Moving to Aruba/Cancun/Australia tax/residency questions

[TheMetetron]

Also, don't forget about the foreign housing deduction you can take as well.

[TStoneMBD]

i dont mind the hijack at all because you had things to say i hadnt heard yet. what is this foreign housing deduction you speak of?

[TheMetetron]

Foreign Housing Deduction

It's a deduction on your foreign housing / utilities for self-employed individuals working overseas. You have to be making over $80k for it to kick in (because you can't deduct parts of the 80k twice). You also can't deduct more than you make (obviously).

There are some calculations on that page, but I believe they only apply to your foreign housing exclusion (provided by your employer) which you don't have, since you are self-employed.

[goodguy_1]

www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/

If you havent used this already this check it out.

[TStoneMBD]

this is a very nice resource ive bookmarked it. it doesnt really give you in depth details about the countries youre looking at though. just a rough overview of tourism. it would be nice if there was a site like this that linked to sites pertaining to permanent residence in those countries along with tax information and other necessities.

[goodguy_1]

also www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html if you ever thinking about getting more adventurous in high risk countries.

I would think you have to first make an investigatory stay in your possible new homeland-that may take some of the adventure out of it thu or either have good friends who's advice you can trust that have been there or lastly an internet forum of experienced travellers for specific locations: thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/

there have got to be a few good internet forums out there where you can share feedback for extended stays abroad.

[okayplayer]

I looked into moving to a different country where I wouldn't have to pay ridiculous amts in taxes awhile back, and came up with 3 awesome countries where I could buy a nice house on the beach and not pay any income tax: Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. But then I did more research into getting residency - which is required for the tax exemption - and it was very difficult, and usually requiring like 5yrs. So, definitely do your research, and let me know if you find something, because I would love to live on the beach in the Carribean too and not pay ridiculous sums in taxes.

[TStoneMBD]

hi okayplayer, im not really interested in buying property in a foreign country because i probably dont want to live there for a long time. im just interested in renting for now and coming back to america after a few years or going to another country. i probably wont want to settle down in one of these countries unless i meet some whore i want to marry and have children with.

you say it takes 5 years to get citizenship which sounds right. im not really interested in becoming a citizen but i want to be able to live there indefinitely. do you have any information on this? can i live in the country for a few years while applying for citizenship or do i have to apply for citizenship outside of the country?

from my understanding aruba only allows you to stay in the country for 3 months. how do i get around this???

kkf: how are you staying in thailand for so long? dont they have laws about only being allowed to stay there for a few months at a time?

[okayplayer]

Well, see the thing is, as long as you are a resident of the US, they will want part of your income as taxes. I think the only way around this is to just settle for the 80k exemption for living in a foreign country as KKF is doing, or obtain residency elsewhere. But like KKF mentioned, unless you really want to live there, the 80k exemption is only going to save you like 25k. I do think that you can live in the country while you are applying for citizenship, though I am not certain, and not sure what time constraints are. Sorry.

[Mr_J]

Wow talk about extortion.