Moving to Aruba/Cancun/Australia tax/residency questions - Page 2

TheMetetron · #1 11-24-2005, 02:18 PM

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I'm considering moving out of the country sometime next year or the year after and I think the 2 most desireable places are Aruba, Cancun Mexico and perhaps Australia.

How can I get granted permanent residence in Aruba, Mexico or Australia? From my understanding you can only live in these countries for a temporary period unless you become a citizen or somehow become approved for permanent residence. How do I go through this process for each country and how hard is it to get in for a professional internet gambler?

Secondly, from my understanding Aruba and Australia does not tax gambling winnings. Is this true? Does Mexico tax online gambling winnings (is online gambling even legal?) and if either countries tax you what is their going percentage? I'm going to have to pay taxes on my winnings either way to the US but I'd like to get the 80k credit of course. If Mexico's/Australia's tax rate is as high as ours then I wouldn't be able to save anything on taxes.

I've tried to do alot of google research on the following questions but I just can't come up with anything. Please help me out with this or point me to a webpage/person that I could get some answers out of.

Thanks a bundles

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I'm assuming you are U.S. citizen. You have to pay taxes on your winnings no matter where you live.

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Really? Does that mean that as a U.K. citizen I don't have to pay gambling taxes wherever I live?

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It means you have to pay the taxes of the country you are living in, but you don't owe anything to the UK if you aren't living there.

It's a pretty sweet deal that I wish we had here.

TheMetetron · #2 11-24-2005, 02:19 PM

On an unrelated note, I'm slightly psyched to learn that california's 9.3% state tax doesn't fully kick in until over 40k, so I'm getting taxed about $2,000 less than I thought.

Also, social security stops getting taxed at about 90k, which is more good news.

This means I'm actually caught up with my taxes this year... I'm going to cry writing them a huge ass check though.

KaneKungFu123 · #3 11-26-2005, 03:37 AM

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On an unrelated note, I'm slightly psyched to learn that california's 9.3% state tax doesn't fully kick in until over 40k, so I'm getting taxed about $2,000 less than I thought.

Also, social security stops getting taxed at about 90k, which is more good news.

This means I'm actually caught up with my taxes this year... I'm going to cry writing them a huge ass check though.

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why not keep your money in party a few more weeks?

KaneKungFu123 · #4 11-26-2005, 04:46 AM

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I'm considering moving out of the country sometime next year or the year after and I think the 2 most desireable places are Aruba, Cancun Mexico and perhaps Australia.

How can I get granted permanent residence in Aruba, Mexico or Australia? From my understanding you can only live in these countries for a temporary period unless you become a citizen or somehow become approved for permanent residence. How do I go through this process for each country and how hard is it to get in for a professional internet gambler?

Secondly, from my understanding Aruba and Australia does not tax gambling winnings. Is this true? Does Mexico tax online gambling winnings (is online gambling even legal?) and if either countries tax you what is their going percentage? I'm going to have to pay taxes on my winnings either way to the US but I'd like to get the 80k credit of course. If Mexico's/Australia's tax rate is as high as ours then I wouldn't be able to save anything on taxes.

I've tried to do alot of google research on the following questions but I just can't come up with anything. Please help me out with this or point me to a webpage/person that I could get some answers out of.

Thanks a bundles

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm assuming you are U.S. citizen. You have to pay taxes on your winnings no matter where you live.

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Really? Does that mean that as a U.K. citizen I don't have to pay gambling taxes wherever I live?

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if you win money in a casino in the US and its over x dollars, you probably have to pay.

goodguy_1 · #5 11-23-2005, 12:29 AM

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Australia.

[/ QUOTE ] sounds good how about Costa Rica, Brazil, Italy, Spain or the south of France, Japan may be fun too. How about Puerta Vallarta for Mexico.

Nightwish · #6 11-23-2005, 12:49 AM

My understanding is that you won't be able to legally obtain any tax savings. The problem is that the $80K exclusion applies only to earned income, and the US government specifically excludes gambling winnings from the definition of earned income.

Perhaps someone else knows something different.

TheMetetron · #7 11-23-2005, 12:54 AM

If I'm filing a Schedule C as a self-employed, is my income not earned income regardless?

I thought about moving to Aruba, Mexico, Costa Rica, or Europe in a year or two to experience life in another country and get an awesome $80k tax-free bonus.

Sure, you still owe taxes after the $80k, but if you move to a country where internet gambling isn't taxed, you aren't paying them any taxes either. The savings plus decreased cost of living is huge.

Let me know what you find out as I'm seriously considering doing this after I spend some time living in Vegas.

Nightwish · #8 11-23-2005, 01:02 AM

Here's the info straight from the IRS.

Whether you call it gambling winnings or business profits, it's still not earned income.

MicroBob · #9 11-23-2005, 01:10 AM

Interesting.

Although 'business profits' falls under the category of 'variable income' and I couldn't quite figure out what that means.

but it does appear clear that gambling winnings shouldn't count fo rthe $80k exemption.

Even if this is the case you can still obviously save a bundle on cost of living in certain places.
but having to pay full-taxes back to the U.S. kind of sucks imo.

TStoneMBD · #10 11-23-2005, 02:41 AM

hi nightwish, ive read that article before saying that gambling winnings are not earned income but i thought twoplustwo has made some progress on the issue within the past few months and i was beginning to think its clear that the 80k tax credit applies for poker players.

i really dont want this to turn into a tax credit question. the purpose of this thread was to ask about how to obtain permanent residence in a foreign country and what the tax rates are in those countries.

hi limitplayer, keep your opinions to yourself tks.