Reasons why your fucking Wapanese plans might not work out

[matsuki]

Though I'm certainly no supported of the US taxing it's citizens abroad, the only way people would get tax bills like that is if they are US citizens or green card holders and they could be hit up for taxes regardless of where they live or what their other nationality is. It has nothing to do with being Canadian.

...or else how would they get their address info? The US Gov. has no google-fu.

[rooboy]

Just sayin' because there was an article in a Canadian newspaper on the net which shows how shitty the deal is for the Canadians who never realised having an American grandma or being born in the US and then leaving as kids would lead to the IRS demanding their money down the track.

I'll try and get the link posted here or just type in the reference. The article's not from this yr I think but it's still fucking Big Brother stuff. Google The Globe and Mail - US Tax Crackdown Hits Canadian Residents.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Just sayin' because there was an article in a Canadian newspaper on the net which shows how shitty the deal is for the Canadians who never realised having an American grandma or being born in the US and then leaving as kids would lead to the IRS demanding their money down the track.

Those Canadians would either be US citizens or permanent residents and I bet there are some people who don't realize they are one of the two and I'm sure most don't realize it's a tax liability. I'm also sure considering how close the US and Canadian governments are with each other and the way we're integrated culturally and economically it makes it a lot easier for the US government to track people down in Canada than in other countries. However, anyone in the world in the same situation would potentially face the same problem.

[Greji]

Those Canadians would either be US citizens or permanent residents and I bet there are some people who don't realize they are one of the two and I'm sure most don't realize it's a tax liability. I'm also sure considering how close the US and Canadian governments are with each other and the way we're integrated culturally and economically it makes it a lot easier for the US government to track people down in Canada than in other countries. However, anyone in the world in the same situation would potentially face the same problem.

SJ is spot on and further you don't have to be a PR or a citizen. You can be any old FG that makes over a certain amount of dust during any given tax year while in the US and you are required to file and/or pay taxes on it. A lot of big winners at the tables in Vegas were surprised after coming back on another trip to the US only to be met by the tax man (upon entry, not before) and being served with notice of pay up, or "Go Directly to Jail and do not pass go and do not collect 200 dollars."

[damn name]

I understand that there isn't a lot of cooperation with the US IRS by other countries, Canada included, in cases like these. As Greji said, you have to go through customs for them to find you.

Since taxes are already withheld on Vegas winnings at payout, I don't understand how that would be an issue. In most cases, wouldn't it not be in the interest of the IRS since a tax filing for a non-resident would likely yield a refund with no other US derived income?

[Greji]

Since taxes are already withheld on Vegas winnings at payout, I don't understand how that would be an issue. In most cases, wouldn't it not be in the interest of the IRS since a tax filing for a non-resident would likely yield a refund with no other US derived income?

Taxes are not automatically withheld in all cases by casinos, or especially card rooms. All cases at casinos are reported and a W2 type form issued at the time. If there is not a SSAN involved or local address, they attempt collection at the site, but this again, is not, or can't always be done, especially in the case of high rollers who are frequent players.
If they jump these taxes, they will be id'd and held for IRS on any subsequent return to the US.

[damn name]

Thanks Greji. I never won a thing in Vegas, so I wouldn't know for sure...

[matsuki]

I won quite a bit (on accident....was showing someone how to play roulette with a touch screen and accidentally hit max bid on a #) once at a casino on the rez....no tax was taken out and they didn't have me file anything either. Not sure if it's different rules because of the rez but I don't think it is when it comes to taxes.

[Coligny]

I won quite a bit (on accident....was showing someone how to play roulette with a touch screen and accidentally hit max bid on a #) once at a casino on the rez....no tax was taken out and they didn't have me file anything either. Not sure if it's different rules because of the rez but I don't think it is when it comes to taxes.

Yeah, was it the same day Jennifer Lopez raped you in an elevator or the week before ?


(mumble grumble....)

[matsuki]

Yeah, was it the same day Jennifer Lopez raped you in an elevator or the week before ?


(mumble grumble....)

LOL, I'm not stingy when luck comes my way. I was there with my friend and his family...he lost $50 that day, I told him I beat it back out of the casino for him and gave him $50 from my winnings on the ride back. It's nowhere near what I won and I think his parents thought it was weird but he went home without a dent in his wallet and a smile on his face.

[rooboy]

Another PFG (Permanently Fucked Gaijin).
Interesting. Most people who've been out of their home country for a while figure it'll be easy to go back and fit right in whenever they please, and I think that "I can leave anytime I want" attitude can make being an expat easier. But it also leads to complacency about repatriating that can in turn lead to a nasty surprise. That's one good reason to visit "home" from time to time, to keep perspective and prevent the rose-colored tint from setting in too much.

Complex, innit.

Good bloody post. As somebody whose been out of Oz for a while, whenever I go back home there's a lot of shit there to remind me that I aint regretting not wanting to go back home and not making the effort to go back home permanently or semi permanently.

Expats often have a timewarp - esp if they don't go home for a while from their new cuntry, whether just on a work visa or a permanent type visa. Been in Nippon for some time now and everytime I have a holiday in Oz, it seems to fucking recede further away from any of the good times/situations that existed before I left.

I don't believe in progress in life - I believe life is about entropy, things fuck up and decline. The Oz I left didn't have a great choice of jobs for uni grads but it was nowhere near as bad as it is now with every price for everything going thru the fucking roof, massive buyups of real estate from overseas which has fucked the market for many Aussies, driven rents fucking high (tho the news is now the housing market is falling - about fucking time), and the most crowded I've ever seen it in Oz. In fact it fucking reminds me of Japan where you can't do any ol thing w/out somebody watching you.

As an expat you often lose touch with your former friends unless you go home regularly and even then you can make the effort but everybody's moved on and Aussies (as well as other people from the cuntries that fucked gaijin come from) seem fucking insular re what you're doing overseas. I've made an effort but as the yrs go on I see less and less people when I go home for a break. Soon it'll be about two. That's life.

What I wanna know is about the vets like Taro etc. How many old friends do you catch up with when you go back to Yankland and other places?

[Coligny]

I never go back even for vacations...

I've seen too much dystopian movies and don't want to check locally how optimistic they in fact were...

[Taro Toporific]

...What I wanna know is about the vets like Taro etc. How many old friends do you catch up with when you go back to Yankland and other places?

I go back to SepticLand twice a year and I spend most of time mooching off my mates as their pool-house-boy...so yeah, I end up spending months with my old friends every year. It's my return to the Concrete buttplug gets more painful each time.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I go back to SepticLand twice a year and I spend most of time mooching off my mates as their pool-house-boy...so yeah, I end up spending months with my old friends every year. It's my return to the Concrete buttplug gets more painful each time.

I know the feeling but at least in my case I grew up in NYC so even the guys I know who've become millionaires live a relatively modest lifestyle.

I think that everybody and their grandmother (not to mention pop culture) being online and easily accessible via social media, Skype, Smartphones, etc. makes it impossible to be completely out of the loop the way you once were living abroad and makes homesickness worse.

[Ganma]

I haven't been back in over a decade but the mental scars still haven't healed! Oh well, maybe in another decade or two.

[Iraira]

Last trip back to LA-LA-Land was kinda strange. The radio station was playing all the "rock of the 80s and 90s" (formative early adult years) which led to some pretty severe flashbacks and the ultimate feeling that this is no longer the Los Angeles that I grew up in, and that I really only had memories of a place that no longer exists. Add to that some friends who have mutated into the Hollywood plastic wax individuals that are the mold from which the stereotypes of the vacuous, me-centered image of Los Angeles are spawned...and I pretty much felt like a tourist.

[tone]

being online and easily accessible via social media, Skype, Smartphones, etc. makes it impossible to be completely out of the loop the way you once were living abroad and makes homesickness worse.

very true for me

any of you guys familiar with the allegory of the cave? i feel that way in a way when talking to people who have no clue about what im going through. their idea of japan is older korean ladies at seattle sushi restaurants, little packets of soy sauce, cool ass designer jeans and all the neutered geeky akihabara stereotypes that people abroad get slivers of an idea of.

i'm really wanting to leave japan these days, but stuck for a while. not sure where else to go. bay area seems nice, of course its easy to forget all the traffic and high rents... is it more per sq foot there than tokyo or no?

[rooboy]

I know the feeling but at least in my case I grew up in NYC so even the guys I know who've become millionaires live a relatively modest lifestyle..

So if those guys "who've become millionaires" are really your friends, why aren't you back home working for them?

[cstaylor]

:confused: So if those guys "who've become millionaires" are really your friends, why aren't you back home working for them?

Because a million doesn't go very far in Manhattan.

[cstaylor]

bay area seems nice, of course its easy to forget all the traffic and high rents... is it more per sq foot there than tokyo or no?

Depends on where you live. Campbell is nice these days, and the costs are far lower than Palo Alto or Cupertino.

[Coligny]

I think that everybody and their grandmother (not to mention pop culture) being online and easily accessible via social media, Skype, Smartphones, etc. makes it impossible to be completely out of the loop the way you once were living abroad and makes homesickness worse.

Not so sure...

Being "in touch" prevent too much idealisation... no ? (and reality sucks)

[Samurai_Jerk]

:confused: So if those guys "who've become millionaires" are really your friends, why aren't you back home working for them?

What the fuck does one thing have to do with the other?

[gaijinpunch]

is it more per sq foot there than tokyo or no?

Never done a square foot to foot check, but there's a lot of variables. The area is really spread out, and has cheap places (as mentioned). If you want to live in Palo Alto, Cupertino, or Los Gatos, it will cost you dearly. Still will not run you what it would cost to live in Omotesando or HIroo (probably). Have a friend in Palo Alto in a 3 bed room house, for like $3300 a month. W/ the crazy yen, that's like $2800? My guess is it's at least 120 to 150 square meters so yeah... that's not that bad. You'd need to be out a bit, like Uehara to find prices like that, realistically.

[matsuki]

Last trip back to LA-LA-Land was kinda strange. The radio station was playing all the "rock of the 80s and 90s" (formative early adult years) which led to some pretty severe flashbacks and the ultimate feeling that this is no longer the Los Angeles that I grew up in, and that I really only had memories of a place that no longer exists. Add to that some friends who have mutated into the Hollywood plastic wax individuals that are the mold from which the stereotypes of the vacuous, me-centered image of Los Angeles are spawned...and I pretty much felt like a tourist.

Bwahahahaha, exactly my experience....and the flashback rock of the 90's radio is really weird...way to make me feel old

[Taro Toporific]

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[IparryU]

Now I remembered why this thread ceased all posting... TT's wonderfuckinful pics of some Wapanese loser.

[Dreamy_Peach]

Good bloody post. As somebody whose been out of Oz for a while, whenever I go back home there's a lot of shit there to remind me that I aint regretting not wanting to go back home and not making the effort to go back home permanently or semi permanently.

Expats often have a timewarp - esp if they don't go home for a while from their new cuntry, whether just on a work visa or a permanent type visa. Been in Nippon for some time now and everytime I have a holiday in Oz, it seems to fucking recede further away from any of the good times/situations that existed before I left.

There is a way to avoid these rose-tinted feelings of nostalgia. One trusted means I have is regularly referring to nasty right wing rags from back home. They do nothing if confirm your conviction that your home country is full of a) feckless immigrants from third-world countries, b) extremist groups intent on destroying your home country, c) so inane and vacuous that it puts Japanese telly to shame. You name it, it provides the cure.

Going back reveals something different. I can only do it once a year, and increasingly it hurts coming back here.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Going back reveals something different. I can only do it once a year, and increasingly it hurts coming back here.

That's been my experience for the last couple of years.

[Dreamy_Peach]

That's been my experience for the last couple of years.

Oh, for the bygone days of the Land of Milk and Honey.