How to legally pay no taxes... possible?

[AgainstAllOdds]

Taxation is theft. Plain and simple. It's getting to the point where the government takes almost twice what you do.

Let's say you make $100,000 a year and live in California. You're self employed selling on Amazon. Then here's how your income taxes look:

• $100,000 = what you earned gross margin
• - 14,130 = self-employment tax
• - 16,410 = federal income tax
• - 6,760 = state income tax

$62,700. That's what you really made.

Now, you go out and spend that money. You're taxed an additional 7.25% "sales tax".

$58,145 of buying power. That's what your "6-figure income" really gets you.

Meanwhile, here's how much the government makes. Let's say you did $300k in revenue, and your product costs were roughly $200k. With the new 10% tax on China, you're paying 15% import tax on average. So:

• $14,130 = Self-Employment Tax
• $16,410 = Federal Income Tax
• $6,760 = State income Tax
• $4,702 = Sales Tax on your buying power
• $30,000 = Import Tariffs
• $21,750 = Sales tax charged to your customers

$93,752. That's the amount of money that you created for the government.

Meanwhile, you have $58,145. For every $1 you made, the government took in $1.62.

If that's not F*cked, then I don't know what is.

The American Revolution was ignited by "taxation without representation" - more specifically a few taxes that the colonies were expected to pay in order to recoup 1/3rd of the cost of the French and Indian War (a war the British had to pay to protect colonists).

Do you know what the taxes were at that time?

How high did taxes go in order to piss everyone off to the point of telling Britain to go F*ck itself?

1-3%. 3% if you were more in the south. 1% if you were more in the north.

Now, we've gone on to accept the numbers above as standard.

It's a new form of slavery. Except now, the master has thrown in enough math to confuse the masses.

 

[Vigilante]

I don't have a problem paying taxes. I want to minimize taxes I pay, but believe I have benefited greatly from entrepreneurship in the greatest economic opportunistic system in the world. I have paid a lot of taxes. I literally just caught some things up and paid what would be the equivalent of more than a great salary... but that was for a few years of catch-up. I believe in what Kyosaki said when he was facing a large tax bill... he just had to go make more. I see no ceiling in what I can earn.

People ask me all the time about Amazon fees. Amazon fees? Who cares? It is only a percentage of what I MAKE on Amazon. Same is true to a degree with taxes. I could be so blessed to have such a large tax bill. Means I am doing something right. So... taxes? You're worried about taxes? Go make more money. Go pay an accountant to handle your tax strategy.

There are a few on the forum whose whole existence is to avoid taxes. Personally, I'd rather live on the Gulf Coast of Florida and pay some taxes than live in some third world shithole but be "tax free." To each his own.

 

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[Contrarian]

There are literally dozens of countries in the world where you can live and pay no (or minimal) taxes on production. And most of them are far from being shitholes. In Europe alone there are multiple options: Malta, Cyprus, Monaco, Andorra, Portugal, to name a few.

Hong Kong, one of the greatest cities on earth, doesn't tax income from outside Hong Kong for either individuals or businesses. So yes, you can even live tax free in the Asian equivalent of NY or London.

The media-government complex does a great job of convincing Westerners that life outside the borders is cruel, uncivilized and dangerous. Of course they do: their fleecing operations depend on keeping the farm animals inside the gates.

Yet that's far from the reality. Whenever I travel to the US or back "home" to the UK (which no longer feels like home to me), it feels like I'm entering an open air prison. I think the worst had to be waiting in line at passport control at Newark, being herded down the line like sheep for hours while being force fed CNN propaganda from omnipresent TVs.

In both countries, the constant indoctrination is palpable everywhere, which is something you just don't see in most places. I didn't really notice it before I left.

Yet neither country had an income tax at all, until the early 20th century. An ordinary person would almost never interact with the government at all, or even care about them or who was in power. Supposedly taxes are the price of civilization, but I struggle to see how the West was more civilized after World War I than before it. If you ask me, taxes (and acceptance of their legitimacy) are the biggest evil in the world right now, because they make all the other great evils possible.

Truth is, when the Berlin Wall fell, communism didn't die with it - it just moved west.

The 21st century, when it fully arrives, will look very different to the world we have today. Governments (especially democratic governments) will always trend towards taxing and controlling as much as they can possibly get away with. And for most of the 20th century, they had the perfect conditions for it - manufacturing-based industry which is rooted to one place, little to no competition outside the borders, and a compliant citizenry who didn't have the internet to offer alternative views.

Yet most work now is knowledge work, and geography provides few to no barriers anymore. Global mobility is available to anyone with a brain who wants it. Smart governments understand that, and offer incentives to the best and brightest to go and live there. Those countries become much richer, quickly, as a result.

The big western governments now look like very much the cranky senile uncle, demanding that things be one way even as reality says something else. Think that wealth, prosperity and security is still going to be there in 20 years? I don't. I don't want to be anywhere near Western Europe or North America in 20 years. It gives me no pleasure to say that, but I truly believe we'll be the new Latinos/Eastern Europeans/Indians - leaving home to seek better opportunity elsewhere. Better to get a headstart now, before they close the gates to the masses.

Every factor that made Western Civilization great either no longer exists, or is being killed off as we speak (usually by those same governments who want all your money). Superficially, it looks the same, but it's not the same civilization you grew up in. And only inertia is keeping it alive.

On a practical note. I'll be moving here later in the year, to Limassol, Cyprus:

Total shithole right? Or not.

I earned more money last year than I've ever earned before, living in the UK. And I'm on track to make 5x+ more this year. And I get to keep ALL of it. Every cent is mine.

But do you know what the greatest gift of leaving the gates is? It's not the money. It's peace of mind.

It's all the forms I don't have to fill in anymore.

It's the extortion demands that don't arrive in the mail and make me angry.

It's being completely detached from all the political bullshit and knowing I don't have to care anymore.

It's being able to do basically whatever I want and being left alone without worrying about traffic cops, the law, or omnipresent CCTV.

It's knowing I can speak my mind on any topic at any time and not having to worry about there being consequences.

And it's knowing my future is no longer tied to the fortunes of a slowly collapsing civilization.

It's also easy to meet some really great and interesting people when you live in a tax haven. Every single one of my friends here is some kind of entrepreneur and some shade of libertarian. I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. I didn't know anyone like that back in the UK.

There's also nothing that says you have to live in a place 12 months a year. You just have to live there long enough to be tax resident, and you can spend the rest of the time wherever you want. Perpetual travel doesn't appeal to me either, but living in two or three countries throughout the year is my eventual plan.

Talk to @GlobalWealth , he'll hook you up.

It's one thing to want to pay as little tax as possible, quite another to trade money for happiness. What I find most strange though is that 7 out of the top 6 places in the Happiness report are some of the coldest countries to live in (mostly Nordic countries). And they rank at the top pretty consistently year after year. They also have some of the highest rates of tax. Personally I loathe the cold and and short days.

I always find it a very convenient coincidence that those "Happiness reports" are basically an advertorial for "social democracy". There are shitloads of Swedes and Danes here fleeing the same. Biased sample I know, but none of them have a good word to say about Scandinavia, the level of happiness there, or its future.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

To answer your original question, as @Kak said, if you make money, you have to pay taxes.

However, if you put nothing back in your pocket, then there are ways to get around paying taxes and instead investing in your business.

Product businesses that average under $1,000,000 in annual revenue are allowed to use cash based accounting.

So... it's to your benefit to empty your books as much as possible end of every year. An easy way to do this is to purchase a lot more product. December 30th is when you should be sending as many wires as possible overseas for purchases and stocking up for the new year.

You repeat this year over year. Your bank account doesn't grow, but your inventory levels and balance sheet does.

Finally, when you cross the $1MM revenue threshold, that's when you hire an accountant to take it a step further, or start paying taxes. At $1MM in revenue, you should have enough margin even post tax to pay yourself handsomely.

Or, you might want to create different businesses for different segments of your business, continuously reinvest. And then when ready, sell off the business for a significantly lower capital gains payment.

 

[Kak]

The only real way to pay no tax is to make no money.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Taxation is a necessary part of modern life. I agree that tax money can be (and often is) mis-spent which can lead you to look at reducing your tax payments, but looking at paying no tax whatsoever is frankly pretty disgusting.

Do you use public roads, hospitals, schools, fire and police departments? Who do you think pays for these services?

Again, none of those services are funded by income tax. It's a common misconception used by those who promote the morality of taxation.

The quote in 1927 by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society", is often cited by those duped into believing the have a moral duty to pay.

Ironically the average person paid about 3% income tax in 1927 and the highest bracket was a marginal 25%, wayyyy below the current tax rate.

Prior to 1913 when the US ratified the 16th amendment legalizing a federal income tax, the US had roads, hospitals, schools and police departments.

What it didn't have was perpetual wars, spying on the citizens, and 40% of the population living on welfare.

 

[G-Man]

To me, taxation has the moral profile of a back alley mugging, but as I've gotten older I've come to understand 3 things:

• Taxes have been around since one caveman realized he was a little bigger and stronger than the others. That's not going to change.
• I wouldn't last long in prison
• A large tax bill means I made a lot of money

Not exactly deep philosophy, but I'm on team @Vigilante on this one. Same for living where I want to live, not based on tax rate.

 

[GlobalWealth]

I'm at a point in my business where I need to start worrying about taxes.

From what I've learned about IRS and IRC, the best way to legally pay no taxes is to either report zero net profit by balancing your expenses or open business in a country where there are no taxes.

Setting up business in a country where there are no taxes makes taxation simpler, but complicates your legal obligations. For example, the Principality of Monaco charges no personal income or business taxes for most business types, but to be considered a resident, you have to live there for 6 months and 1 day out of the year which is cumbersome.

On the other hand, reporting zero net profit by balancing expenses is more generally applicable, but we're faced with the challenge of where to put our money, when there are no more inescapable business expenses.

I was hoping you guys could provide information about countries where there are no taxes and their legal obligations (if any) and what flexible expenses could a business incur that would put the money somewhere we could 1.) easily access and 2.) wouldn't be as harshly taxed (or not at all).

After reading a lot of the nonsense on here (and several good posts as well), I thought I'd actually chime in on the topic.

Taxation can be a very complicated subject to address, especially when you consider international factors.

For example, all countries in the world fall into 4 tiers for personal taxation. Keep in mind, this ONLY relates to your personal taxation based on your RESIDENCY, not necessarily your citizenship:

• Tier one: zero tax. This would be your tax havens like Cayman Islands and Bermuda. They have no tax on any income source for residents.
• Tier two: residency based territorial tax. This would be places like Panama, Hong Kong and Singapore. They only tax local income and only when resident in the country. For example, a Panamanian who lives in Panama but derives all of his income from outside Panama does not need to report or pay anything to Panama.
• Tier three: (this is about 90% of the world). residency based worldwide tax. Nearly the whole world uses this system. Basically if you are resident in that country, you pay tax on worldwide income.
• Tier four: citizenship based worldwide tax. There are only 2 countries in the world in this category: The US and Eritrea.

The situation further complicates as you may guess based on your citizenship and residency. For example, a Canadian that spends most of his time abroad may still owe tax in Canada if he has not renounced his residency status (not citizenship). However, if that Canadian renounced his Canadian residency, he would then need to consider how many days he spends in a particular country, any other residency he may have acquired, or possibly other connecting factors or nexus.

Further complication this for entrepreneurs would be CFC rules (controlled foreign corporation), subpart F income rules (for Americans or US permanent residents), GILTI (global intangible low taxed income rules - Americans and residents), country or state nexus, etc.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Well taxation was there in the middle ages to finance the aristocracy in exchange for protection. Nothing really modern. In some countries like France it's become quasi "slavery" for the State. When your body and brains are taxed so much it's a new form of "slavery" since your labor and fruits of it aren't even your own, but are used to finance a bureaucratic class.

The irony here is that in the middle ages when the tax collector came the people knew they were being robbed. They paid out of a clear and present danger of direct violence that would and did happen in the event of immediate non payment.

Nowadays people are brainwashed to believe it is their moral duty for the greater good. The weak minded even argue for the morality of taxation as a higher moral authority.

Media is a powerful tool.

 

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[Kak]

I don't have a problem paying taxes. I want to minimize taxes I pay, but believe I have benefited greatly from entrepreneurship in the greatest economic opportunistic system in the world. I have paid a lot of taxes. I literally just caught some things up and paid what would be the equivalent of more than a great salary... but that was for a few years of catch-up. I believe in what Kyosaki said when he was facing a large tax bill... he just had to go make more. I see no ceiling in what I can earn.

People ask me all the time about Amazon fees. Amazon fees? Who cares? It is only a percentage of what I MAKE on Amazon. Same is true to a degree with taxes. I could be so blessed to have such a large tax bill. Means I am doing something right. So... taxes? You're worried about taxes? Go make more money. Go pay an accountant to handle your tax strategy.

There are a few on the forum whose whole existence is to avoid taxes. Personally, I'd rather live on the Gulf Coast of Florida and pay some taxes than live in some third world sh*thole but be "tax free." To each his own.

I agree... As long as you are in a low tax state, the benefits of being able to conduct business from the USA currently outweigh the costs of doing business here, taxes.

Hire a good accountant and do everything you can to minimize your tax burden legally... Why? Because why look over your shoulder?

Now, even though I have this view, of just take care of it... I am about the most anti-taxation voter on the face of the earth. I view the government with similar disdain that I would an organized crime ring.

 

[Kak]

This thread...

Millennials, boomers, terrorists, depression and happiness indices.. HAHAHA My gosh.

 

[GlobalWealth]

I'm at a point in my business where I need to start worrying about taxes.

From what I've learned about IRS and IRC, the best way to legally pay no taxes is to either report zero net profit by balancing your expenses or open business in a country where there are no taxes.

Setting up business in a country where there are no taxes makes taxation simpler, but complicates your legal obligations. For example, the Principality of Monaco charges no personal income or business taxes for most business types, but to be considered a resident, you have to live there for 6 months and 1 day out of the year which is cumbersome.

On the other hand, reporting zero net profit by balancing expenses is more generally applicable, but we're faced with the challenge of where to put our money, when there are no more inescapable business expenses.

I was hoping you guys could provide information about countries where there are no taxes and their legal obligations (if any) and what flexible expenses could a business incur that would put the money somewhere we could 1.) easily access and 2.) wouldn't be as harshly taxed (or not at all).

I'll try to get a bit more practical here now.

First of all, you need to consider YOUR business and YOUR opportunity.

If your business has nexus (physical connection) to a certain jurisdiction, then you are obligated to pay tax in that jurisdiction, if any.

For example, if you own a chain of pizza restaurants in Iowa, you would have clear nexus. You would need to pay payroll tax for your employees plus income tax on your business and your personal tax.

If your business is more location independent, then you have more options.

Maybe you can "move" your business to a more tax friendly jurisdiction.

However, you would then need to consider the other factors like your citizenship, your legal residency, your tax residency (not always the same), etc.

If you have a location independent business but live in New York city, you will have a federal, state and city income tax obligation regardless of whether your business is registered in Nevada, Delaware or Seychelles.

If you are willing to give up your residency status in your home, presumably high tax country, and live in a tier 1 or 2 country, then it is easily structured for a zero tax lifestyle.

There are also some more complicated strategies available to "strip" out profit from your business for tax deferral, but typically the more complex strategies are for higher incomes (I'm not assuming your income.....or @Vigilante's gender for that matter).

 

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[RazorCut]

If you are in the UK and want to pay minimal tax you just rename your company Google or Facebook.

Seriously though you should be seeking professional advice on reducing your tax liabilities not relying on a public forum even though many here will have had to go down a similar path.

Also there is the moral issue. It is one thing to want to reduce your tax burden but quite another to want to pay no tax at all. That just makes you a parasite expecting others to pay into the collective while you just reap the benefits.

 

[Supercar]

A moral dilemma?? My moral dilemma is that my taxes are going towards building bombs, bombing other countries, killing innocent people, and feeding the parasites that never worked and never paid taxes.

 

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[Niptuck MD]

The ability to live in a safe country (military spending)
Money for when you’re old and can’t work (social security
The treasure (the gas who print the actual money you use)
Dept of agriculture (making sure your food is okay)
Education (K-12)
Scientific Foundations (NASA, etc)
Health foundations (Center for Disease Control, etc)

Sosial Security? Joke. Any millenial will not Get Squat from this joke of a program. We will SEE how this becomes by 2030 let alene 2050.

Department of agriculture is a joke. Please look up the list of foods that the EU has banned that are still legal and idiotically produced in USA. USDA and the FDA are both jokes.

Education, Ranks are not where you would like or think America should be ( across english, Maths and sciences.) An american high school diploma will not Even Get you a Seat in community college in Germany for example.

NASA....... another story.

PS Edit. I apologize for some mispellings I am typing this on my phone where the set language is Norsk not english.

 

[Kak]

Own a hotel and live in the penthouse... Think of the write off's.

Vehicle, food, servants, recreation, travel, home.

This gets you about as close to only taxed on what you retain as possible.

 

[CareCPA]

Product businesses that average under $1,000,000 in annual revenue are allowed to use cash based accounting.

This changed substantially with the new tax law. I believe the threshold is now $25 million for cash basis.

 

[CareCPA]

Own a hotel and live in the penthouse... Think of the write off's.

Vehicle, food, servants, recreation, travel, home.

This gets you about as close to only taxed on what you retain as possible.

I know you're being facetious, but in case anyone reads this and thinks it's how it really works, the benefits from the corp to you would most likely be taxed as income to you.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Taxation is theft. Plain and simple. It's getting to the point where the government takes almost twice what you do.

Let's say you make $100,000 a year and live in California. You're self employed selling on Amazon. Then here's how your income taxes look:

• $100,000 = what you earned gross margin
• - 14,130 = self-employment tax
• - 16,410 = federal income tax
• - 6,760 = state income tax

$62,700. That's what you really made.

Now, you go out and spend that money. You're taxed an additional 7.25% "sales tax".

$58,145 of buying power. That's what your "6-figure income" really gets you.

Meanwhile, here's how much the government makes. Let's say you did $300k in revenue, and your product costs were roughly $200k. With the new 10% tax on China, you're paying 15% import tax on average. So:

• $14,130 = Self-Employment Tax
• $16,410 = Federal Income Tax
• $6,760 = State income Tax
• $4,702 = Sales Tax on your buying power
• $30,000 = Import Tariffs
• $21,750 = Sales tax charged to your customers

$93,752. That's the amount of money that you created for the government.

Meanwhile, you have $58,145. For every $1 you made, the government took in $1.62.

If that's not f*cked, then I don't know what is.

The American Revolution was ignited by "taxation without representation" - more specifically a few taxes that the colonies were expected to pay in order to recoup 1/3rd of the cost of the French and Indian War (a war the British had to pay to protect colonists).

Do you know what the taxes were at that time?

How high did taxes go in order to piss everyone off to the point of telling Britain to go f*ck itself?

1-3%. 3% if you were more in the south. 1% if you were more in the north.

Now, we've gone on to accept the numbers above as standard.

It's a new form of slavery. Except now, the master has thrown in enough math to confuse the masses.

Preach brother

Sent from my VTR-L29 using Tapatalk

 

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[AgainstAllOdds]

I don't think that inventory is counted under this. If you count inventory purchased on a wire sent on Dec 31st, then wouldn't you need to add that inventory into your COGS calculation on that day?

I think you're talking about two different accounting methods. Cash is the former, Accrual (COGS) is the later. You have to pick one ... you can't expense $10,000 in product and then again add it later as a COGS expense.

MJ hit it right on point.

They're two different forms of accounting, cash-based accounting being extremely favorable to businesses in a growth stage (and why larger corporations can't use it).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfdpupKByiU


Here's an extremely simplified video, but it captures the general gist. You can plan ahead and minimize your tax liability while maximizing your growth.

To add onto this point, here's why these accounting methods matter (note: this is primarily for other users since I'm sure @biophase already gets this):

Let's say you make 50% returns cash on cash per year.

Under a system where you're reinvesting everything, here's what you make using each accounting method.

Cash Based Accounting

• Year 1: $100,000 starting bankroll.
• Year 2: $150,000 in cash or inventory equivalents.
• Year 3: $225,000 in cash or inventory equivalents.
• ...
• Year 10: $3,844,336 in cash or inventory equivalents.

Accrual Based Accounting (Assuming 25% effective tax rate)

• Year 1: $100,000 starting bankroll.
• Year 2: $137,500 in cash.
  
• Year 3: $189,062.5 in cash.
• ...
• Year 10: $1,756,808 in cash.

Year 10, you decide to stop investing and cash in.

Cash Based Accounting:
$3,844,336 * 50% = $1,922,168 in profit. You leave this amount in your account, reinvest the rest in inventory so this is the only amount taxed. Taxed at let's say even half, you're left with $961,084 in take home profit.

Accrual Based Accounting
$1,756,808 * 50% profit margin = $878,404. Your tax rate is still super high. Let's say 40%. Your take home is $527,042.40

Obviously these examples are extreme, but they hit the point home: if you're reinvesting in your business, you should not be paying taxes on that amount that stays in the business. You should be paying on the amount that you take out and utilize, meanwhile allowing the "investment fund" to keep growing without taking a hit.

@CareCPA - hopefully I didn't miss anything.

 

[Contrarian]

Yes as you say it's not really a sample, it is a group of individuals who are dis-satisfied with their lot otherwise they wouldn't be in Malta so heavily skewed against their mother country.

So we can discount them as exceptions and certainly not a representative sample. I know by your username you like to play devils advocate but to say that a report is basically an advertorial for "social democracy" without some solid foundations to back up that statement is ridiculous. Not everything in life is a conspiracy to keep mankind in his hierarchical place. Not everything is related to the Free Masons, Bilderberg, the Illuminati, and the Black Pope.

That's true. It's also the case that when the "official" evidence doesn't jive with anecdotal experience and what you can see with your own two eyes, it's usually because someone's trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

The World Happiness Report is created by the "Sustainable Development Solutions Network" and the "Global Happiness Council".

From the SDSN website:

"The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement."

From the GHC report:

"It’s no accident, for example, that the Scandinavian countries routinely top the list of happiest countries in the annual World Happiness Report. These countries are prosperous, healthy, and trusting. Corruption is low. Generosity is high. Individuals feel empowered to make key life choices. The social welfare state limits the inequalities between wealth and poverty, and delivers public services to all citizens. The rich do not run politics.

On the other hand, in some other high-income countries, the happiness ranking is far lower. Wealth may be high, but the wealth is accompanied by an excessive inequality of income, wealth, and political power. Trust, as a result, is often reduced by high inequalities of income."

And:

"Inequality not only creates suffering among those left behind, but also adds considerable social and political stresses to highly unequal societies. To achieve social inclusion, governments must act as an instrument of the common good, rather than as a source of power for one faction or group within society. When parts of society are deprived of power and prosperity, not only do those particular groups suffer, but society as a whole is inevitably destabilized."

So the agenda becomes clear.

Does the agenda invalidate their report? Not necessarily.

Should their agenda make you suspicious of its findings? Damn right.

As a good Swedish friend of mine said on this very topic, "it's not that Sweden is a happy country, it's just that they've been demoralized into settling for less". There's a concept in Scandinavian society called Tall Poppy Syndrome - which basically boils down to it being socially unacceptable to rise above the average in any way.

So as far as I can tell, Sweden is a fine place to be if you want to be a completely average person with an entirely routine and unremarkable life. Otherwise, perhaps not.

It's like Gogetter's post:



A poisonous opinion without any quoted form of credible facts most probably based on tabloid press and sensationalist news coverage. Yes you will get arrested for incitement if you are encouraging, instigating, or threatening racial hatred, terrorism and homophobic views etc.. And do you know what? I actually sleep better at night knowing those laws exist as do a lot of other people. I certainly don't fear I am going to be arrested because of them. Why would you?

I'll just leave these here:

Police Scotland on Twitter

SouthYorkshirePolice on Twitter

Arrests for 'offensive' Twitter and Facebook messages up by a third

At the moment we have a spike in knife crime in certain major cities. In the main due to the fact that we don't have huge numbers of guns on the streets.

However it has to be taken into context. Although knife crime is on the increase after years of falling statistics it's relatively unusual for a violent incident to involve a knife, and rarer still for someone to need hospital treatment. Most violence in the UK is caused by people kicking, hitting, shoving or slapping, sometimes during a coherent fight, but most often when drunk (alcohol abuse being a true British failing).

On the subject of terrorism:

We have faced terrorism here in the UK since the 70's. However, again the probability of dying in a terrorist incident is minimal and falls well below countries such as the USA and France.

View attachment 23104

I'm all for debate but can we keep it factual so it actually provides some use rather than only being fit for Landfill?

Agree with your bolded point - mostly. I can describe how the "air", the energy, the vibe, feels different outside of the UK/similar countries. More open, more free, people are happier and focused on their own lives and their families rather than whatever empty political platform or "cause" they're hooked on this month. Could I give you any facts about that? Nope, it's just something intangible that I can sense.

The only place I've ever felt unsafe was in a certain ghetto in Paris I accidentally wandered into. And I grew up in London. So yes, I agree with avoiding hyperbole.

What I'm really interested in are the trends. Is the UK becoming more or less free? More or less socially cohesive? Does it have a brighter or darker future?

I know what I think about that, but I don't have a crystal ball. All I know is that I've lost little and gained massively by leaving, even if my predictions about the downfall of the West never come true.

All said and done, I'm not trying to spark or engage in any kind of debate here. I'm simply painting a picture from my experience that I hope will help people facing a similar decision make a more informed choice. Some of that will be factual and some of it will naturally be subjective.

But everyone has to make their own choices.

 

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[GlobalWealth]

Why not pay your taxes? Why are we encouraging a crime in this forum?

Why are legal strategies for minimizing or eliminating your tax burden a crime?

 

[Kak]

Let’s talk about taxation without representation...

Who is representing the wealthy when we are talking about 75% taxes and retroactive wealth taxes? The poor. Hmmm.

The 99% argument really kicks the left in the a$$ on this one.

What about ANY progressive taxation?

We are dangerously close to to a voting majority that DOESN'T pay any taxes...

Is democracy really the answer? I am starting to wonder.

What if countries had to compete for our residency?

Unless laws are EQUALLY applied to everyone, I am starting to think we are doomed to go down some pretty ugly paths as a nation.

 

[GlobalWealth]

@CareCPA @GlobalWealth

What do you guys know about Puerto Rico? This is very interesting to me. Especially considering the hedge fund thing.

For that matter... What about the Virgin Islands?

@gilman pretty much nailed it. You do need to show significant connection to PR to make this work.

If you move your business there you need an office and employees, not just virtual office.

Basically you get a 90% federal tax credit at corporate level. If you pay yourself via dividends, you pay zero personal tax as long as you live there.

Sent from my VTR-L29 using Tapatalk

 

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[CareCPA]

(preferably 20 years of experience perhaps italian or jewish (from my experience they know the intricacies in the USA of how to get "around" things)

This made me literally laugh out loud.
People say stereotypes exist for a reason, and I would not argue with them in this case.

HOWEVER, I've seen tax returns from some "old Italian guys" (and one old Jewish lady this year. Seriously, she was like 90) - let's just say you need to make sure they include audit protection in your contract. Ultimately, you are responsible for the information on your return, even if someone else prepares it.

 

[GlobalWealth]

So you know all those roads, and schools, and 911 service you enjoy so much? They all come from taxes. I suggest just paying taxes from a moral perspective. Now if you want to lower your taxes, I think that’s a different story.

Roads are primarily funded by fuel taxes.

Schools are funded by property taxes.

911 is funded by state and local sales taxes.

Each of those examples are consumption taxes, of which you pay when you consume those services. They have nothing to do with the topic at hand of how to minimize personal or business income taxes.

 

[Thoelt53]

Is democracy really the answer? I am starting to wonder.

The thing is the US was never intended to be a democracy. The great men that founded this nation were well aware of the perils of democracy.

Even to this day the US is technically a Constitutional Republic, however, the law of the land has been subverted.

It's ironic that the 13 colonies that revolted against Britain are some of the most liberal and heavily taxed states in the nation.

Once again history repeats itself.

 

[CareCPA]

I think you'll find the answer will vary widely based on your personal circumstances. This is why you won't find a one-size-fits-all solution with a Google search, and those gurus who are selling a single solution for zero taxes are setting you up. Speak with a professional (not me, I don't do international structuring).

 

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[ChrisV]

So you know all those roads, and schools, and 911 service you enjoy so much? They all come from taxes. I suggest just paying taxes from a moral perspective. Now if you want to lower your taxes, I think that’s a different story.

 

[Niptuck MD]

An organized crime ring might have slightly more ethical morals than the people in office today...

Trust me they do. Believe it or not, these «criminals» have done way more for their immediate communities then any government has ever done.