6 Years To Go Before 50., What About Tax?

[screwit]

Yes, 6 years to go, then I can get a retirement visa from Thailand.

Can I still keep my usa green card? I'm eu citizen.

Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand? . Tax problem?

Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?

Thailand is cheaper to live than usa., what about tax?

I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!

Any comment?

[lopburi3]

As you are not asking about visa to Thailand but general expat living have moved to general section.

[ubonjoe]

It does not matter what citizenship or residency you have as far as getting visa's or extensions of stay for Thailand you have since you are an EU citizen.

I can't answer all your questions about taxation. The US and Thailand does have a tax treaty to concerning double taxation.

If you are earning income in Thailand you are liable for Thai taxes.

[Soutpeel]

If you are earning income in Thailand you are liable for Thai taxes.

Strictly and technically speaking if you are resident in Thailand more than 180 days a year, you are liable for Thai tax, irrespective where the income comes from...but as I have said..."strictly speaking" and not considering dual tax agreements...in theroy at least if someone wasnt paying tax in their home countries on their pensions, could the Thai tax man want their cut, if the person lived here more than 180 days a year...yes...but beleive the assumption the Thai man has is that all overseas pensions are taxed at source this is why they dont look too hard

As regards the US green card thing...if you are out the US for a certain amount of time dont you loose this any anyway ?

If there is no intention of going to live in the US at any point in the future, not much point in keeping or even taking out US citizenship, as wouldnt you have the added complication of having to submit a tax return in the US every year ?

Edited October 18, 2012 by Soutpeel

[astral]

A few thoughts.

Six months outside and the Green Card becomes invalid, is what I understand

so you would need to plan regular, expensive trips.

The US has global taxation for its citizens, I don't know if any European

country does the same? Certainly the UK does not.

Thai tax kicks in if you are resident for more than 180 days, but double tax agreements

with many countries will cover that for you.

As I understand it, income from savings is not taxed

[Naam]

no offence meant, but the three out of five of the OP's questions are not only naïve but demonstrate broad-based ignorance.

"Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

"Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

"I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

it's clearly a waste of time answering these questions!

[Gweiloman]

no offence meant, but the three out of five of the OP's questions are not only naïve but demonstrate broad-based ignorance.

"Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

"Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

"I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

it's clearly a waste of time answering these questions!

You sure wasted your time posting a response and wasted mine reading yours (and writing this post of course)

[TravelerEastWest]

no offence meant, but the three out of five of the OP's questions are not only naïve but demonstrate broad-based ignorance.

"Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

"Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

"I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

it's clearly a waste of time answering these questions!

Naam,

No offense meant (I like most of your posts very much) - but the questions are good ones.

Resigning US citizenship for tax reasons is a very interesting question as it is not as easy as commonly thought - you are quite likely to get a very large tax bill as a part of the process (If you are a high net worth individual especially)

I am not sure how the Hong Kong question would work out but it certainly is something to think about depending on personal situations.

[Soutpeel]

Resigning US citizenship for tax reasons is a very interesting question as it is not as easy as commonly thought - you are quite likely to get a very large tax bill as a part of the process (If you are a high net worth individual especially)

Would someone really be that dumb and state the reason they are giving up a citizenship becasue of tax, of course this could be the underlying reason, but you are not going to come out and state that officially, are you ?....of course the tax will go after you if you state this as a reason..

You should be stating moral reasons, such as continued American imperialist agression in the world or something creative like that..

[Naam]

Naam,

No offense meant (I like most of your posts very much) - but the questions are good ones.

Resigning US citizenship for tax reasons is a very interesting question as it is not as easy as commonly thought - you are quite likely to get a very large tax bill as a part of the process (If you are a high net worth individual especially)

I am not sure how the Hong Kong question would work out but it certainly is something to think about depending on personal situations.

so the questions are good ones? gimme a break please Traveller! the OP is a EU citizen and carries a U.S. green card. where's the citizenship to give up for tax reasons? there is no EU country which taxes your earnings if you are not a EU resident.

dumb "intelligent" question #1 "Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

super dumb "highly intelligent" question #2 "Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

he thinks he can go to Hong Kong, get local citizenship (quote: "it's tax free!") and then live in Thailand tax free?

dumb² hair raising comment "I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

not "this guy of Google went to Hong Kong" but a "related guy" did with more than a cool billion dollars in his pocket to acquire a HK passport and drop his US citizenship.

[StreetCowboy]

no offence meant, but the three out of five of the OP's questions are not only naïve but demonstrate broad-based ignorance.

"Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

"Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

"I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

it's clearly a waste of time answering these questions!

You sure wasted your time posting a response and wasted mine reading yours (and writing this post of course)

Well I was grateful for his helpful advice.

Me and the Revener from Hong Kong have had our disagreements on what he was entitled to, in the past

SC

[Naam]

no offence meant, but the three out of five of the OP's questions are not only naïve but demonstrate broad-based ignorance.

"Worth to get usa citizenship if living in Thailand?"

"Or better to go to Hongkong where it s tax free and live in Thailand?"

"I hear you of this guy of Google went to Hong Kong and resigned his Us citizenship!"

it's clearly a waste of time answering these questions!

You sure wasted your time posting a response and wasted mine reading yours (and writing this post of course)

Well I was grateful for his helpful advice.

Me and the Revener from Hong Kong have had our disagreements on what he was entitled to, in the past

SC

people like you who are not "guys of Google" [sic] and do not "resign" [sic] their US citizenship have to pay taxes in Hong Kong. as simple as that!

[TravelerEastWest]

"the OP is a EU citizen and carries a U.S. green card. where's the citizenship to give up for tax reasons?"

The OP never said that he had a US citizenship but with a Green card it can often be very easy to get citizenship and he was wondering what the benefits might be.

Wondering about the benefits of American citizenship is always a good thing and something many people do; taxation-wise American citizenship is probably not a good thing overseas but you never know - you need to research.

For example as you probably well know America has S-corps and Thailand does not. When your business has elected S-corp status you only have one level of taxation not two as in most corporations. Paying taxes in America and not remitting funds to Thailand could be a good plan - remember tax brackets in America are more favorable in the low ends compared to Thailand. No one knows about the future ....

I know very little about Hong Kong but again it sounds interesting.

[screwit]

I m not usa c.

Nobody want pay tax so if I got problem with irs and they ask me money when this money would be enough for me to live with it in a cheaper country, I will resign my green card. I will go even further, I will look for non tax heaven countries like many eu citizen who are now leaving Europe. I think Thailand is expensive too.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I m not usa c.

Nobody want pay tax so if I got problem with irs and they ask me money when this money would be enough for me to live with it in a cheaper country, I will resign my green card. I will go even further, I will look for non tax heaven countries like many eu citizen who are now leaving Europe. I think Thailand is expensive too.

I will assume the lack of clarity in your questions is more of a language issue than one of intelligence.

I would advise keeping your green card active if you can afford to, especially if your skillset and/or entrepreneurial talents are such to be able to take advantage of future economic opportunities there.

However you should probably not pursue citizenship unless your professional tax advisors tell you otherwise, likely to be expensive.

If you don't have professional tax advisors because you consider them to be "expensive" then you probably can't afford to think about issues like Hong Kong citizenship as a tax avoidance strategy.

Hope you (and possibly others) find this helpful.

[Naam]

i would advise to look at some facts before rendering ^*%*%^# advice to somebody who quite obviously asks ^*%*%^# questions.

facts:

-the OP is a EU citizen.

-there is no EU country which taxes non-resident EU citizens on their offshore income.

-why a EU citizen would consider getting HK citizenship to live tax free in Thailand is ^*%*%^#.

-why a green card holder who plans to live income tax free in Thailand would opt for US-citizenship is ^*%*%^#²

-a green card holder is a "US person" and liable to pay income tax on his worldwide income no matter where he/she lives unless he/she relinguishes the green card.

[Swiss1960]

I m not usa c.

Nobody want pay tax so if I got problem with irs and they ask me money when this money would be enough for me to live with it in a cheaper country, I will resign my green card. I will go even further, I will look for non tax heaven countries like many eu citizen who are now leaving Europe. I think Thailand is expensive too.

Op: Read what Naam wrote about and forget about your stupid idea of becoming US citizen... you are much better off being EU citizen only... return your green card officially and tell the US authorities about leaving the country permanently. That's the only way to get IRS off your back, otherwise (as UC citizen), they will tax you life long for all assets (and possible income) that you have where ever in the world..

Why would you want to hold US citizenship anyway? Not happy with your EU passport? You write that you want to retire to Thailand, so all the US citizenship would give you is loads of paperwork and tax issues with IRS... none of which exists for EU citizens who live abroad (of course with the exception of withholding taxes for assets still in your EU home country).

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Yes, if holding green card status makes you liable for US taxes earned overseas even if you never become a citizen, then yes better to give up the green card unless you have specific plans to make use of it in the future.

And my point about getting professional advice obviously still stands.

[Naam]

And my point about getting professional advice obviously still stands.

i concur that the OP should get professional advice... not necessarily as far as green card, U.S. / Hong Kong citizenship or taxes are concerned

[jacktrip]

depends where the money is coming from. it would be hard to renounce citizenship in a country where you have a pension or where you are generating income.

if your just a free bird, then sure, it's all just paper, go to a tax free country.

the google guy must have had some good lawyers.

are you really going to be here in 6 years? something to think about.

Edited November 9, 2012 by jacktrip

[BigJohnnyBKK]

depends where the money is coming from. it would be hard to renounce citizenship in a country where you have a pension or where you are generating income.

if your just a free bird, then sure, it's all just paper, go to a tax free country.

the google guy must have had some good lawyers.

are you really going to be here in 6 years? something to think about.

Not specific to the OP, but in general since any significant pensions in the US have nothing to do with the government, and non-citizens are free to invest and do business there, I don't think what you're talking about pertains to that country.

But the bizarre tax laws are certainly relevant.

[screwit]

There are more jobs opportunities in USA than in Europe actually, this is why I prefer to reside in the USA.

But what would happen if I receive inheritance of over 2 millions $? All in cash and bonds. No house and no land.

How much tax I will have to pay considering I could make 3 to 10% on that sum.

Considering you can live comfortably in Asia, I ask myself if it would not be better to ditch this green card and look for a job somewhere else and take domicile in Singapore, or Thailand. Anyplace where I don't pay lot of tax and where I can enjoy to spend my money.

You can be sure in 2013 the US government will go after everyone to slow down their debt . Thousand of USA citizen are leaving already , looking to get married with EU citizen and ditch their us passport. (take only 3 years to get EU citizenship).

But you are right, I should look for an expert to advice me. My European bank don't want really to help me, they fear USA government already. Asking your bank how to pay less tax is nowadays a "crime".

[Naam]

depends where the money is coming from. it would be hard to renounce citizenship in a country where you have a pension or where you are generating income.

if your just a free bird, then sure, it's all just paper, go to a tax free country.

the google guy must have had some good lawyers.

are you really going to be here in 6 years? something to think about.

for the record:

the "Google guy in Hong Kong" is actually a "Facebook guy in Singapore" where you only need a pile of money to get PR and later citizenship even without a good lawyer.

[Time Traveller]

There are more jobs opportunities in USA than in Europe actually, this is why I prefer to reside in the USA.

But what would happen if I receive inheritance of over 2 millions $? All in cash and bonds. No house and no land.

How much tax I will have to pay considering I could make 3 to 10% on that sum.

Considering you can live comfortably in Asia, I ask myself if it would not be better to ditch this green card and look for a job somewhere else and take domicile in Singapore, or Thailand. Anyplace where I don't pay lot of tax and where I can enjoy to spend my money.

Screwit, have you actually been and worked in America? There are the job opportunities that you talk of, but they pay $8 an hour without benefits. You want medical care or health insurance? Why don't you go and see how much annual cost of insurance is?

Frankly, working in Thailand will give you higher salary after taxes/insurance and costs. There is much lower taxes also for investment or inheritance. Ditch the green card and live in thailand. You will be financially better off, unless you're a lawyer, doctor or wall street banker in which case go ahead and enjoy the fruits of Obama's America 2012. Obama has got you covered.