Income Tax Exempt Travel - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**JiveTurkey** · 03-18-2005, 04:27 PM

Ok, so I have been told now that I leave the US on June 1st to start living in the Bahamas for work.. So I had a meeting with one of the people on this project and he told me he gets to keep all of his taxes cause he is not in the states for more then 35 days a year..

So, I wanted to look into it.. and I did.. and he was right!

The good thing is that this is not just for people who have to work in other countries; it's for travelers too! Here is the thing...

You have to be out of the country (USA) for 330 days in a 12-month period. The 330 days do not have to be consecutive. So you can come back for a week here and there.. as long as the days spent in the states don’t go over 35 in the 12 month period.

It can start anytime, it does not have to be in January it can be anytime during the year.

The cool thing is that you don’t have to be working out of the country to qualify for this. You can just be out of the country on vacation!

So if any of you Tpunks out there plan on kicking it ghetto fab out side the US for over 330 days then I would look into this!

If you want more info you can go to the IRS site or just click HERE

Hope this helps someone out!

It will give me over $10,000 .. so really it will pay for all my personal travel this next year.. awesome!

OHT1910 · 03-18-2005, 04:38 PM

Ummm.... I might be being thick here.

Isn't this only of value if you are abroad but being paid by a US company into a US account? I'd have thought if you were working for a foreign company in their country, you would have to pay their taxes.

I dunno, sounds too good to be true....

**JiveTurkey** · 03-18-2005, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by OHT1910@Mar 18 2005, 07:37 PM
Ummm.... I might be being thick here.

Isn't this only of value if you are abroad but being paid by a US company into a US account? I'd have thought if you were working for a foreign company in their country, you would have to pay their taxes.

I dunno, sounds too good to be true....

Nope... CLICK HERE for all the info.. You don't even have to be employed.. you can be on vacation the whole time. There are many different avenues you can go with the IRS.. I'm talking about the 'Physical Presents' exemption. Once you click on the site, scroll down to that area and it will give you more detail..

As for being paid by a US company.. I think that no matter what company you work for and no matter what country you are in you have to file your taxes (if you are a US citizen) .. So I'm sure people can lie and say that they only earned X amount of dollars if they work for a company that does not send an earnings report to the IRS. I have only worked for US companys when I have worked out side of the US before, so I can not tell you anything from experince... I would just check out the site, they spell out everything in black and white..

foofiter · 03-18-2005, 09:49 PM

be careful...that income has to be earned while you are abroad. so if you worked in the USA all last year it will not apply. You can be paid by a US company but the actual work has to be done outside the USA. But that is really cool for those out there that fit that situation!

foofiter

OHT1910 · 03-19-2005, 01:49 AM

Fair dos, I was a bit drunk when I posted so didn't have the energy to research it.

Definitely sounds as though it is worth a few bob for those people.

**agriadam** · 03-26-2005, 12:30 PM

But if you are on vacation and not pulling an income than that would not really matter because you wan't pay taxes anyway... they can't tax nothing

**Sijuki** · 03-27-2005, 12:20 AM

So basically I can collect the income off my investments and travel all year and not pay taxes? Or is that what I should have been doing with my unemployment checks?

Elixir · 03-28-2005, 08:10 PM

...money...

**lost in texas** · 03-29-2005, 10:52 PM

If you're working overseas you probably want somebody to go over your taxes for you. The 330 days thing is right, but you have to be careful because depending on when you left you may have to file an extension so you don't actually file your taxes until you have been out of the country long enough to qualify for the exemption. That's the way I understand it, but it may vary... Also, for us there is a limit on what's tax exempt. As far as I understand it, everything over 80k is still taxed.

Anyway, here's to traveling and not paying taxes!