Job Discussion Forums

simon_porter00 · Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 505 Location: Warsaw, Poland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24135021

Anyone going to be affected by this? OK, you'll need 156,000 zl in your account (although I have no idea if fixed assets - houses, cars etc - will be included in this) but in theory I can see it affecting or at least causing some people to think.

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

The 156,000zl is annual income. If you're under this amount, you pay no tax to the US gvmt.

I think we can all agree that 156,000zl is out of the question for most teachers working in Poland so no need to surrender that US passport.

I've filed US income taxes since I've lived abroad. The tax forms are complicated, but once you've done it once it's pretty much the same every year. It takes me 1-2 hours to file a return now. It's fast because I don't bother claiming deductions like housing, food etc. because I know I will always be well under the 156,000zl limit.

You can fill out US income taxes online at: https://www.freefilefillableforms.com/fff/html/FreeFileForms.htm

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

Things will have to get a bit worse before the numbers reach a point of eyebrow-raising concern but America is well on it's way to mediocrity so it's possible.

I have never actually met an American who has done this and it's clear emigration from the US is basically non-existent, so far.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

Turbotax says $95,100 which is around 300,000 zl.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/General-Tax-Tips/Filing-Taxes-While-Overseas/INF19130.html

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

Infinite · Joined: 05 Jan 2013 Posts: 235

If you're a business owner, 300,000PLN is not that much really. I think more people are definitely thinking about the switch. As per not knowing many US citizens who made the jump... I'm sure we'll be seeing this trend soon enough. I wonder how this would affect people who hold multiple passports. Sad to see the once free country turn into a complete police state and trying to intervene in every part of its citizen's lives under the guise of security and tax avoidance. Stalin is truly laughing in his grave, there's never, in the entire history of this planet, been a more surveyed nation than the US. What really gets me is how they eagerly sell this technology to other nations world wide... ugh...
From a perspective of an EFL teacher, there's not much to worry about unless you're one of the few who landed those really sweet lucrative gov't and military contracts, but from a perspective of a school owner, this could be a game changer for many US citizens who found their new home abroad.

PeterParvo · Joined: 18 Dec 2011 Posts: 103

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

PeterParvo · Joined: 18 Dec 2011 Posts: 103

Yes I do sense that feeling among some people that the government is too intrusive and money-sucking in the U.S., but to say that we live in a police state is absurd. Go live in the Middle East for a while and you'll see police states.

On the issue of governments taking too much money from their citizens, don't Poland and Europe rather highly tax their citizens? I saw a high percentage of my money going to the Polish government while working there. Now in the U.S., I find my taxes rather reasonable.