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Comment by david927 | Hacker News Reader

Ass..uming that you make less than $91,500, and that you haven't been back for more than 30 days, you're ok. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion means that "Americans working abroad can exclude up to $91500 per year from their US taxable income."

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Which, if you're moderately successful and/or earn in euros or pounds, is very easy to reach.

And you have to pay the US first, meaning the country where you stay is gipped, even while providing THEY provide you with social services.

Which the US, of course, doesn't.

You pay the country you live in first, or else the US Embassy in Stockholm, various international tax accountant/lawyers and every double taxation treaty I've seen is wrong.

That's not what my tax specialist says. It probably varies depending on the country the treaty is with or maybe there's something nutty about my income.

Trust me, I don't misremember - it made me mad as hell.

I would double-check your tax specialist. I've never heard that before.

Hey if the US and Austria (I believe I saw you comment somewhere else that it is where you live) then that's really what matters. Here employment taxes are taken out like in the US, you never see the money so it would be impossible to pay the US first and then the local tax authority. My company registration is Swedish and my only ties to the US are citizenship, a credit card and bank account.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch04.html

Your expert disagrees with what mine told me, and it seems to disagree with the IRS as well. I'd suggest you obtain a second opinion if this situation is relevant to your life.

Or you have to not spend more than a month in the US every year.

While the rules aren't great, they're not impossible either.

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