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Missing Home After 3 Years

Missing Home After 3 Years

Old Jan 3rd 2014, 1:10 am
  #16  
 
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by Michael
You could be at someone's house and they are making and selling meth and the police raid the house while you are there.
Michael, you need to choose and vet your friends better!
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 1:47 am
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by Mattycee
Hey folks, I have lived in the USA for 3 years, I have just finally got my 10 year green card after a 2 year green card. I find now I have it I have no worry about getting sent home to the UK and I am actually missing home. Weird I know. I love it here but yearn for English food and the general grayness the UK offers. Ugh. Thanks for listening to my moaning.
It's funny, now that one has taken a further step towards being a US person, the feeling of distance from the motherland increases. I feel it a bit, having just become a USC after 10 years here, even though it actually makes it easier to have the best of both worlds.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 1:52 am
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

I waited 9 years to get my green card and it was an annoying process. Been in the US for 17 years and got green card in march 2013 now planning to return to the UK after all. Its weird that when we wait for what we think we want we end up changing our minds when we eventually get it.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 2:09 am
  #19  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by lgabriel73
I waited 9 years to get my green card and it was an annoying process. Been in the US for 17 years and got green card in march 2013 now planning to return to the UK after all. Its weird that when we wait for what we think we want we end up changing our minds when we eventually get it.
But a year or two after you get back to the UK, you could also possibly have second doubts.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:37 am
  #20  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by lansbury
Yep having the ability to rob a bank without the risk of deportation has improved my life no end.
Haha that made me chuckle.

Don't US citizens have to pay tax on the earnings worldwide? So if you became a USC then moved back to the UK, would there not be at sort of tax implications? That's a question by the way, not a statement.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:57 am
  #21  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by markonline1
Haha that made me chuckle.

Don't US citizens have to pay tax on the earnings worldwide? So if you became a USC then moved back to the UK, would there not be at sort of tax implications? That's a question by the way, not a statement.
Yes but there is currently about a $95,000 foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credits can be applied against unearned income and foreign tax credits can applied to income above the foreign earned income exclusion.

Therefore since most countries in Europe have a higher tax rate than the US, most people won't pay any US taxes unless they live in Switzerland which doesn't have a capital gain tax or some tax haven that doesn't tax or have a low tax rate on earned income and they earn more than $95,000.

However sometimes there can be a positive effect by living in the UK and collecting both social security and the UK pension if not a US citizen.

Usually for most people, it is primarily the paperwork of filing US tax forms yearly.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 4:11 am
  #22  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by markonline1
Haha that made me chuckle.

Don't US citizenhs have to pay tax on the earnings worldwide? So if you became a USC then moved back to the UK, would there not be at sort of tax implications? That's a question by the way, not a statement.
Doesn't everyone have to pay taxes on their world wide earnings? How much, and to whom, is a question for the accountants.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 5:08 am
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by Michael
You could be at someone's house and they are making and selling meth and the police raid the house while you are there.
You could get run over by a bus crossing the road going to your friends house, then none of it matters. I didn't say it couldn't be an advantage just one most people probably don't place to high on the list of reasons, or are likely to need.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 2:55 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by Michael
Yes but there is currently about a $95,000 foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credits can be applied against unearned income and foreign tax credits can applied to income above the foreign earned income exclusion.

Therefore since most countries in Europe have a higher tax rate than the US, most people won't pay any US taxes unless they live in Switzerland which doesn't have a capital gain tax or some tax haven that doesn't tax or have a low tax rate on earned income and they earn more than $95,000.

However sometimes there can be a positive effect by living in the UK and collecting both social security and the UK pension if not a US citizen.

Usually for most people, it is primarily the paperwork of filing US tax forms yearly.
Just a personal insight that I gained while looking into that US job interview I was invited to recently. An area where the UK seems to have much lower tax requirements is with how it treats certain types of investments. The following three might be critical for anyone who has spent substantial time in the UK (before or after moving to the US) and has a UK pension fund, an endowment policy, and/or ISAs.

First ISAs - pretty much completely tax-free gains (whether cash accounts or mutual funds) and you can put in a substantial amount each year (£11,520 this year). Someone could easily (if they earned enough!) build up an ISA-wrapped portfolio worth over £100,000k in 10 years. It may be that US annual capital gains allowances would negate the issue, and am happy for someone to point that out if it's true. But my understanding is that the US does not recognise the tax-free status of ISAs.

Second, pensions. UK tax law allows you to take out 25% of your total retirement fund tax-free. For professionals, it would not be difficult at all to have a retirement fund worth £500k or more - so they could take £125,000 of that as a tax-free lump sum. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the US would view that as a taxable withdrawal from a retirement fund.

Third, endowment policies. Many people keep their old endowment policy going, even after they sell a house and move overseas (I know I did). When an endowment matures, it is tax-free in the UK, but the IRS does not recognize its tax-free status.

As others know, I'm no tax expert, and there may be other mitigating circumstances that would help a person avoid the US tax implications, but I thought I'd share what I learned recently.

Last edited by dunroving; Jan 3rd 2014 at 2:59 pm.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:10 pm
  #25  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by Michael
But a year or two after you get back to the UK, you could also possibly have second doubts.
Maybe but after 18 years in the states I definitely know I don't want to be here.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:30 pm
  #26  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by lgabriel73
Maybe but after 18 years in the states I definitely know I don't want to be here.
At the risk of this thread deviating, i'm interested to know what you don't like about living where you are?
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:32 pm
  #27  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by lgabriel73
Maybe but after 18 years in the states I definitely know I don't want to be here.
You could always apply for the two-year permit thingy as a back-up for those rose-tinted glasses.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 3:54 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Not sure why you think I have rose colored glasses. Know all about the UK it's good points and bad and I also know the same about the US. It's a personal choice and I don't understand why people on the forum can't just respect that. You may love the US and want to stay but many others don't want to. It's a personal decision.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 4:01 pm
  #29  
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by RICH
Doesn't everyone have to pay taxes on their world wide earnings? How much, and to whom, is a question for the accountants.
Yes, but even after you have left the US, you have to complete a tax declaration every year. You may not owe anything, but it would still be a pain.
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Old Jan 3rd 2014, 4:15 pm
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Default Re: Missing Home After 3 Years

Originally Posted by mikelincs
Yes, but even after you have left the US, you have to complete a tax declaration every year. You may not owe anything, but it would still be a pain.
Aaah, TurboTax, how I miss it ...
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