Re: O'seas work: confessions of a 10-year expatriate

[Steven Read <sread -at- NIRVANA -dot- NOSUBDOMAIN -dot- NODOMAIN>]

Great post. Can I pick a few nits/add?

In article <009853E194F8CCA0 -dot- 00000821 -at- software-ag -dot- de>, Jack Shaw
 <jsh -at- software-ag -dot- de> writes:

|> * Living standard. If you can give up a townhouse for a two-room
|>   flat, a flitzy Toyota for a bike or public transport (usually
|>   extremely reliable), and at least one night out at a laundromat
|>   because your place has no washer/dryer, you'll probably make
|>   the adjustment. This is not to say there are none of the neat
|>   conveniences of U.S. living--in fact, they're all here. But
|>   they cost like crazy. And you'll have enough to do with local
|>   beauracracy and getting your feet planted...to wit:

My living standards have actually improved: I can afford a house here,
and I get a flashy new company car every 3 years, to say nothing of a
35-hour week and five weeks holiday.

|>   1. Local nationals (no matter what Brussels says...)
|>   2. Citizens of other EU countries (sometimes...)
|>   3. Others.

All very true. And it's stupidly difficult to convince them that you're
the boy/girl for the job.

|> Add to this other exemptions for moving/living that you
|> can deduct. The point is, you must file. Always. Every
|> year, the IRS sends me 5 lbs. of forms/instructions, only
|> for me to file a simplified, "Sorry, don't qualify to join
|> your club" form back. But if I don't, they have folks right
|> here in Bonn to remind me... .  And to get those neat
|> exemptions, I have to be out of the U.S. a full calendar
|> year, contiguously.

You don't *have* to be out of the country a full year contiguously. You
must be out 330 days out of the year. The other test you can pass is
what the Feds call a "bonafide residency" test. If you can prove that,
yes, you really do live there by things like a house, then the
physical presence is irrelevant.
|>
|> And of course, you pay local taxes. Just like a real, live
|> German/French/whatever person. And since you haven't grown
|> up with the local system, you need a tax accountant. Here,
|> they don't charge by the work they do, but by percentage
|> of my gross income. Right, no matter how much/little work
|> they have to do. Tax accountants here just love high-income
|> foreign workers...

My accountant charges a flat fee. The rest is all too true.

|> Bottom line: if you're freewheeling and gregarious, you
|> just might do fine. If you (figuratively speaking) drive
|> home weekends to do laundry/eat a decent meal/see Grandma,
|> you might be miserable. But you will experience:
|>
|>  * Frustration bordering on rage

Yes

|>  * Diarrhea from nerves/water/fatigue/bureaucrats

Not since the last time I was in Mexico. :-)

|>  * 25-55% taxes

Less than I paid in CA for income tax. Indirect tax makes it about even.

|>  * Great bread/beer

Undoubtedly. The wine is okay, as well.

|>  * Unsalted butter

Why is this weird?

|>  * Pancakes for supper
|>  * Pickles for breakfast

Not in England. They'd probably arrest you for crimes against nature.

|> --and a bit of yearning whenever you see someone off at
|>   the airport on their way back to Great Bend...

Nope. Not yet, anyhow.

Steve Read

Oracle UK