re: #457 jvic

This is my first post and I had hoped it would be more substantive on something that really matters … not replying to correct a falsehood in a post.

In any event, you’re absolutely wrong about how the US taxes its citizens living and earning income abroad.

For one thing, every US citizen can avail him/herself of a foreign earned income exclusion, which is $97.6K this year. What this means is that no matter the host country’s taxation requirements, the US will not tax the first $97.6K earned in a foreign country while there on an assignment. A US citizen can also exclude or deduct certain foreign housing amounts to reduce taxes on whatever ultimately is determined to be “US taxable income.”

Secondly, the US has tax treaties with most civilized countries which serve to prevent double taxation … meaning, generally, that a US citizen is not taxed both in the foreign country and in the US on foreign source income. Typically, the US citizen will take a tax credit against his/her US income tax liability to the extent of his/her foreign tax liability, thus avoiding double taxation.

Anyway, this is a complex subject and anyone earning income abroad should probably avail him/herself of professional guidance.

But the key point is that the US attempts to avoid having its income tax system take unfair advantage of US citizens earning income abroad.

Please learn the facts before you make bogus unequivocal statements such as you did here.