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I'm wondering what's stopping a cottage industry popping up of 'synthetic residence' in high CoL areas. E.g. I live in a low-CoL area, but I pay you, someone l
by hhmc 5y ago
I'm wondering what's stopping a cottage industry popping up of 'synthetic residence' in high CoL areas.
E.g. I live in a low-CoL area, but I pay you, someone living a high-CoL area, $100 to nominally be your "flatmate".
- CydeWeys 5y agoWell for starters you're gonna have all applicable state and local taxes withheld from wherever you're fraudulently claiming to be living, as that is going to be where you are ACTUALLY living as far as all relevant taxation authorities are concerned.
- tshaddox 5y agoThere's nothing particularly clever about that, it's just straight up textbook employee fraud.
- flyingcircus3 5y agoIs it really that different from companies registering all of their trucks in Indiana because they have the cheapest commercial insurance?
- tomnipotent 5y agoAnd it's not fraud for an employer to arbitrarily control pay based on someones location? Is their revenue similarly confined by that employees contributions because of location?
- thebean11 5y agoNo? You may not like it but it's very obviously not fraud by any definition.
- tomnipotent 5y agoNeither is the inverse. If company can pick arbitrary locations around the world to be their HQ, or Trump can use Mar-a-Lago as his residence, then so too can every other citizen following the law and paying their taxes.
- thebean11 5y agoMaybe you are right, but that's a lot less obvious to me.
- tomnipotent 5y agoAs individuals, we're much more sensitive to the idea of breaking the law than a corporation well-protected by legal counsel and indemnity.
- tick_tock_tick 5y agoOne is legal the other isn't.... This isn't hard you would be committing fraud no questions. Also depending on how you've lied you'd also be on the hook for tax issues to the government rather then just and issue with your company.
- tomnipotent 5y agoDid you miss? > every other citizen following the law For criminal fraud to happen, there has to be a defrauded party. If I follow my local tax laws and negotiate a better salary with a corporation based on Location A, while potentially living elsewhere at Location B/C/D for prolong periods of time with lower costs of living, that is not fraud.
- tick_tock_tick 5y agoGetting the company to enter into a contract under false pretenses is fraud. "intent to deceive" is alone enough. This isn't some kind of gotcha where your technically ok if you do X and Y. Intent matters! Two parties entered a contract with the understand you would live in location A if you don't that's fraud objectively. https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-is-contract-fraud.html https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-is-contr... https://www.findlaw.com/smallbusiness/business-laws-and-regulations/fraudulent-misrepresentation.html https://www.findlaw.com/smallbusiness/business-laws-and-regu... https://www.upcounsel.com/intent-to-deceive-contract-law#:~:text=Contract%20fraud%20happens%20when%20a,an%20agreement%20under%20false%20pretenses https://www.upcounsel.com/intent-to-deceive-contract-law#:~:....
- tshaddox 5y agoWell no, that’s not fraud. I’m not using “fraud” to mean “bad.” I’m talking about actual fraud.
- tomnipotent 5y agoNo, it's not tax fraud. Tax is between you and the government, not you and your employer. The U.S. even allows you to ask your employer not to deduct tax so you can deal with it personally. If you follow whatever local and state laws apply to your situation, you're perfectly in your right.
- dmoy 5y agoThe topic is not tax fraud though?
- tomnipotent 5y agoI didn't bring up taxes, I'm just responding to it. The topic is whether a global corporation with access to a global workforce should be allowed arbitrary salary negation privileges because of the circumstances of a candidates geographical circumstances, while robbing the candidate of the same privilege. Just sounds like another way to exploit labor at a time of record profit windfalls for corporations.
- erik_seaberg 5y agoA dev in Mountain View has many more high-paying opportunities than the same guy in Weed, CA (pop. 2,862). Google pays him more because that’s what it takes to retain him. Someday if most employers switch to remote-first, this won’t matter and salaries will be equal everywhere (a lot lower than we’ve seen in tight labor markets, and probably the first world in general).
- mdoms 5y agoNo that's obviously not fraud. Words have meanings.
- tomnipotent 5y agoFraud is defined as wrongful or criminal deception that results in financial or personal gain. A company telling me my worth is based on where I live at that exact moment definitely feels like wrongful deception intended for financial gain.
- sumedh 5y agoHow is it fraud? A company can be registered in a tax haven but have its main office in the US.
- Johnny555 5y agoYou would think that Mountain View based Google, being registered as a Delaware Corp, would understand the benefits of legal residence being different than practical residence.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hhmc 5y agoSo where's the line. Let's say I split my time 50/50 between a high CoL area and a low CoL area. Am I obligated to declare the lower?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Spooky23 5y agoPeople do that with car insurance and jobs with residency requirements. I used to drink with a bunch of fireman who lived about 300 miles away - they had to live in the city or adjacent county. They’d have a flophouse in the hood shared by like 20 guys and crash there once in awhile when they pulled overtime as well as get mail. Travel scams are similar too. If a company will reimburse travel if you’re 50 miles from home, people will “move” so they can bill the mileage tolls. It works great until it doesn’t. If you want to give up your cushy Google gig for a few thousand bucks, good luck.
- prepend 5y agoI think a more non-fraud tactic would be to find the cheapest area in a high cost of living area and minmax on that dimension. Especially if it’s by county, then there are likely unfavorable areas within that county.