For Americans Working Here..

[magic]

Somebody back home in the states told me that if you are working here in Thailand, you can also be taxed back in the states for salarly you've earned in Thailand!

Is this true?!

I have not yet worked in Thailand, so I'm not so sure about the tax procedures..

Anyone shed some light?

Thanks..

[lannarebirth]

Americans have an earned income tax exemption of about $82,000. You are still liable for Thai taxes and you must still file in US.

[LivinLOS]

If you can prove you have paid your Thai taxes and fulfill certain requirements you can get a fairly high exemption (82k ??)...

But its not automatic and you need proof of Thai payments I understand.

[PeaceBlondie]

As others can explain in better detail, US citizens are subject to US income tax on their world wide income. However, under certain circumstances (physical presence test, bona fide residency, tax treaties), you may be able to exclude the income earned overseas.

[peterjackson]

Hey

My CPA actually files a Self Declaration of offshore taxes paid. This allows me to earn money in my home country (UK) and not pay any additional tax on it in the USA.

Although I pay tax on my USA earnings, just like anyone else who earns a USA paid salary.

I have never been asked by my CPA or the IRS to prove that taxes have been paid on my offshore earnings. Although, I am lead to believe, this would be different, if I was then bringing the money into the USA for the purposes of spending it.

Kind regards

Peter

[buddhafly]

i've heard that anything over 82 or 84k usa, youre supposed to pay taxes on.

but i think i heard something like that if you stay out of the usa for 6 months or 12 youre exempt?

any one have any fact on this?

i pay enough tax here in thailand, about 25%, as i didnt manage to get one of those lovely 'part-of-salary paid offshore' deals, so i am of no mind to pump even more of money to fund george bushes war with the world.

[Tywais]

but i think i heard something like that if you stay out of the usa for 6 months or 12 youre exempt?

any one have any fact on this?

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/intern...d=96960,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/index.html

[Old Man River]

As stated in the posts above, yes you have to pay income taxes on income earned in Thailand. This year, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is USD 82,400 per person. That means that if you make up to this amount outside of the US, and you satisfy either the physical presence or bona fide residence tests (as stated by PeaceBlondie), then you can exclude up to USD 82,400 per person from your taxable income. You would fill out a form 2555 for this and also one for your wife if filing jointly and if she also has income earned outside of the US.

This year (and going forward) the tax laws changed (again) and the tax rate used to tax any taxable income in the US is the tax rate you would have used had the foreign income not been excluded. Therefore, if you made USD 80,000 in Thailand and USD 20,000 in the US, the % tax rate used to see how much taxes are owing on the USD 20,000 would be the tax rate as if you had taxable income of USD 100,000.

Every year doing your taxes is more "fun".

[thaihome]

In addition to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, you may also take a credit (usually dollar for dollar) on any foreign income tax paid. This tends to reduce almost to nothing any US tax you might have after the exclusion and personal deductions.

I have never had to pay more than $2k, and mostly less then $1k in US taxes on income over $150k. I have paid huge amounts of income tax in several Asian countries.

As someone said this year may be interesting with the changes in the tax rate and the max amount of the housing exclusion.

TH

[TerryLH]

"If you can prove you have paid your Thai taxes and fulfill certain requirements you can get a fairly high exemption (82k ??)...

But its not automatic and you need proof of Thai payments I understand. "

If you meet the requirements for living out of the USA, and if you claim the exemption, it is automatic.

No need to provide proof of any taxes being paid.

Terry

[Old Man River]

In addition to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, you may also take a credit (usually dollar for dollar) on any foreign income tax paid. This tends to reduce almost to nothing any US tax you might have after the exclusion and personal deductions.

I have never had to pay more than $2k, and mostly less then $1k in US taxes on income over $150k. I have paid huge amounts of income tax in several Asian countries.

As someone said this year may be interesting with the changes in the tax rate and the max amount of the housing exclusion.

TH

ThaiHome, this may be what you meant, but to clarify:

You can only take credit for foreign income taxes paid on foreign income that exceeds the USD 82,400 amount excluded. Also, you can't use the foreign income taxes paid to offset income earned in the US. On the amount of foreign earned income that exceeds the USD 82,400 excluded amount, the foreign tax credit (FTC) is 90%. This way, the US government makes sure that we pay some US income taxes on foreign earned income that is above the amount excluded.

Therefore, if you made USD 80,000 in Thailand and USD 70,000 in the US, you could not use any of the foreign income taxes paid since all of the foreign earned income would already be excluded. However, if you made USD 100,000 in Thailand and USD 50,000 in the US, you could use 90% of the foreign income taxes paid against the incremental USD 20,000 (the amount of foreign earned income not excluded).