The Barber Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 2:19 PM, bornontheblue said: There are a lot of smart guys in this forum. @Akkula my apologies for calling you dumb in a heated debate. I will work on getting better. Akkulla, aren't you a software engineer or something? @Akkula already said before. He's an accountant. Said he immigrated to central America somewhere. Quote
Akkula Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:19 PM, bornontheblue said: There are a lot of smart guys in this forum. @Akkula my apologies for calling you dumb in a heated debate. I will work on getting better. Akkulla, aren't you a software engineer or something? Hey, no hard feelings. I am a cpa too specializing in expats. 1 Quote
The Barber Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 2:18 PM, SleepingGiantFan said: JFC, you guys. I had more than enough of this economics BS in grad school. they are talking over my head too lol 1 Quote
The Barber Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 2:29 PM, Akkula said: Hey, no hard feelings. I am a cpa too specializing in expats. Another poster on here immigrated to New Zealand. Kind of fascinating. It would be cool if you joined his thread and shared your insights and experience about immigrating to central America. Do your kids attend local schools? Speak Spanish? You ever considered moving to some other new Country. Quote
Akkula Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:33 PM, The Barber said: Another poster on here immigrated to New Zealand. Kind of fascinating. It would be cool if you joined his thread and shared your insights and experience about immigrating to central America. Do your kids attend local schools? Speak Spanish? You ever considered moving to some other new Country. I have lived here for almost 10 years now...my kids were 2 and 4 at the time we arrived. They did online school early and now they are in the middle of their school years. It is surprisingly easy to not speak much Spanish here actually where I live. I am pretty good at it, though. Sometimes I call the area where I live a "gringo china town" to a degree because of the lack of assimilation, though, HA HA. But we get a LOT of people who come for a year or two. Not many last. Where I live is very hot and you can go to the beach and swim or go to the pool pretty much 365 days a year. Sometimes, I think it would be nice to be in a more moderate climate but there are a lot of those here in the mountains of Costa Rica too. Living in the USA with kids that were young at the time, there was absolutely NO help for daycare or anything. I just got fed up because my wife was basically just working to pay for daycare and I was working a corporate job that seemed like being on a treadmill. So...I did some accounting courses, became a CPA and changed things. There is always and option to move back to the USA and I am trying to figure out if it could make sense to go back to the USA at some point...maybe for in state tuition for college but it may not be worth the bullshit. If it was just me, I like it here. I would like to travel more but it is hard with the kids in this age range. I really loved Colombia, Medellin. I am fascinated by higher altitude places with moderate climates in Latin America. There are places like this in Mexico and Guatemala too. I would also like to travel to Argentina and Chile. I haven't been to Europe, Asia, Australia, etc., but those areas are nearly impossible to actually live as a foreigner unless you find a spouse or something. Generally I really like Latin America. I look at living in the USA kind of like I look at living in any other country, weighing the pros and cons. 1 Quote
mugtang Posted August 29, 2024 Author Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 2:29 PM, Akkula said: Hey, no hard feelings. I am a cpa too specializing in expats. The foreign reporting requirements are stupid too. People with tiny, indirect ownership interests in PFICs need to file. I have a guy who’s invested in a captive insurance based out of the caymans that has to file a bunch of shit now. Quote
Akkula Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:12 PM, mugtang said: The foreign reporting requirements are stupid too. People with tiny, indirect ownership interests in PFICs need to file. I have a guy who’s invested in a captive insurance based out of the caymans that has to file a bunch of shit now. PFICs are the worst. Any person living abroad (scratch that US Person abroad or in the USA) should NOT be investing foreign mutual funds or foreign corporations without KNOWING what type of tax compliance issues they will have to deal with. Having foreign bank accounts is not much of a big deal but you have to make sure to file FBAR and do form 8938 if you meet the thresholds. Quote
renoskier Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 @mugtang @bornontheblue and @Akkula any other CPA's here? mug and born, I know it's a full employment act for you guys but is our tax system the most complicated on earth? is it unnecessarily complicated? or is this really just the nature of the beast in an ever increasing global economy? Quote
The Barber Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:03 PM, Akkula said: I have lived here for almost 10 years now...my kids were 2 and 4 at the time we arrived. They did online school early and now they are in the middle of their school years. It is surprisingly easy to not speak much Spanish here actually where I live. I am pretty good at it, though. Sometimes I call the area where I live a "gringo china town" to a degree because of the lack of assimilation, though, HA HA. But we get a LOT of people who come for a year or two. Not many last. Where I live is very hot and you can go to the beach and swim or go to the pool pretty much 365 days a year. Sometimes, I think it would be nice to be in a more moderate climate but there are a lot of those here in the mountains of Costa Rica too. Living in the USA with kids that were young at the time, there was absolutely NO help for daycare or anything. I just got fed up because my wife was basically just working to pay for daycare and I was working a corporate job that seemed like being on a treadmill. So...I did some accounting courses, became a CPA and changed things. There is always and option to move back to the USA and I am trying to figure out if it could make sense to go back to the USA at some point...maybe for in state tuition for college but it may not be worth the bullshit. If it was just me, I like it here. I would like to travel more but it is hard with the kids in this age range. I really loved Colombia, Medellin. I am fascinated by higher altitude places with moderate climates in Latin America. There are places like this in Mexico and Guatemala too. I would also like to travel to Argentina and Chile. I haven't been to Europe, Asia, Australia, etc., but those areas are nearly impossible to actually live as a foreigner unless you find a spouse or something. Generally I really like Latin America. I look at living in the USA kind of like I look at living in any other country, weighing the pros and cons. Really interesting story. Thanks for sharing. It took some adventurous spirit and courage to move there, I'm sure. Yeah, sometimes I wonder if the US is really so unique and amazing, when life is a treadmill of a lot of work. Some European countries seem to have better life balance, I think.. But, I agree, it would be hard to move there unless your spouse is a native. Good luck to you and your kids. Probably some big choices coming up about their future, and what steps to take next. Quote
stanfordchef Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:38 PM, renoskier said: @mugtang @bornontheblue and @Akkula any other CPA's here? mug and born, I know it's a full employment act for you guys but is our tax system the most complicated on earth? is it unnecessarily complicated? or is this really just the nature of the beast in an ever increasing global economy? Not a CPA but def work in tax. I absolutely feel it’s needlessly convoluted. Helps ensure job security I guess but there’s no reason it has to be as arcane as it is. 2 Quote
Akkula Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:38 PM, renoskier said: @mugtang @bornontheblue and @Akkula any other CPA's here? mug and born, I know it's a full employment act for you guys but is our tax system the most complicated on earth? is it unnecessarily complicated? or is this really just the nature of the beast in an ever increasing global economy? In places like the UK the government basically just taxes your taxes out of your paycheck...it isn't just a withholding...that is your actual tax. It is much easier....but they also pay more in tax! Our tax system is very complicated and I think it is mostly to give people money from the till while they can claim it isn't welfare because they are claiming it on their taxes...corporate welfare or otherwise. Quote
Akkula Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:41 PM, The Barber said: Really interesting story. Thanks for sharing. It took some adventurous spirit and courage to move there, I'm sure. Yeah, sometimes I wonder if the US is really so unique and amazing, when life is a treadmill of a lot of work. Some European countries seem to have better life balance, I think.. But, I agree, it would be hard to move there unless your spouse is a native. Good luck to you and your kids. Probably some big choices coming up about their future, and what steps to take next. For being so "pro life" in the USA, young families really are not supported in any way in comparison to other countries. We were always jealous of the Canadians down here who had these giant maternity leave programs to spend time with the new baby. Quote
bornontheblue Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:38 PM, renoskier said: @mugtang @bornontheblue and @Akkula any other CPA's here? mug and born, I know it's a full employment act for you guys but is our tax system the most complicated on earth? is it unnecessarily complicated? or is this really just the nature of the beast in an ever increasing global economy? For 90 percent of American taxpayers our tax system is easy and can be complied with without hiring a CPA in an afternoon. The complexity of the rest of the tax code is due to very clever and wealthy taxpayers trying to avoid taxes VS the IRS very narrowly interpreting and defining tax law. Quote
renoskier Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:54 PM, Akkula said: For being so "pro life" in the USA, young families really are not supported in any way in comparison to other countries. We were always jealous of the Canadians down here who had these giant maternity leave programs to spend time with the new baby. when my folks were living on the gulf coast of Florida, I'd visit every April and play a lot of golf, often with Canadians. Throughout Obama's presidency, as the ACA was constantly under attack, they would laugh at American's perception of the Canadian medical system. Quote
renoskier Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:01 PM, bornontheblue said: For 90 percent of American taxpayers our tax system is easy and can be complied with without hiring a CPA in an afternoon. The complexity of the rest of the tax code is due to very clever and wealthy taxpayers trying to avoid taxes VS the IRS very narrowly interpreting and defining tax law. umm...yeah, that's a given do you know how it compares to other countries? and is it necessary? Quote
stanfordchef Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:07 PM, renoskier said: umm...yeah, that's a given do you know how it compares to other countries? and is it necessary? It’s wildly complex even compared to the tax code/functionality of most other developed and wealthy countries. The only 2 countries which stand out as even more arcane are India and China I feel like. India especially is wildly kafkaesque. Even Russia has a very simple tax code/system which is not very Russian of them lol 1 Quote
Sactowndog Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 2:18 PM, SleepingGiantFan said: JFC, you guys. I had more than enough of this economics BS in grad school. Haha. Most of it is the intricacies of Tax law not economics. 2 Quote
SleepingGiantFan Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 4:14 PM, Sactowndog said: Haha. Most of it is the intricacies of Tax law not economics. True dat. So much the worse. 1 Quote
Sactowndog Posted August 29, 2024 Posted August 29, 2024 On 8/29/2024 at 3:42 PM, Joe from Wyo said: Not a CPA but def work in tax. I absolutely feel it’s needlessly convoluted. Helps ensure job security I guess but there’s no reason it has to be as arcane as it is. Sure there is. It’s a bunch of wealthy individuals working with their local Congressperson to create a carve out that will benefit them directly. The reason is directly related to running for Congress takes lots of money. 1 Quote
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