US Virgin Islands for Tax Reduction

[invenio]

as I recall the unrealized capital gains benefits for assets acquired while a resident of the 50 states then becoming a resident of PR required 10y of PR residency before you got the lower rate on those assets

That answers it. I wash thinking, why not live there for 6 months to qualify, sell all your investments to avoid capital gains, and then just buy it back for a new higher basis. But the 10 year requirement pretty much throws that out the window.

[xraygoggles]

at least in the case of PR you certainly don’t renounce your citizenship. At least as of a few years ago, there were some real tax benefits for someone that could locate to the island but still do their work for the mainland. I know a couple telerads that did this. Very much easier for folks with no kids and without a strong desire to be near family in the mainland. They worked from their place in Condado, it was very nice

MY friend does tele half the year in her vacation home in Sicily - that sounds much more appealing than Caribbean, for many reasons.

Sure it's not as tax-friendly, but lifestyle/safety/weather much better.

[xraygoggles]

$50-100M is not a huge sum to be worth giving up your US citizenship. If it is billions and you are young like the co-founder of Facebook ( some would say the real founder) it might be worth giving up US citizenship for Singapore's.

Also, the tax laws of inheritance and gifts are different for non US citizens giving to US citizen children than if both were US citizens.

Ya usually you need a lot more wealth to make the trade-off worth it.

But I do know someone in real life who got lucky as a very early bitcoin holder, and left for Costa Rica/Panama region permanently. He probably made mid-8 figs but was young and single tho, so easier to make big moves.

[jacoavlu]

That answers it. I wash thinking, why not live there for 6 months to qualify, sell all your investments to avoid capital gains, and then just buy it back for a new higher basis. But the 10 year requirement pretty much throws that out the window.

don’t trust me, do your own research

[invenio]

don’t trust me, do your own research

Too late, I'm about to board the plane to Puerto Rico and I have the sell order in already.

[Hank]

The US Virgin Islands are a US Territory. Seems odd that we haven’t had any USVI physicians chime in yet.

Heck, how many practicing, non-retired physicians are there in USVI?

[RPW25]

The US Virgin Islands are a US Territory. Seems odd that we haven’t had any USVI physicians chime in yet.

Heck, how many practicing, non-retired physicians are there in USVI?

I’m not surprised there aren’t many posting. Looks like there were only 213 actively practicing in 2020 and 70% were over 50yo.

A quick search of job opportunities for my specialty (FM) brings up mostly Locum jobs, few FQHC medical director jobs and an occasional DoD job but that’s about it.

[Outdoors]

MY friend does tele half the year in her vacation home in Sicily - that sounds much more appealing than Caribbean, for many reasons.

Sure it's not as tax-friendly, but lifestyle/safety/weather much better.

I'm curious how she did this legally? Was she only giving prelim reads?

My understanding was that Medicare/Medicaid billing for a final read requires the doctor to be physically present in a US State or Territory. So USVI, Guam, Puerto Rico, or American Samoa would work, but I thought you couldn't be outside US soil to bill. Unless it's just prelim reports.

Maybe any other tax/billing experts can chime in on the legal aspects of this?


It would be awesome to go to a no tax locale and get the foreign earned income exclusion. That would massively lower taxes.

[xraygoggles]

I'm curious how she did this legally? Was she only giving prelim reads?

My understanding was that Medicare/Medicaid billing for a final read requires the doctor to be physically present in a US State or Territory. So USVI, Guam, Puerto Rico, or American Samoa would work, but I thought you couldn't be outside US soil to bill. Unless it's just prelim reports.

Maybe any other tax/billing experts can chime in on the legal aspects of this?


It would be awesome to go to a no tax locale and get the foreign earned income exclusion. That would massively lower taxes.

Yep she works for a group that does prelims only. So she's allowed to work internationally

[The White Coat Investor]

Seems like the point of being rich is to do what you want, like living where you want. When you are rich enough that you can ignore the cost of taxes then you know you've really made it I guess.

[Outdoors]

Yep she works for a group that does prelims only. So she's allowed to work internationally

That sounds like a sweet gig!

That made me think about the specifics of doing telemedicine from the United States. Obviously you need a medical license for the state where the patient is located. But do you also need a license for the state you're physically in as the doctor? I've heard conflicting reports on this.


For example, say you live in Washington but want to take a month-long vacation to a Colorado ski resort and see your Washington patients via telemedicine. Would you need a Colorado medical license too, or just Washington?

To further complicate things, would you presumably need to pay Colorado state income tax based on your earnings from that month?
(I'll tag jfoxcpacfp here)

[jfoxcpacfp]

That sounds like a sweet gig!

That made me think about the specifics of doing telemedicine from the United States. Obviously you need a medical license for the state where the patient is located. But do you also need a license for the state you're physically in as the doctor? I've heard conflicting reports on this.


For example, say you live in Washington but want to take a month-long vacation to a Colorado ski resort and see your Washington patients via telemedicine. Would you need a Colorado medical license too, or just Washington?

To further complicate things, would you presumably need to pay Colorado state income tax based on your earnings from that month?
(I'll tag jfoxcpacfp here)

Yes, you would establish nexus in CO and owe CO taxes on that income. Appreciate the shout-out, even though tagging doesn’t work on this forum (as least my bird brain c/n figure it out. Assist?)

[Larry Ragman]

Appreciate the shout-out, even though tagging doesn’t work on this forum (as least my bird brain c/n figure it out. Assist?)

As best I can tell tagging correctly calls up the user name but does not notify that user. That is why I tend to use the quote function more that I might otherwise.

[jfoxcpacfp]

As best I can tell tagging correctly calls up the user name but does not notify that user. That is why I tend to use the quote function more that I might otherwise.

I suppose that’s why it seems so useless to me - what’s the point of being tagged if you’re not notified? What am I missing here?

[Larry Ragman]

I suppose that’s why it seems so useless to me - what’s the point of being tagged if you’re not notified? What am I missing here?

I don't think you are missing anything. I vaguely recall an early discussion with the WCI team about why this functionality isn't available, but regardless it is not.