Avoiding California State Income Taxes When Moving Abroad

This is often called the California Safe Harbort Rule for Expatriates.

It is often difficult to give up your obligation to pay California taxes when starting to work abroad.  California is an "Intent State."  That California wants to continue to tax you until you show the intent of moving your tax domicile to another country or state.  They  look at all of the facts and circumstances in retrospect years later to determine if you actually had the "intent" to move your tax residency to another country.

There is a solution to the ambiguities involved with successfully giving up your California residency for tax purposes. That is the Safe Harbor Rule which can be used. Under that rule:

• You must remain living and working outside of California for at least 546 days under a contract of employment;
• You do not have more than $200,000 in investment income;
• You do not return to California more than 45 days during any calendar year.

If you meet these criteria, you are automatically deemed to be a California nonresident for the period you work abroad even though you may still have a California drivers license, voter registration, etc.

It is important to successfully avoid California tax domicile status when living abroad since California does not allow the foreign earned income exclusion or foreign tax credits. If means if you remain a California tax resident a lot of taxes may be due.  If you originally move abroad and later move back to California before the 546 days passes you will owe tax returns for all of the years you were claiming this exception as well as any applicable penalties and interest. If California deems you a resident you owe it taxes on your worldwide income.

Some states make it even tougher to give up the obligation to pay state taxes when working abroad. Virigina and New Mexico are just a few.

We can help you avoid continuing having to pay state taxes when you move abroad to work or retire. Contact us if you have questions or concerns at ddnelson@gmail.com.  Visit our website at www.taxmeless.com   Our US phone is 949-480-1235

Mitt Romney - 10 Ways to Stiff the IRS and Pay Less than the Average US Taxpayer

Here are the ten ways Mitt Romney avoids paying high taxes. Unfortunately these methods are not available to the average taxpayer and most are reserved exclusively for the Upper One Percent of taxpayers. Mother Jones has done an outstanding job of analyzing Mitt's tax return and the loopholes he uses to avoid paying US taxes.

Surrender of your US Citizenship or Loss of Citizenship Can Eliminate Need to File US Tax Returns

We have assisted hundreds of  US expats with the surrender of their US Citizenship or Permanent Residency. If you go through the process you will never have to file a US Tax Return again.  The State Department does require that you have Citizenship in another country before they will allow you to surrender your US Citizenship.  It is a two part process.  The legal surrender at the US Embassy or consulate and the second part is filing the proper forms with the IRS.   You must file at least the last five years US Tax returns and other foreign reporting forms and pay any taxes, interest and penalties that might be due along with a Form 8854.

Read the State Department rules on citizenship surrender or loss HERE.   For assistance email us at ddnelson@gmail.com or visit our website at www.TaxMeLess.com 

Transferring You Taxable Profits Offshore to Reduce Taxes

If you are a US person or company and do business abroad, you may be able to follow Google's strategy by  setting up foreign corporations in certain low tax or no tax jurisdictions. This has  reduced their effective income tax rate to slightly more than 18% which is one half the rate paid by most US businesses. Google utilizes Ireland, The Netherlands and Bermuda to accomplish this tax reduction. Read the Bloomberg article and find out how.  Perhaps you can follow their lead.  Contact us for a mini-consultation to find out if this strategy will work for your business if you are doing business outside of the US.