Expats???
 

Just curious out of all the FlyerTalkers if anyone is actually an Expat??? A couple of my friends currently are over in HKG and one is in the process of moving to AMS.

Does Drew Bledsoe post here?

Not currently, but in the past I was an expat in Saudi Arabia for 2 years, and an expat in Hong Kong for 2 years.

Was sorta an expat for 2 years in France. Had a place there and often stayed 2 to 3 weeks at a time, but did return to the U.S. often spliting the time between the 2 almost evenly. So I'm not sure that one qualifies as expat.

Biggest headache for me being an expat? Doing the taxes. I like doing my own, but not in those years. I handed 'em over to pros.

I did however, enjoy the tax benefits of expat living. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I think I've been stuck here in Holland too long to be called an expat http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

BTW: I hate Holland...

Anything interesting you were able to negotiate??? I know my friends got some really odd incentives...

My best negotiated incentives package was during my work in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to all the normal stuff like compound housing, meal allowance, etc. I was assigned a personal bodyguard/translator/facilitator (a great big hulk of a guy, George, a wonderful gentleman from Egypt), plus 5 days per month anywhere in the world including First Class airfare (usually taken in Europe), and 2 weeks per Quarter vacation including First Class airfare anywhere in the world.

You see, as a expat single man living in Saudi Arabia, there are not many, how do I say it, "opportunities" for "social interaction" with members of the opposite sex.

These were considered "mental health" perks.

I didn't always use some of my travel package as the normal course of my work took me traveling quite a bit, and I would often combine work and pleasure trips into one, saving the boss the additional separate airfare (not that he really needed the money from the savings).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Ex-pat living in France.

The "cloggies" getting you down? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I did 2 years in Den Haag back in the early 90's - glad I went but even more glad when I came home!

Still stand for the National Anthem so I think I have a bit of "Pat" in there somewhere, but I guess the boulder of salt with which I take much of CNN's news has grown significantly by now after 4 years in London, a year in Germany, my ongoing 12 year (so far) stint in Tokyo. So I guess I qualify a bit, but all those expat benefits sure sound great to this local hiree. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Mike

Former 4 year expat in Tokyo here.


The USA is one of 3 countries worldwide requiring its citizens abroad to pay taxes (one of the others being the Philippines).

One of the advantages of being in Japan as a non-US, non-permanent resident (work visa renewed every year) was that one never sees a tax return form. The employer deducts income tax (quite low), health insurance, and retirement fund payment (reimbursed after departure) from the paycheck.

No tax on assets, property abroad, capital gains, etc http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I just visited some expat friends in BKK. They have a fulltime maid and driver and Chevron does all their taxes. Prior to Thailand, they had a posting in Angola. They went from the airplane to the helicopter to the compound and never left the compound. At one point a missile - not live - was launched into the compound. Apparently the compound was deliberately placed on the water so they could evacuate by boat, which is what they did at the time.

I'm an expat: first I stayed a couple of years in Hong Kong, now in the US.
Hoping to return to Hong Kong sooner or later: wonderful place, second to none in my book.

I read several replies from expats hating Holland, why?

I have spent more time working overseas than in my own country (Australia). I am now in Japan on a "contract". In the past I have lived and worked in Canada, USA, UK and China.

It's okay but one does get tired of travelling sometimes. My family sometimes hate it and at other times life is good. We do miss being stable though - whatever that means.

Expat in Mexico City. Although it is considered a Hardship country and I receive an additional bonus, it isn't THAT much of a hardship to receive the paid vacations. I would have to live in China to get that perk!

Considering renewing the contract for a second time which would extend my time here to 2005 (6 years). I'm in no hurry to go back to the rat race at the corp. office!

Was in Paris for 3 years as an expat and had a wonderful time. Did quite well financially and took the opportunity to travel on 'holiday' throughout Europe and North Africa, rather than returning to the States as most (or at least many) expats seemed to do. We also lived in a French community rather than the expat ghetto in the 16th.

From the UK originally. Did Russia for 18 months, Belgium for a year, Taiwan for a year, and Hong Kong for the last 3.5 years. Of the four it is only HK where I am perfectly happy not to be looking for the next move (though if I had to move and had a choice then I think it would be Sydney)

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 10-14-2002).]

I don't mean this as criticism of the Dutch people at all, but personally after a couple of years, I found the bureaucracy stifling, the work ethic not quite what it is in North America, and the people not as "friendly and tolerant as Dutch society is portrayed" amongst other reasons.

And we lived in a Dutch neighbourhood, my daughter attended a local Dutch school and was fluent in the language within months, my wife and I both attended Dutch language schools and made an effort to integrate as best we could, so it's not like we just lived in the North American enclave but rather made an effort to get to know the Dutch directly.

On the other side of the coin, it was a real learning experience to actually live and work outside of NA and we did alot of travelling within western Europe that wouldn't have been possible from this side of the Atlantic.

I would never say I hated Holland and as time goes by, find myself forgetting more and more of the daily living annoyances and remembering the fun times. Overall, it was a worthwhile opportunity.

I was an expat. Any specifc questions as to expat policies etc.?

For me these are the things that annoy me over here:

It's VERY busy. Almost impossible to get away from it all and take a rest, constant traffic jams and public transport delays

Taxes are dreadful, I have my own firm and more than half of what I make gets given back to the state without me getting any decent back from them

The Dutch are not very service minded, this is something that has declined over the years, finding decent hardworking service oriented staff is tough

As the previous poster said: bureaucracy, it's dreadful, even the easiest task runs into problems at the moment, this too is something that has become worse over the years...

Don't get me wrong, Holland has been very good to me, but the current political climate here is spoiling the place.

New expat here. Just moved to London from NYC. Can't say that I got any type of sweet deal other than a cost of living adjustment about 1 1/2 - 2 times that given to friends at peer firms. Of course, if I ever got out of the office, I'd be able to enjoy that added income!

And yes, the tax situation totally blows. I think I'll save a little bit off of what I was paying as an NYC resident, but other than that, paying both the UK and the US sucks.

Not technically an expat, but have not drawn a single $ in consulting wages for any work in the US in the past six (almost 7) years. Frankly, I am a bit tired of having to travel half-way around the world almost monthly just to make a living. It gets old after awhile.

Pardon my lack of knowledge on this one, but what is an expat?

Expatriate; simply put, someone who relocates overseas for a period of time to work, often receiving substantial benefits and perks not offered to local employees.

I was an expat in France for a couple of years. I paid both U.S. and French taxes and it was (and years later is still) a huge headache. Earlier this year I finally put my 1999 taxes to bed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

As for SIN, I have some Aussie expat friends there who love it. It's a short flight to plenty of great destinations from SIN and as we all know SQ is a fairly decent airline. You just have to make sure your package includes vehicle taxes. They are extremely prohibitive in SIN.

Or alternatively come to understand that owning a car is completely unnecessary in many cities, particularly HK (and to a slightly lesser extent SIN) which have superb public transport and cheap taxis.

Wife of Expat living in Perth, Australia and enjoying every moment.
Major drawback (besides all the income tax forms) has to be living far away from family.
Our policy includes economy airline tickets back to the USA once a year for both of us, which I convert to a rtw for better price and more mileage.

You need much better tax advice. Many people I know are able to "choose" whether they pay US or UK taxes and in the case of France I know of some people who are able to "escape" taxes for about six months of their income.

Many firms will gross you up to deal with these "hassles".

Canadian Expat living in Australia. Just filed our application for permanent residency 'cus we like it so much.

Any other Canadians down here?

I am an expat living in France. We have been living here a year. Lucky enough not to be obligated to pay french taxes! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifLoving the travel opportunities. Unfortunately this will end in a couple years...back to the US

It depends on the job. If it's sales related as the job my friend has, you may really need a car in SIN. I drove all over the "country" with him not too long ago.

How are you avoiding French taxes? You may want to double check that as you are personally responsible. One thing I learned is to not trust my company to do the right thing when it came to foreign taxes.

As I recall (I'm not a CPA), U.S. law allows expats to only pay taxes on the first $80K. After that, you don't have to worry. Also, you get foreign tax credits which can be used in the future.

Having a tax consultant/accountant is part of my package. PWC may not be perfect, but they seem to at least mean well. I've read the relevant documents and it's pretty clear that you must pay taxes in both U.S. and the place of your residence. Any U.S. resident who is getting out of paying any taxes whatsoever is looking for trouble.

You're basically required to pay U.S. SS and Med even if you're a non-resident citizen. Some states may also require you to file a return even if you are a non-resident citizen. You generally earn a credit for the taxes you pay abroad against any U.S. taxes you would owe, subject to certain exceptions. A minimum income tax is normally imposed by the U.S., no matter how much you've paid in taxes abroad. Finally, the first $80,000 is exempt from U.S. taxes when you have qualified as a non-resident citizen, but any amount after that may be taxed, subject to terms of the double taxation treaty with your country of residence.

It's more of a headache than anything else. The U.S. is one of the few, if not the only country in the world to require you to pay taxes regardless of where you live.

stimpy writes: In my experience, the dollar amount is correct, but as jja34-1 says, you only pay U.S. taxes on any amount after the first 80 grand.

American living in Madrid, Spain. Transferee from NYC office but considered local hire. No perks for me.

But love it so far (6 mos. in) and would do it again in a second

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I Love New York -- Viva España

That is correct. For non-residents, it is now the first $80,000 which is tax free (it was $72,000 and then increased by $2,000 a year for several years) After that it is pretty much a flat 15%. The problem comes in the first year or two of living abroad when you may not have met the requirements and then COULD BE subject to double taxation. That being said, in the cases above (UK and France) there are taxation treaties between the countries and you should never be paying double tax for more than a six month period. Even having done that tax credit can be obtained from the US for any double taxation involved.


Other countries which tax their non-resident citizens---Phillipines and Libya!!

I'm not an expat, but I'm hopeful that I'll get an opportunity to be one in the next couple of years.

Yep Premex, I had it backwards. But Hfly, neither I, nor PWC, nor my French tax attorney said or knew anything about a tax treaty between France and the U.S.

I paid full French taxes for the two years I was there. My company covered it through some accounting tricks in my pay, but I still had to file a return in France.

But yes, I did get foreign tax credit which I think I can still use in the future. However PWC and my personal account disagree on that point and I haven't had the heart to investigate more. I'm just so glad I finally finished my 1999 taxes. Ugh.

PWC is NOTORIOUSLY bad in these situations. I know of many case where they have screwed people up royally, and know of a case where they were fired from a very large European company due to the screw-ups they made in expat taxes.

There IS a tax treaty between the US and France and it has existed for many years. This should have saved you from double taxation.

Hell, I once had a meeting with PWC where their "expert" declaed that I needed to submit a tax return from a country that has NO personal Tax Returns!!

Information on US-France income tax treaty (as of 30 December 1995):

http://www.amb-usa.fr/irs/taxtreaty.htm

http://www.info-france-usa.org/intheus/tax/004us.asp