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This is such an odd article starting with the title. I get that a lot of people consider being nomadic because of the tax implications but I strongly recommend
by atlasunshrugged 5y ago
This is such an odd article starting with the title. I get that a lot of people consider being nomadic because of the tax implications but I strongly recommend people who are doing it just for tax optimization who are U.S. citizens think twice (if your liquid net worth is under a few million) as it is really complicated and one mistake can hose your plans. For reference, I am an American but worked for the Estonian governments e-Residency program where we made it easy for people to set up and run a business remotely and most of our users were nomads and so I dealt with a ton of tax issues... it is insanely complicated and risky.
Just this AM I had a call with a citizenship by investment firm (happy to make recommendations in this space as I know a few people through previous work) and we were talking about tax implications for remote workers and various programs. All I can say is, get ready to pay an accountant a lot of money. If you want the simplest break as an American, I would leave the U.S. on Dec 31 this year and go establish physical residency somewhere with no local income tax (or via a program like Barbados Welcome Stamp) and stay there long enough to pass the smell test (e.g. open a local bank account, have an address for a few months)... should be at least 3 months, probably more like 184 days. Then you can move on and go other places (not the US) for under 2-3 months at a time, not creating roots. Of course there will still be complications if you're doing this while employed somewhere but I guess if you're an independent contractor or with your own company you can spin up an overseas entity somewhere.
- celestialcheese 5y agoWho would you recommend to help with tax and citizenship for investment?
- atlasunshrugged 5y agoThe premium is Henley & Partners (although they had a bit of a scandal recently), I also think Latitude seems very good (https://www.latitudeworld.com/ https://www.latitudeworld.com/), and Arton Capital is another leading one but I haven't dealt with them directly
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- aledalgrande 5y agoStep 1: do not become a US citizen ＿φ(°-°=)
- baybal2 5y agoUS tax law has become a bit less sticky over time for non-residents. At least today they don't throw tax on your global income for people doing few months stints. Though, I don't think you can find much people today willing to go to US just for a few months for the sheer amount of paperwork headache.
- aledalgrande 5y agoThe thing is you couldn't even work in the US as a non-resident even for a week, how do you stay a few months and get taxed? Are you talking about income from an overseas business while you are on vacation in the US?
- baybal2 5y agoYes, I mean work on visas
- voisin 5y agoIf you are a citizen it doesn’t matter where your stint is - you pay tax on worldwide income. I think you are referring to non-citizens + non-residents that physically work in the US for a few months?
- lastofthemojito 5y agoYou can't help where you're born though. Ask "accidental American" Boris Johnson for example[0]. Although he's since renounced his U.S. citizenship to spare him from U.S. taxes. 0: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30932891 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-30932891
- brailsafe 5y agoI've heard stories like this. I wonder if it's the same in Canada. Absurd.
- nodamage 5y agoI think you're overstating the complexity here, the foreign earned income exclusion is available for anyone that meets the physical presence test (330+ days abroad) and is easy to qualify for if you take an extended trip. Establishing residency is unnecessary, you can travel around from country to country (hence, nomad).
- pentae 5y agoI've been living overseas in SE Asia for many years and met hundreds of self-proclaimed digital nomads. Almost none of them are doing it for the tax benefits.
- belatw 5y agoIt takes me 15 minutes to file my taxes both for my full-time employment, but I’m not some objectivist trying to scam my way out of paying my share of taxes. Just an engineer making a San Francisco wage working for bay area startups remotely while living in the third world. I’ve spent the past 7 years traveling and living in DN-friendly countries (Türkiye, Georgia, Czechia). When covid is over I will move to Spain for 2 years under the Non-Lucrative Residency Permit. More and more countries are coming out with non-lucrative / pensioner / digital nomad visas. They dont care as long as you aren’t doing business locally. From their perspectice it’s free sales tax income. My domicile is now in Florida. I file my federal taxes as a us citizen and Floridan resident, no state income tax. (which means $60k per year for nothing more than bad consular services).
- tim333 5y agoThis seems a very complicated approach. I'd imagine for most US citizens just declaring their income on the US return and not bothering with any foreign returns / declarations / taxes would cover things.