use a US-based bank" while you go to the next screen where credit card is the only option and they will not accept cards from US-based banks with a foreign address. I canceled my old credit card when it expired because I wanted to simplify my life having less accounts, to not support their business and the shoddy support on Firefox/Linux from them, and to just have less entities tracking me. Now I have to go beg for a favor from family in the US to borrow credit card details pay for the privilege to give the government money. I tried doing taxes by hand two years ago and it was such a mess and I couldn't verify correctness with my situation that I had to bow out to a service.