Comments on: The Ridiculous Story of a Pilot and his Taxes

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 12:32:50 +0000

In reply to LB LB. It's pretty slow right now, I've heard. All of the embassies around the world stopped doing renunciations during the pandemic, so there's a huge backup of people they're processing now. The whole thing is just so unnecessary and ridiculous. I hope yours goes smoothly and you can move on with your life.

By: LB LB

LB LB — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 21:49:15 +0000

Rachel, thanks for shedding light on the issue of how America imposes tax filing and in some cases tax liability on Americans who don’t live in America. As you say, residence-based taxation makes much more sense, and the US seems to be torturing its citizens for no good reason. Each year, when I fill out my FATCA forms, I think “the people who are actually hiding money wouldn’t dream of filling out these forms”.

I find your reflections to be very fair and helpful to others.

I struggled about whether to renounce for a long time, but this year I decided to do it. I was reporting a capital gain in my home country (not the US), and I had to go through a bunch of stress while we figured out if I might owe additional capital gains tax than I had already paid my home country. Looks like no, but what a nightmare. And I’m just a regular guy, doing regular things.

I have started the process, wish it were quicker . .

By: Randy Uthe

Randy Uthe — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 21:54:46 +0000

In reply to Rachel Heller. Like I said, $100,000 is a HUGE income says 80% of the world, or more. This whole argument seems pretty petty to me considering its greater context.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 13:27:43 +0000

An American here in Belgium will net less of his salary than any other nationality. This is before the USA has stuck out it’s grubby paw for a slice. The reason is that a bonus payment is frequently paid via a SICAV. That’s basically an open ended investment trust. The reason for this is that it can be withdrawn at an advantageous tax rate compared to if it was paid via payroll. Yes you guessed it. The SICAV, being a complex financial product is closed to “US persons”, and so the American gets hit with confiscatory payroll taxes on bonuses.
What the USA has done and is doing with it’s tax code and FATCA is the greatest scandal this planet has seen in a very long time, and one the general public are blissfully unaware of.

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 06:53:04 +0000

In reply to Randy Uthe. I don't understand what the advantage would be of saying your income was $0. If you'd declared the $12,000, you also wouldn't have had to pay US taxes because of the $100,000 exemption. Why write $0?

By: Randy Uthe

Randy Uthe — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 19:52:16 +0000

In reply to Rachel Heller. $100,000 is a huge income. I filed, but stated my income was $0 because I made the equivalent of $12,000 USD at the time. So, $0 owed, $0 paid, $0 earned.

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:49:38 +0000

In reply to Randy Uthe. It doesn't matter where you earn or how much you earn; you still have to file the forms with the IRS every year. You generally don't have to pay any taxes if you earn under the exemption of about $100,000.

By: Randy Uthe

Randy Uthe — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:10:27 +0000

In reply to Rachel Heller. If you make local currency by a local company you aren't necessarily taxed on it by the US.

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 13:55:40 +0000

In reply to JD. I do think that eventually the push-back will be too much as countries realize how much it's costing them: in expenses to banks and employers, in lost expertise of Americans going back to the US, and in money flowing out of the country because of the taxation of people earning within the country. I think it just takes a lot for them to stand up to the big bad US.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 12:47:04 +0000

Switzerland has apparently made a move against FATCA:

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.24heures.ch%2Fsignatures%2Feditorial%2Fsuisse-s-arme-long-terme%2Fstory%2F17800967&edit-text