6 ms·

I don't understand what you mean by "ability to live wherever you want". Taxes are pretty much always based on residency, it doesn't matter whether you hold a D

I don't understand what you mean by "ability to live wherever you want". Taxes are pretty much always based on residency, it doesn't matter whether you hold a Dubai Golden visa if you live outside of Dubai.

johnwalkr 4y ago
For some reason software engineers often think they can work remotely and live wherever they want. I lived in Japan for a long time and english-speaking forums about Japan are full of people asking how to move to Japan and keep a US job, or matter-of-factly stating "I have a spouse visa and get paid to my US account so I don't have pay taxes in Japan" which is of course completely wrong.
- bitL 4y ago
  They can spend 5 months in Japan, 4 months in Korea and 3 months in Hong Kong each year and be fine wrt taxation if they work remotely in the US.
  - johnwalkr 4y ago
    From a US point of view maybe but it’s complicated in Japan. For starters you are not allowed to work remotely on a tourist visa waiver and work done remotely I Japan is not “foreign sourced income”, at least not for a normal situation. There’s conditions which may trigger tax residency, and finally regardless of your status, work done in Japan can cause liabilities for the US company. Also the posts I mentioned are almost universally “I assume or have assumed that I can just buy a house and work remotely from Japan”, but there a few that are looking for loopholes to be a digital nomad.
    - bitL 4y ago
      You are most likely correct - those who want to own a property/live there forever are out of luck and likely bend local laws. It's always best to talk to your tax advisor wrt these issues to avoid any troubles later (I did to mine before I traveled around the world working remotely).
  - csomar 4y ago
    You still need residency for your income. In this case, it'll probably be the USA unless you can convince the IRS otherwise.
bitL 4y ago
If you make sure you aren't living in a single country for over 180 days, you can still utilize Dubai taxation. For example, you spend 179 days in your home country in the spring/summer, then travel a bit for a few months, then park in Dubai for winter. With regular Dubai visa, you'd need to spend 8 months there. Dubai's CoL is comparable to Germany. If you earn $200+k/year remotely, you can buy a house in your home country in a few years and move back. 0% tax means you get $200k, with monthly living expenses around $2000 including health insurance and rent, keeping $176k (adjust when married with kids etc.).
- olalonde 4y ago
  You can also do that without Dubai visa.
  - bitL 4y ago
    Maybe if you are in a country with super low taxes for IT folks like Romania, Poland, Croatia etc. But that won't work in Germany, Benelux, France, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia where taxes can be 40-60% at that income level.
    - olalonde 4y ago
      What I meant is that a Dubai visa is not necessary to execute this scheme. In general, if you spend less than 180 days in a country, you are not taxed in that country (irregardless of whether you have a Dubai visa or not). Country of citizenship is mostly irrelevant for tax purposes, unless you are American. There's not usually a law that requires citizens to be paying taxes somewhere (else, I could see how the Dubai Golden visa could help).
      - bitL 4y ago
        I think you'd need at least one country to give you a taxation statement for a given year or you risk your home country will extract those taxes from you later. I can ask my tax person about it.
      - 4y ago
dragonwriter 4y ago
> Taxes are pretty much always based on residency IIRC, most countries with income tax tax by where income is earned (that is, where the work is done) by default, not residency, though many have tax treaties with each other that assign income earned by residents of a foreign country in the other treaty partner back to the country of residence.
- bitL 4y ago
  Tax domicile laws are often in effect only after 180-something days in most developed countries. For example, imagine you are moving after 270 days from e.g. Croatia with 12% tax rate to Germany with 42% tax rate. The 90 days you are making money in Germany can be still taxed in Croatia.

johnwalkr 4y ago

For some reason software engineers often think they can work remotely and live wherever they want. I lived in Japan for a long time and english-speaking forums about Japan are full of people asking how to move to Japan and keep a US job, or matter-of-factly stating "I have a spouse visa and get paid to my US account so I don't have pay taxes in Japan" which is of course completely wrong.

bitL 4y ago
They can spend 5 months in Japan, 4 months in Korea and 3 months in Hong Kong each year and be fine wrt taxation if they work remotely in the US.
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  From a US point of view maybe but it’s complicated in Japan. For starters you are not allowed to work remotely on a tourist visa waiver and work done remotely I Japan is not “foreign sourced income”, at least not for a normal situation. There’s conditions which may trigger tax residency, and finally regardless of your status, work done in Japan can cause liabilities for the US company. Also the posts I mentioned are almost universally “I assume or have assumed that I can just buy a house and work remotely from Japan”, but there a few that are looking for loopholes to be a digital nomad.
  - bitL 4y ago
    You are most likely correct - those who want to own a property/live there forever are out of luck and likely bend local laws. It's always best to talk to your tax advisor wrt these issues to avoid any troubles later (I did to mine before I traveled around the world working remotely).
- csomar 4y ago
  You still need residency for your income. In this case, it'll probably be the USA unless you can convince the IRS otherwise.

bitL 4y ago

If you make sure you aren't living in a single country for over 180 days, you can still utilize Dubai taxation. For example, you spend 179 days in your home country in the spring/summer, then travel a bit for a few months, then park in Dubai for winter. With regular Dubai visa, you'd need to spend 8 months there. Dubai's CoL is comparable to Germany. If you earn $200+k/year remotely, you can buy a house in your home country in a few years and move back. 0% tax means you get $200k, with monthly living expenses around $2000 including health insurance and rent, keeping $176k (adjust when married with kids etc.).

olalonde 4y ago
You can also do that without Dubai visa.
- bitL 4y ago
  Maybe if you are in a country with super low taxes for IT folks like Romania, Poland, Croatia etc. But that won't work in Germany, Benelux, France, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia where taxes can be 40-60% at that income level.
  - olalonde 4y ago
    What I meant is that a Dubai visa is not necessary to execute this scheme. In general, if you spend less than 180 days in a country, you are not taxed in that country (irregardless of whether you have a Dubai visa or not). Country of citizenship is mostly irrelevant for tax purposes, unless you are American. There's not usually a law that requires citizens to be paying taxes somewhere (else, I could see how the Dubai Golden visa could help).
    - bitL 4y ago
      I think you'd need at least one country to give you a taxation statement for a given year or you risk your home country will extract those taxes from you later. I can ask my tax person about it.
    - 4y ago

dragonwriter 4y ago

> Taxes are pretty much always based on residency IIRC, most countries with income tax tax by where income is earned (that is, where the work is done) by default, not residency, though many have tax treaties with each other that assign income earned by residents of a foreign country in the other treaty partner back to the country of residence.

bitL 4y ago
Tax domicile laws are often in effect only after 180-something days in most developed countries. For example, imagine you are moving after 270 days from e.g. Croatia with 12% tax rate to Germany with 42% tax rate. The 90 days you are making money in Germany can be still taxed in Croatia.