The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
M.F. said:
SEVEN hours doing taxes???
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Get this, I wasn't actually doing the tax returns, just preparing the info so that my German tax attorney can do them for me. Argh! :mad:

At least now I have a good German tax attorney, for which I am very grateful.

I've already paid my taxes in full to the US for those years, but due to a huge misunderstanding due to bad info I got from the German foreigner's office five years ago, I now have to pay taxes on the very same years to Germany with no possibility of a refund from the US. So no pleasant outcome on my horizon, I'm afraid.

Or I guess I should think of the bright side and the pleasant outcome is that I don't get tossed in a German prison for Christmas.

Just joking. I think. :oops:
 
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Emily

Emily

Location
Melbourne, Australia
M.F. said:
That sounds very odd. Surely you don’t pay taxes twice?? It sounds extremely unfair. I’m really sorry for you.
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I believe that generally, a US citizen living overseas is still required to lodge a return in the US but should qualify for a "foreign earned income exclusion" (assuming that they pass the residency tests). This would mean that they only pay US tax on their US earned income.

However, it's possible that Emily lodged her US returns as if she resides in the US, has paid the tax, and now they might not allow her to amend? I could be wrong though - the US tax system seems terribly complicated :hmm:
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Emily said:
However, it's possible that Emily lodged her US returns as if she resides in the US, has paid the tax, and now they might not allow her to amend?
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Yes, you've got it more or less. As I was told initially that I shouldn't pay taxes in Germany as I was working 100% for a US company, I filed in the US as a German resident but paid normal taxes to the US federal government. I did pay reduced taxes to the state of California as I am no longer a resident. Flash forward and I found out this summer that I have to pay taxes on my US income to Germany. Too late to go back to the US to amend previous years. So for four years, I am indeed paying full on double tax. Nothing to do about it but bite the bullet and move on.

Fun fact: the US and Eritrea are the only two countries in the world where you pay income taxes even if you reside outside the country. Despite the common idea that you get a tax credit in the US for taxes paid abroad, in practical terms that is not the case. This means that I'll continue to be double taxed to some extent until I give up my German residency or my US citizenship. :cautious:

OK, that's today's international tax lesson. Next post will be Carbon photos and back to Labratouring, I promise! :giggle:
 
M

M.F.

I believe that to accept German citizenship, you have to give up your other citizenship. Which, on the upside, will make your tax affairs easier to handle! :)
 
Emily

Emily

Location
Melbourne, Australia
M.F. said:
I believe that to accept German citizenship, you have to give up your other citizenship. Which, on the upside, will make your tax affairs easier to handle! :)
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Really, I didn't realise.
I have a friend that has US, Irish and now Australia citizenship and currently holds all three valid passports. I know some countries require you to give up your citizenship (another friend had to give up her Indian citizenship when she became Australian) but I didn't realise that US/German were incompatible.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
M.F. said:
I believe that to accept German citizenship, you have to give up your other citizenship. Which, on the upside, will make your tax affairs easier to handle! :)
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Normally that is the case, but there is an unofficial exception policy for some countries, of which the US is one, that allows you to very politely ask to keep your existing citizenship before applying for German citizenship. Apparently you need to ask - and be refused - at least three times before you even stand a chance of them saying yes. My lawyer will start asking next summer, six months before I'm eligible to naturalise.

While I'd be more than happy to give up my US citizenship for tax reasons, not being able to go back to the US for more than 90 days at a time and permanently losing the ability to work there - even remotely from Europe - would be a killer for me. My biggest worry is my father, who is 79 years old. He's in good health but at some point I may need to go back to care for him, which I can't do if I give up my US citizenship.

Complicated!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Carbon baptised @SwampDonkey 's beautiful collar (and his harness and himself) with sheep poo.

P1130222.jpg

I was not amused. :hmm:

Carbon, however, felt it was adequate punishment for all the photo sessions. If looks could kill...

P1130238.jpg

Tomorrow I think we'll go into town. Less likelihood of sheep bombs.

Oh, and the collar washed out without a trace of poo.

Same cannot be said for Carbon, who still smells of sheep. And who is currently laying on my pillow sharing his poo scent. :doh:
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Granca said:
you certainly wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that amount of fox poo!
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Goodness, fox poo must be really vile!

Granca said:
That’s an excellent sulky photo!
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ALL his photos lately are sulky. He's become a real Mr. Grumpy Pants lately when it's just the two of us. He will be very glad- hopefully - to have some doggie friend visits in the next week.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Granca said:
They all have their moments. He’s got used to having such a lovely, interesting life with you, Emily, and more experiences than most dogs have in a lifetime - what a lucky lad!
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I'm not sure how lucky he's feeling at the moment. I've been giving his grumpiness a lot of thought and wondering how to help him get his mojo back. In the short term, I know that heading back to @Beanwood tomorrow will put a big doggie smile on his face at least. :)
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Selina27 said:
Yep :nod:
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I have to admit I was being wimpy about the sheep poo. There was a lot of it and it was not something I'd use as an air freshener in my house, but it did dissipate from his fur much quicker than I expected. He doesn't smell his usual yummy self yet today but the sheepy smell is nearly gone.

Plus @SwampDonkey 's collar washed out like a dream, so he'll be back to looking sharp.

We're still not going into any more fields today, though. :shake::sheep::poo:
 
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