The only good thing about living abroad at tax time is a freebie two month extension on my filing- June 15th. Other than that, the tax laws have been written by cryptologists. I can barely comprehend the quagmire I am about to step into. I have been able to determine that I will not owe Social Security taxes to the US- good news! I am contemplating considering my two months of unemployment in late 2005 to be "self-employment" with zero income so I can deduct a housing allowance. I am "fortunate" that I earned no income in Norway in 2005.
I seriously want to scream and bang my head against the wall after trying to decipher my tax obligations. There is no excuse for the arcane tax structure that lacks any sensical plain-English terminology or descriptions. It is like our efforts for obtaining a Green Card-- maybe if they didn't over-engineer the process, fewer people would enter illegally. And that is my point- if the US government wants my money so badly, why don't they make it easier for me to pay? My guess is that the accounting lobby has ensured their future survival by eliminating any easy track for "doing it yourself." Finally, to add insult to injury, I have moved to an almost communist nation where they take all our money anyway. Not really- but nobody in their right mind considers Norway to be a low-tax state.
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