Any Ex-Pats Here?

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trinpol

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Nov 1, 2008
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On a beach somewhere :)
Hey guys.

Well its been an amazing affiliate marketing journey for me.
Ive been doing this for about 6 months full time and my profits have been growing exponentially.
I'm at the point where im ready to leave Canada ( and their insane tax rates) for another country.
Im young (24), don't have anything holding me down, and ready to travel and enjoy life to the max.
Plus by moving, I can incorporate in a tax haven and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.

Here are my choices:
Panama -
Pros: Low cost of living, warm climate, Low Taxes
cons: crime, poverty. There is a great deal of inequality in the country, and also a large drug trade as it borders Columbia.
I feel like I might be targeted there.

Bahamas:
Pros: amazing climate, beaches!, Low Taxes. Low Crime.
Cons: fairly expensive, small population

Andorra: Pros: Easy access to other European countries, Low Taxes
cons: climate isn't that great. Fairly cold winters. Language barrier. rental property is very hard to find.

Im hoping to get some feedback on those ex-pats that decided to take the plunge and where their adventure took them.

-Andrew
 


+ UK, Monaco

And you got your pros and cons are completely wrong. There are no taxes, access to other countries is anything but easy, rentals on the other hand are damn easy to find.
 
gopher said:
+ UK, Monaco

And you got your pros and cons are completely wrong. There are no taxes, access to other countries is anything but easy, rentals on the other hand are damn easy to find.
Click to expand...

i was just going on the information i found on escapeartist.com regarding rentals.
Regarding easy access, its between France and Spain with millions of tourists coming each year.
I didn't know it was hard to access.
But thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming!
 
You obviously haven't been to the Bahamas either. Real trash right there too (at least in Nassau). Although I'm sure for quite a bit of money you can live quite nicely.

Edit: Oh yeah, they have no income tax too.
 
Asia

I personally like Asia.

The living is quite cheap, beautiful women and the food is great. If your like me and don't have a ton of cash, its easy to pick up tutoring/teaching gigs.

Bit of advice though, get accepted into networks, and setup hosting while your still home. It's a bloody nightmare getting approved from here and dealing with banking/credit issues. Some networks even block phone calls from abroad, so you can't even call and explain your situation. Also get a few extra credit cards, they are quite skittish these days and shut down credit cards for crazy reasons. Always have a plan B, C etc...
 
trinpol said:
i was just going on the information i found on escapeartist.com regarding rentals.
Regarding easy access, its between France and Spain with millions of tourists coming each year.
I didn't know it was hard to access.
But thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming!
Click to expand...

I was there last year.

I had a sweet apartment secured after 2 hours, brand new complex, 3 br, 2 bath, 1600sq ft or so for 1000€. But getting there is a bitch. The next airport is about 4 hours by car, same for a train station.

I would seriously think about the UK, you can structure your business in such a way that most income is outside the UK, thus not paying income tax on that amount.
 
Phuket Thailand. Beautiful water, cheap as shit and it's a tourist destination so although you'll be an outsider you'll still be able to always find someone that speaks english.
 
gopher said:
I was there last year.

I had a sweet apartment secured after 2 hours, brand new complex, 3 br, 2 bath, 1600sq ft or so for 1000€. But getting there is a bitch. The next airport is about 4 hours by car, same for a train station.

I would seriously think about the UK, you can structure your business in such a way that most income is outside the UK, thus not paying income tax on that amount.
Click to expand...

How did you like Andorra in terms of the people, attractions, climate?

Also, for living in the UK, if my corporation is set up in the British Virgin Islands and i choose to reside in the UK, im guessing that I would be taxed on my business income.
I ask because my girlfriend wanted to move to the UK and my corp is getting set up in the BVIs.
 
harrymouni said:
I thought the UK is getting rid of the non-domicile tax free status
Click to expand...

Nope. You just gotta pay $100k or $200k or so if after 7 years you still want to claim non dom.

trinpol said:
How did you like Andorra in terms of the people, attractions, climate?

Also, for living in the UK, if my corporation is set up in the British Virgin Islands and i choose to reside in the UK, im guessing that I would be taxed on my business income.
I ask because my girlfriend wanted to move to the UK and my corp is getting set up in the BVIs.
Click to expand...

Climate is alright, there are no attractions and the people hardly speak english.

Regarding your set up: Depends on how you structure it. As long as you can prove that you aren't running the company from the UK and the profit never touches the UK, you won't get taxed on it in the UK.
 
Yep UK is good.

Tried to live in Panama for 9 months for the same reasons... Don't be fooled by the marketing of that place, it's a toilet.

And like you said crime is pretty bad... I lived in the richest area and by my apt is a bridge. Some moron gang tried to
rob me, I told them to shove it and they did. The next night, the same gang try to rob me....

Also lawyers etc over there have such a bad work ethic you'll want to shoot them.
 
For any US citizen thinking about going expat, remember that the US doesn't work like most other countries. They still expect you to pay the same income taxes on every penny, despite living and working on foreign soil. You get an exemption on something like the first $80,000. Only way to get out of paying them is to renounce your citizenship. Even then, they claim the right to come after you for whatever they feel you owe for up to 10 years after you give up your citizenship.

And if they feel you expatriated for financial reasons, they do some really crazy shit. Like tax your entire net worth, both what you have/had in the US and whatever you've got where you live now. I read a lot about it a while back. Pretty fucked up.

Pretty disappointing to hear about the level of crime in some of these places.
 
Malta is the shit! But expensive though :s Riga is popping these days and cheap as hell (it's the size of Amsterdam now). Stockholm is great (but not for everyone)....
Kuala Lumpur has a nice expat vibe as does Rio. Buenas Aires and Santiago are nice as well....
Panama actually sounds interesting and someone mentioned Costa Rica. It really depends on what you want.

Why not make a list of the most important things to you, then rank them. For instance things like:

1) Distance from Home
2) Quality of the expat community
3) Tax structure
4) Weather
5) Social life (kind of fits in with no. 2)
6) Politics (as an example do you want to live in a relatively left of center or right of center country)
7) Cost of Living
8) Real Estate

Moscow is REALLY popping but it takes bank to live well and obviously if you are not into cold weather don't go there...

Singapore has an OLD, ESTABLISHED expat community and is very vibrant. Lastly Dubai is hot now (my sister is moving back in April and can't wait to leave NYC).....

Check out some of the expat orgs around the web, ask friends who have similar tastes to you etc, etc...

It's great to have such options that's the wonderful thing about this biz I guess...
 
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