Author Topic: Semi retirement connundrum  (Read 2112 times)

toucansurfer

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Semi retirement connundrum
« on: December 12, 2017, 11:47:48 PM »
Hi guys,

So I'm an expat American working and living in Australia.  Currently I'm back in the USA visiting family and my SO and I decided it might be time to move back closer to family before they get too old.  I did the math and could roughly pay cash for a house in a few years depending on the  city(scouting out best semi retirement spots currently).  Looking at buying ~250k house.  With no mortgage I can get our cost of living to ~3k a month in the USA considering the COL in some of the cheaper states here compared to Australia.

The whole situation only works if I can either work remotely for my Australian employer a few days a week or do a 3-4 month stint back on Australia by myself once a year to cover the year.  I can make ~60-80k USD doing this.  I had a few questions I was hoping my fellow mustachians  might be able to comment on.

1.  Do you reckon I'll get taxed to death due to the mixed residency issues?  Right now we reside exclusively in Australia so we get the foreign earned income credit shielding us from any US tax obligations.
2.  Has anyone done a similar job setup working abroad for small periods of time?  Did it work or was it just a big headache?
3.  One city were really looking at is Salt Lake City, well maybe one of the cheaper suburbs of SLC.  Is 250k-300k unreasonable for a house there?  Is this city fairly average for COL?  I just love the idea of being near park city and the ski resorts but may just be a pipe dream.
4.  Any other headaches you might forsee in this situation I should keep an eye on?

Cheers and thanks in advance for your comments.

Enigma

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Re: Semi retirement connundrum
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2017, 07:41:41 AM »
If you are in the US for 35 days or more you lose the foreign earned income credit.  You must physically be in another country 330 days out of 365 days according to publication 54.

toucansurfer

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Re: Semi retirement connundrum
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2017, 11:13:24 PM »
Sorry I mis typed earlier we currently claim the foreign earned income exclusion.  The foreign tax credit I believe is what shields you from double tax if you reside mostly in the USA but are getting taxed on foreign sources of income.  Would be interesting to hear from any digital nomads which have a mixed bag of residency and income sources.


 

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