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Comment by lifeisstillgood | Hacker News Reader

Can I just clarify - you work remotely for NY finance industry, at presumably near NY rates, paying 4% coproation tax and no tax on dividends from that income?

With tropical weather.

What's the schooling like?

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That is how it works.

Public schools are a no go. There are some good private schools and a large number of homeschoolers. Don't know much about the colleges here but probably not good.

Puerto Rico is part of the united states, just not a state, which means no visa required, same currency, and etc.

Additional info on tax benefits: http://puertoricotaxincentives.com/act-20-export-services-ac...

Full disclosure: I was born, raised, and went to college in Puerto Rico and currently work in NYC.

I agree with most of what you said, except for the college part, which you admit you didn't know very well.

The public Colleges of Puerto Rico are actually great and very competitive with the rest of the colleges in the US, but with lower resources.

I studied computer engineering in UPRM in Mayaguez. While studying there I had internships with multiple fortune 500 companies which allowed me to pay for my own tuition as it was at the time $40 per credit. When I graduated I was hired in a fortune 500, many of which recruit heavily in PR, and was recently able to move to a startup with ease. Many of my alumni were hired in various companies both big (Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin) and smaller startups. I only mention this because many of us were hired alongside many ivy league school students or from other larger universities with more resources, which may serve as a signal of how competitive the school is compared to others.

I would happily recommend anybody to study in any of the UPR campuses.

If you're a US citizen it's not so easy. You are taxed on your worldwide income no matter what. There is a deduction for living abroad on the first $100,800 (2015) of income or you can also take a credit for income taxes paid to another country. You also need to pay into SS and Medicare either in the US or in another country which we have a treaty with. Don't get me wrong, getting the first $101k @ 4% tax sounds pretty good! Just want to make it clear that US citizens will pay taxes to Uncle Sam no matter where you try and hide.

This is not completely accurate. I am not a tax attorney but go through this every year. First, you can take the foreign income exclusion only on income that has been taxed by the foreign country you reside in. Second, you can't exempt taxes on that $100k, but you can for anything above that; alternatively you can just exempt taxes for everything and not take the exclusion (works out if country's taxes > usa taxes, really, the exclusiom just works out for low tax countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Switzerland).

Also, the income has to be sourced in the foreign country, if it is sourced in say New York you can't magically tansfer those taxes to another country without incorporating there.

You do not have to pay payroll taxes. When living abroad, some treaties allow you to pay them instead of local ones, but without a treaty you just don't pay. Of course, good luck ever collecting on your chinese social retirement account.

Puerto Rico is not a foreign country so these rules you cited don't apply. If you are a bone-fide PR resident, you don't owe federal tax (FICA still applies). However Act 20 (and Act 22) are recent changes to try to bring more job creator-types to the island.

Most people do not realize that Puerto Rico is not a foreign country for U.S citizens and so while this may be good points for other situations it does not apply to Puerto Rico.

You are correct on the SS and medicare but the assumption is if you are the business owner the majority of your income will be dividends and not subject to SS or Medicare, so just the 4% tax applies.

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