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I always find it mad as hell that Americans have to pay tax in the US even if they are living and earning elsewhere
Especially given generally Americans are pretty allergic to reasonable taxation
yeah it is totally banana stacks, and nobody tells anybody else how to get around that, of course.
since nobody knows the sacred knowledge anyway.
some tax guy, not my tax guy, just a random guy who worked in taxes, offhandedly mentioned it to me like it was no big deal one day and I was like whaaaat?
most of the expats I know just don't pay taxes because they're dumb, or they're paying taxes that they don't need to because nobody told them about the FEIE.
You still need to file every year. An advisor at least here in Germany can do both countries, but you pay a premium for that.
I addressed that in a comment but I did not include that in the body.
fixed.
The FEIE is super simple to fill out.
pretty sure you have to fill out the 2555 as well bro
you also have to pay tax where you are domicile, aka where you live
"...the 2555 as well..."
nope, not "as well", the 2555 is the single FEIE form I am explaining about in this post.
"you also have to pay tax where you are domicile"
nope, inclusive taxes are usually paid directly to the foreign government.
you can claim a US housing tax exemption for the same reason as the FEIE, but paying taxes on your foreign housing is usually unnecessary.
yeah ok the 2555 is the FEIE you mentioned.
its important to note that if youre within the US for more than that 35 day exemption, you start to pay taxes pro-rata.
I think you agreed with what I said just using different words about paying taxes where you do live- yes, you pay them directly to the government where you are domicle.
"yeah ok the 2555 is the FEIE you mentioned."
yeah, that's why i said it, haha.
"if youre within the US for more than that 35 day exemption, you start to pay taxes."
are you going to rewrite everything I said in the post and comments?
to me?
"you pay them directly to the government where you are domicle. "
you are!
You're paraphrasing my words back to me.
huh.
curiouser and curiouser.
you know, it's clear that you're trying to be helpful to folks, but you come off like an asshole. just an fyi!
I find a lot of things funny.
your comments are funny.
you sent me two comments, the first of which was wrong on both counts and sounded like it was straight copy pasted from something you just searched,
and then after I corrected you on those points,
without any acknowledgment of your mistakes, you sent a second comment that paraphrased three things I had written earlier to me.
Why?
what was your end game?
I know there's foolery in there somewhere, and I don't stand for foolery!
are you trying to sounds smart by repeating interesting things I said in this post?
repeat them to other people, they will be impressed.
but I rode those things.
Why?
what was the point of your first and second comments?
it sounds like you were trying to "um actually" me, but didn't know what you were talking about, which is hilarious.
I guess that made you feel bad.
try not to one-up people unless you at least have your facts right.
and definitely don't try to one-up people by repeating the things they wrote back to them.
that won't work!
you're honestly a strange person.
so, ive lived outside of the US for over 15 years and have filed taxes where i live and back in the US, where I file the 1040 and the 2555, because you have to. You don't only fill out the 2555. I know a bunch of americans here and never once have I heard of the 2555 called a "FEIE Form" the way you're describing it.
You said "you don't pay tax on the first approx 125k", and I pointed out that you absolutely do pay tax, just not to the US, you pay to the government in the country where you're living. its not tax free, its just to the government of Australia or wherever you live instead of the US.
I also mentioned that people will pay tax on earned income under that 125k if youre in the states over 35 days, but that its prorated, so its not that you pay 100% of taxes all of a sudden, it's what you would pay divided by 330 (if you were one day over, or 329 if you were over by two days, etc.)
just trying to expand and clarify on your post. apparently its your area of complete expertise and anyone saying anything is just googling shit to bask in the glory of your genius, though. stay cool
"so, ive lived outside of the US for over 15 years"
sounds very likely. must be why you're unaware of the tax form designation and function you've filled out "15" times.
"You don't only fill out the 2555."
to qualify for the FEIE, you do.
"I know a bunch of americans here and never once have I heard of the 2555 called a "FEIE Form""
oh really, all of your friends abroad that you don't call expats like literally every other long-term traveler?
and they're also very familiar with form 2555 but exclusively refer to it by the awkward moniker "form 2555"?
"come on gang, let's go to the 20 U.S. Code Chapter 16"
" you mean the library?"
" right, but I very naturally refer to the library by its legal code designation: 20 U.S. Code Chapter 16"
pffhaha, come on!
"pointed out that you absolutely do pay tax"
arguing against a point nobody made, for unknown reasons.
"just not to the US, you pay to the government in the country where you're living."
this is largely incorrect, expats usually don't have to file taxes in the countries they travel in because of #2
it sounds like you're trying to talk about permanent residency abroad, which is a. rare and unnecessary for most travelers b. a different topic c. one of the only situations in which you would pay separate federal taxes abroad and d. not some sort of prerequisite to using the FEIE.
"You said "you don't pay tax on the first approx 125k""
this quote is incorrect, I assume as a misdirect for the topic changes.
"its not tax free, its just to the government of Australia or wherever you live instead of the US."
this is incorrect as well, your first $125k of income is tax-free, and most people are not required to file federal income taxes in the countries they are traveling in.
sounds like you're trying really hard to switch topics from travel tax tips to permanent immigration tax law, but you aren't familiar enough with either term to pull it off.
quick note: the "domicile" tax you keep talking about paying to the foreign government isn't some separate expense you file an extra tax form for while abroad, you just rent a place and the tax goes to the government in that price up front.
If you make over 125k, you can use the housing exemption(as people actually call it) to reduce your tax burden, but as with most of your misdirects, that's very rarely applicable.
you don't have to fill out an extra form for each place you rent a condo in.
"I also mentioned that people will pay tax on earned income under that 125k if youre in the states over 35 days, but that its prorated"
this is incorrect afaik, but maybe I dont understand the context of your nonspecific terms.
I think I know what you're misunderstanding with the prorated feie(qualified days calculated outside of the calendar year in addition to the physical presence test I'm talking about here) but either way, you still have to be outside of the country 330 days to qualify for the FEIE.
if you point me to the source you're paraphrasing, I'll check for you.
especially this prorared calculation, which I have never heard of:
"(if you were one day over, or 329 if you were over by two days, etc)"
I'm very curious to learn where you got that from.
"just trying to expand and clarify on your post."
that didn't work, you either just repeated what I said in different words(to me!) or muddied the waters with incorrect information.
No worries.
"apparently its your area of complete expertise"
I appreciate it, but I'll take "storied familiarity"
If you asked questions instead of making assumptions, you could have saved us all time and I could explain all those buzzwords you found properly the first time.
"just googling shit to bask in the glory of your genius".
again, thank you, and again you can just ask questions instead of frantically searching the internet for counterpoints that don't exist or correlations that are irrelevant to the post.
"stay cool"
ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
man I'm not going to read all that garbage. the fact is, your tax professional who didn't know about the 2555 was an utter hack. someone else mentioning it to you is fortuitous for yourself, but its not the secret sacred hack you think it is. it's understood by everyone else I know that lives outside the US. if you were paying taxes on your income to the US under 125k its because you hired an incompetent to help you with your taxes, or can't read.
"man I'm not going to read..."
consistency is key.
"your tax professional who didn't know about the 2555 was an utter hack"
proving you can't read properly straight away, I see.
"it's understood by everyone else I know that lives outside the US."
this is incorrect, the feie is not commonly known about by US expats in my real experience in the real world(which you can infer by the fact that I know what I'm talking about and am burdened with correcting your numerous errors)
I have yet to meet a single person that knows about the feie abroad.
"if you were paying taxes on your income to the US under 125k..."
I was not. that is the whole point of this post.
I heard you need to file every year even if you've never lived in the US.
Depends. For example in Finland the filing is done for you every year by the tax authorities and tax is deducted every month from your salary. Once a year you get either money back or need to pay more if your work situation changes during the year. You can also correct them by saying "hey I paid this bus card" etc. and get money back.
In Germany it works about the same, except they charge you quite a lot more every month. Here you do not have to file, but if you do you usually get a lot of money back. Filing is more complex than in Finland, so you might want to have a tax advisor to do it for you.
I read somewhere that Eritrea (the North Korea of Africa) is the only other country that has this policy.
Once again the US is in good company.