I posted this a couple of days ago on the Flophouse blog after reading a few too many comments about “evil tax evaders living it up on the Riviera” and then promptly moved on to other things. It was then shared on Reddit by a fellow blogger here in France, Overseas Exile (good blog, great guy and he writes about FATCA) and it caused a mild stir. Some of the comments were quite encouraging. Others were less so. So, here it is. Just my experience. Curtis stopped by and explained why he shared it on Reddit, “I really appreciated your original post because honestly, most folks really don’t know what it’s like to be outside the US. In fact, I suspect that many Americans would be surprised to find out that we get up, go to work, go home, eat dinner and go to bed just like they do — we just do it in a different country.”
Some of the articles and comments I’ve been reading lately about overseas Americans leave me shaking my head in disbelief. Americans in the homeland seem to think that I spend my days plotting to escape taxes as I sip my wine in a plush Parisian bistro. I thought it might be instructive to open the “volets” (shutters) and give you a glimpse of how one American emigrant in France spends her day.
The day begins between 6 and 7 in the morning. My husband kisses me as he heads out the door to work. Like many people in the Ile de France, he works in Paris and has quite the commute in the morning. He drives our nearly 20-year old car which still runs well because he very careful about maintenance. We are hoping to coax a few more years of life out of it before we have to replace it. The younger Frenchling appears at about the same time my husband leaves and we exchange a few words in English before she heads out the door to school. Her departure signals the end of the morning in English and the start of the day in French.
Like a lot of people in these times of crisis, I am unemployed, so the first order of the day (after coffee) is consulting my mail and the job boards advertising IT positions. Out of all the alerts and job boards I consult, 99% of them are in French with only a few from LinkedIn in English. This morning I set them aside in a folder to be examined more closely later because I have a job interview at 11:00 in Paris and I need to leave early enough to make the train.
I’m out the door a little after 9 AM. Today I am taking the train from Versailles-Chantiers, a station in the center of the city which is about a twenty minute walk from my house. This train station was considered quite modern in the 1930’s, today one is quite conscious that it has seen better days. The nicer station in that part of town is Versailles Rive-Gauche which brings tourists to the castle from Paris. Versailles-Chantiers is less safe and is where I had my wallet pickpocketed last summer so I am extra careful to keep my belongings close to me lest I have another unfortunate incident (something I can ill afford right now).
The train itself, however, is clean and dry and warm. As always I have brought along a couple of books and I happily install myself in a good seat and read Patrick Weil’s La République et sa diversité, Immigration, Intégration, Discriminations. For a round-trip ticket to Paris and back I pay 6.50 Euros (about 8 American dollars) and in about 20 minutes I am at La Defense, the commercial district on the west side of Paris. From there I ascend from the bowels of the train platform into the main station and down again into the metro, line number 1. Very quickly I arrive at in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a very posh district indeed. As I walk toward the recruitment company’s offices I scan the real-estate agencies ads displayed in the windows and note a fairly modest two-bedroom apartment selling for 580,000 Euros (about 760,000 American dollars) which serves to remind me why I am not living in Paris. Even the rents are high in the city and because we are down to one income right now we would probably not qualify for something in Paris even half the size of what we have now in Versailles.
By design I am a few minutes early for my appointment. One never knows with the trains and I like to be there ahead of time which is infinitely preferable to being late (even in France). I walk into a bistro next to the office, order a coffee, drink it slowly (it’s a pretty good expresso) and still have just enough time to use the bathroom and comb out my hair before I present myself at the reception. They are very pleasant – I am ushered into a conference room, served a cup of coffee and I take the opportunity to read the newspaper while I wait. It is today’s edition of Le Figaro (a very respectable Right-leaning French paper). The headline is about Sarkozy’s “Shock Reforms.” I make my way through the paper and on page 9 in the international section (after the news from the UK, China, India, Syria, and Russia) is a lone article about the U.S. – the influence of Hispanic voters in the Florida primaries. Interesting.
My interview goes quite well but it is tiring. One and a half hours of giving my pitch and having the very nice gentleman explain the realities of the market and my place in it in a very pleasant but firm manner. One subject that comes up is my “prétentions salariales” (salary expectations). I have lowered my price substantially compared to what I could reasonably assume to make given my level of experience and he wants to know why. I have already decided to be very transparent about this and so I explain the American system of taxation on worldwide income. Given the income exclusion of 92,500 USD (about 70,000 USD) it doesn’t make any sense for me to ask for a package (base salary, bonuses and profit-sharing) that exceeds that. Even if I am able to defray some of the extra income through tax credits, this will require expensive professional help and I’m not sure to come out ahead. He is floored and I’m sure he’ll check the information since he could not envision a country that would encourage its expatriates to earn less while abroad. The interview ends on a good note – I enjoyed the contact and perhaps they will have something for me soon.
Back to the metro and another train and the walk back to the house to have lunch and a cup of coffee before tackling those job advertisements. I mentioned above that the departure of my daughter was the beginning of my day in French. Allow me to expand on that. From the moment she left for school and I left the house every interaction I had, every sign I read, every instruction I followed, the purchase of the coffee from the barman in the bistro, the book I chose to read, the welcome by the receptionist and the interview itself were all in French. I heard not one word of English during the entire morning and I used only one English phrase during my interview and it was “thesis advisor” because I had a blank moment where I could not for the life of me think of the French word. Oh, and there was one advertisement in the metro for an English language school called the Wall Street Institute which touted its strengths in teaching people “English” (and not “anglais”).
Just as important, I think was the complete absence of any news, headlines, commentary or even conversations on street, in the metro or the train about the United States. For the purpose of writing this post I paid attention today, and all I could find was the article in Le Figaro. So, my fellow Americans, any French person reading that paper today will take away one image of the U.S. – that of Hispanic voters in Florida highly annoyed by the Republicans. This is not by design or out of disregard for Americans. It’s just that people in other countries have their own concerns and don’t really spend a lot of time worrying about what is going on “over there.” An American emigrant who wants news from “home” has to make an effort – something that was made infinitely more difficult for me (a longtime reader of the New York Times) when their on-line edition started restricting readers to a limited number of free articles per month. I tried at first to be careful and use my views wisely but in the past few months I’ve given up and now I just get my news from Le Monde on-line (or sometimes Slate) which has no such restrictions.
I’m home now and after having my lunch (and my coffee) I will head upstairs and start making calls and answering ads. 99% of both will be in the “langue de Molière” and I must say that all those customized “lettres de motivation” are a perfect way to improve my written French. If the rest of the day proceeds as planned I will work until my younger Frenchling arrives home from school (about 6 PM) and at that moment the English comes to life once again in my home.
However (and this may be the most important thing I’d like you to understand) at no point in the day does anything resembling an American life appear – only a few American customs that we have decided to keep here because we like them, just like we keep some of what we gathered in Japan that pleased us. That we speak some English at home is much less important that it seems. Over the years I’ve become very conscious of the disconnect between language and culture. The two people I speak English with, my younger Frenchling and my husband, do not share my culture. My husband has spent nearly all his life in France and my French/American daughter has no memory of living in the U.S. I know their culture but they do not know mine. In our house when we talk about the President, it is necessary to be very precise about which one since the assumption will be that I am referring to Sarkozy.
Once upon a time all this bothered me great deal. It felt like parts of me were slipping away year after year into some strange place where I was destined to be forever isolated – an “exotic beast” who had to be interpreted daily by her own offspring. Those times have come and gone, and today I have no regrets. Though, frankly, I am not sure I’d ever have the courage to go through it again.
Bak to the job search.
After reading the comments on Reddit, I posted a response here, A Day in the Life of an American Emigrant bis.
Interesting poster. Identify with you wanting to make less than the excluded income because in order to fill the tax credit form you will need a tax professional. If you were Self Employed the “excluded” income will be computed to reduce your Social Seurity Retirement Income in the USA. And you did not mention about the taxation without representation and much more. Thank you!
@victoria…
Found your story interesting, as it gives a very human face to the myths that US homelanders have of Expats abroad…
BTW, regarding the NYTs, I have a work around for you…
I always check the home page online, and when I see a story I want to read, and want to avoid the 20 day limit, I copy the headline, cntrl C, and then go to Google news, and paste the headline into the search box, Cntrl V. That brings up the article. Then I click from there and access the story. That way the link as seen as coming from google news, and the NYTs does not want to stop that, and thus I avoid the 20 page limit. 🙂
Try it, it works.
I live in Montréal, QC, without going into details public life is in French, and private life is mainly in English. We are less than 100 km from the US border and have access to many sources of American news. Because there so many US-expats in Canada, tax issues are covered at this time (filing deadline for Cdn taxes = Apr 30)
I take bus and metro to work, and although French predominates, discussions are often in several languages. “Steet talk” is about local issues weather, politics etc, the US could be on another planet it does not enter in the local discourse.
@victoria – good story. I’m so p*************** at the US government, I can care less about any American customs. I left that place because I was mad, and this FACTA and US tax policy towards people overseas just angers me. [/RANT]
Where I live, nobody speaks English. Brazil is not like the US where there are documents in multiple languages. They say “You are in Brazil, so speak Portuguese”. If you don’t speak Portuguese, then that’s just your problem.
Right now as I’m typing this comment, (I’m on my last week-day of my vacation period), I’m listening to my Brazilian wife talk to my Brazilian litle boy in the other room, in Portuguese. I’m looking out my window at the disorganized concrete dwellings, each of them unique and a different colour. It looks like a big mess (bagunça), but that’s just Brazil. I’ve seen the slogan so many times in Brazil “Love it or leave it”.
The food here is quite different from American food. I don’t personally know anybody who eats frozen foods regularly. Everybody either cooks at home and goes to a restaurant, where you usually pay by the weight. All-you-can-eat restaurants ARE NOT common here. My favourite dish is “torta de bacalhau” (codfish), but not just ANY bacalhau. I prefer it the way that my wife’s mother makes it. Too bad we only have it about once in a 3 month period.
There is no McDonalds where I live, but there was a enterprising businessman that created his own chain the city. If you don’t want them to put CORN on your hamburger, you have to tell them. Likewise, if you go for pizza, you can order a “cheese and banana” pizza. There are some creative dishes here, but I just stick to what I like.
In 2008 – 2010, I blacked-out US news because I thought that I had little concern for what goes on in America. This translated into a very stress-free productive life for me. I can’t wait till I renounce and can once again black-out whatever happens in America. If I wanted to live in America, I would be there already!
Brazil and the USA don´t have a tax treaty. Here in Brazil there is no IRS Representative (there used to be one for some time in the US Consulate in Sao Paulo). In order to fill my IRS Return I have to hire a CPA in the US. They are expensive. Now there are the FBARS! It is indeed becoming impossible to take have Income Tax Return in the two countries. It is taking a lot of time and money.
Thanks for shariing Victoria. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the American media would do a story on the real lives of Americans and former Americans outside their borders. You, Geez and others would be perfect for it.
Well, I can dream, anyway. If there are any American reporters lurking out there, please report on how draconian practices of IRS are affecting real lives of real people who are not in any way tax cheats, tax evaders or traitors, as we have so often been called. You might also want to tell the public that the US now ranks right up there with only one other country in the world–Eritrea–for treating people this way.
Victoria: I hope you get the job!
@Just Me – Thank you for the tip. I miss the NYT Book Review and the weekly magazine. Was thinking that when (if?) I get a job I’d get a subscription. 🙂 Some of the remarks I heard about this piece were that I was pointing out the obvious. My answer to that is: what is obvious to one person is not necessarily obvious to the other X billion people on this planet. To me the fact that the politicians and the media in the US can get away with calling us names like “tax evaders” and having that stick is because people really don’t know what we’re up to. So perhaps it would be a good idea (and entirely in our interest) to tell them. Americans *love* to read books about life in exciting locales. So, how about we let their curiosity be the gateway to what I call “guided discovery.” 🙂
I loved reading Rivka88 and geeeez comments about life in Canada and Brazil. Would either of you be interested in writing a longer post about a typical day in your world? In fact, how about we open it up and see if there are others who would be willing to talk about a day in their life in their home country.
What do you folks think and is anyone game?
@blaze – I think we are on the same wavelength here. You are absolutely right and I think the American media would be interested. And I honestly think it could really help us. It’s easy to be suspicious of someone you don’t know but once you’ve read about him, his job (or lack thereof), his family and friends and so on, it becomes a lot harder to hold onto the image of the “evil tax evader.” Not impossible mind you but harder.
And I hope I get the job too – it’s exactly what I want 🙂
@All , On CNN this morning they want American’s to send a email describing there life as a American..We should let them hear from us. I am sure it meant American’s living in America, but we should send email’s anyway.. The email address was at the bottom of the screen. Victoria, wishing you luck with the job!! Hope you get it!!
I just went to the site and tried to send the email and got an Apache Tomcat error. Was it something I said? 🙂
There is an interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal on how China is to blame for just about all of the economic problems in the US.; The title is “US Attacks China Inc.”
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204662204577198833989249406-lMyQjAxMTAyMDAwMzEwNDMyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email.
Click on the Comments tab and you will also find the comment I submitted which presents a different viewpoint on the cause of The massive US trade deficit and the unemployment that has rresultd from it..
Germany, which I mention in my comment, today has the lowest unemployment rate in 20 years.
Very well-written and well-argued comment.
Excellent letter Roger. I wonder if any of those corporate chiefs who are prodding Washington about the trade deficit sent their manufacturing from North America to China. Hmmmm.
@Victoria, I would like to, but I don’t want to get my wife in any trouble even though are marriage is “seperação de bens”. Never know. I don’t want to throw fuel on the fire and I’m going to renounce.
The Wall Street journal did an article on Americans abroad. They showed an American in China with a small brewery, and a bookshop owner in France. If you Google it, you will find it.
Maybe after I renounce, I can tell people about all the great things that I want to do, but am waiting till I renounce.
“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.”
– Ayn Rand
In a way I am atypical here. I was born and raised in a third world Country. When I was 25 years old I emmigrated to the USA. I lived and worked in the USA for about 16 years and became an USA citizen by choice. After 16 years I moved back to my home town and lived and worked for 13 years. In 1987 I moved back to the USA where I stayed for 14 years. So I worked in the USA 30 years. Since 2001, older, I have been living in my home town as a dual citizen. I have two married daughters -dual citizens- in the USA and one son(dual citizen) with his girl friend also in the USA. My wife is a dual citizen. I travel to the USA about once or twice a year to be with family.. I have been complying with Income Tax in both countries all the time, Never had a problem with either one. Now, after I learned about Fbars in 2009 (by chance) I have been in a nightmare trying to do the right thing. I think I am doing it, but things are so unclear…I always admired and trusted the USA to the point of becoming a citizen. I can´t believe that this Country has become so unfair with Americans Living Abroad. Can´t understand why. I am here to learn from you all. Thanks.
Mark, I think somewhere that you said that you have been using a CPA. If that’s true, then the CPA should have to answer to the US Government for not warning you. I think I read somewhere that the taxpayer advocate is working to try to “make the situation right” for people in your category.
If anything, the professional liability of the CPA should have to pay damages. This would actually be a good thing if this happened because CPAs who do tax work for Americans overseas would start screaming at the US Gov. as well.
Brazil isn’t so much 3rd world anymore. It’s more 2nd world (if that existed :-)). Brazil reminds me a lot of Portugal and Spain in the 1990’s. There are serious issues here, but at least the Brazilian gov. doesn’t ATTACK its citizens overseas. If anything, they make life easier for Brazilians overseas who want to repatriate money and household goods into Brazil.
Thanks. So far I have not been treated in such a way that i will have to defend myself. I did not do anything wrong. I am trusting that this will not happen. I don´t want to enter into personal things in here but I was living in a small town in the USA from 1987 until 2001 when I returned to Brazil. And I had a nice local CPA who knew nothing about Americans Living Abroad. I will keep in mind what you said of course but let´s hope that I am right and that the USA is going to be fair with me. I now have a CPA in NYC who works with Americans Abroad and she is trying to help me to do the right thing. I am making a list of Congressmen who are in the Caucus for Americans Abroad. Their names, parties and faxes. We have to communicate with them with faxes because they will not accept e-mails from people outside their districts. We have to reach these people. Yes, Brazil has a residence based tax structure. If you reside in the USA you don´t have to declare Income Tax in Brazil to report what you earned from your work in America, I think only the USA and I guess Eritrea has this citizen based tax system that is creating so much problems for us. Not only in terms of expenses but also in terms of time I have to spend a lot of time every year filling my complicated USA IRS Return. The irony of this all is that every American abroad represents the USA (as the Brazilians in the USa represent Brazil) at a time that the USA needs to improve its image in the world community. It is not even smart from a pragmatic perspective what the USA is doing to the Americans Abroad. I am so glad to have a Tax Advocate to look at what is happening. This is indeed , in my mind, very American. I just sent them suggestions today. Finally let me say that I can´t speak for all but it seems to me that among the Brazilian I know who are dual citizens and have green cards noone wil comply with the FBArs with the threat of the IRS confiscating 27.5% of their savings they either had in Brazil before emmigrating or accumulate in Brazil after being in American. And they all as far as I know whant to comply. Thank you.
@markpinetree – I want to thank you for taking up the letter writing. I think it is useful, I think it does get their attention. I did all my reps and Obama this weekend and I’ll post those letters on Monday. I hadn’t though of the Caucus for Americans abroad but I’ll do that today. Thanks for the tip. I’m thinking that another possibility is those hometown papers. In my case the Seattle Times. Bring it home to them – yes, I’m from Seattle, graduated the University of Washington, Husky fan and here is the situation we are facing right now. You’re right – they have no idea. 🙂
Oh and when I checked both my senators contact websites they had two options: Americans living in the US and military personnel abroad. So I added that to my letter – asked if this was an oversight and gently pointed out that they do have constituents who are civilians abroad and that their websites should probably take that into account. 🙂
Great. I will follow in your footsteps. I already communicate with one senator and one Congressman from Maryland. I lived in Maryland all the time (30 years) I was in the USA.
@Mark, I know you are a naturalised US citizen, but give the grief the US has give you so far, is it really worth it to keep citizenship there? Anyone who lives in Brazil is paying a $%¨¨ load of taxes, indirectly through the VATs and add-on taxes, or directly to the government as a percentage of their salaries.
I know tons of Brazilians who go to America all the time. Most of them are able to get a multiple entry tourist visa no problem.
Personally, I feel “at risk” of the FATCA. On my foreigner ID card, it says “norte americano” (:-) maybe I could say I’m Canadian,ha!). Nobody has said anything yet, but what if the bank manager tells me “Sorry, but you have to move your accounts..” Ditto for my credit cards.There are several online stores in Brazil (extra, lojas americanas, etc..) that REJECT credit cards issued outside of Brazil.
To me, the US has put me in a situation where being American is just not compatible with living overseas. It’s extremely ridiculous, but that’s the US for ya.
Oh yeah, our neighbor to the south, Uruguai, already makes Americans sign IRS release forms. I don’t make money in America. What business does that country have in knowing all of my financial details? I left there because I felt like the government was too nosy and overreaching. I go overseas and live for many years, and I get more of the same.
The US is like an STD or parasite, the only vaccine being a CLN.
I have a long history. When I was 15 I moved to the USA and in my first stay I remained 16 years. Became a citizen. Then I moved back and remained here 13 years, In these 13 years I complied with all my USA Taxes, It was difficult because I amnot a CPA and in Brazil there was no help. But in Sao Paulo (500 miles from where I am) there was an IRS Representative a few months a year. One of then was quite nice to me helping me to fill the Tax Credit Form (what a pain). Then the Brazilian government did not allow us to send dollars to the USA, I had to send the Brazilian currency with a cashier check to the Consulate in São Paulo (my brother who lived there did that for me) and they exchange the money in dollars and sent to the IRS. More later. Thank you!
Caucus Americans Abroad
Americans Abroad Caucus (2007)
Carolyn Maloney, Chair D NY Fax: (202) 225-4709
Michael Capuano, D-MA Fax: (202) 225-9322
Andre Carson, D-IN Fax (202) 225-5633
Donna Christensen, D-VI Fax (202) 225-5517
Jim Clyburn, D-SC Fax (202) 225-2313
Steve Cohen ED-TN Fax (202) 225-5663
Michael Conaway R-TX Fax (202) 225-1783
Gerald Connolly D-VA Fax (202) 225-3071
Susan Davis D-CA Fax (202) 225-2040
Charles Gonzalez D-TX Fax (202) 225-3236
Key Granger R-TX Fax (202) 225-5683
Alcee Hastings D-FL Fax (202) 225-1313
Michael Honda D-CA Fax (202) 225-2699
Rush Holt D-NJ Fax (202) 225-6025
James McGovern D-MA Fax (202) 225-6101
Jim Moran D-VA Fax (202) 225-0017
Gregory Meeks D-NY Fax (202) 225-4169
Donald Payne D-NJ Fax (202) 225-4160
Gregorio Sablan I-MP Fax (202) 226-4249
Loretta Sanchez D-CA Fax (202) 225-2965
Janice Schakowsky D-IL Fax (202) 225-2111
Chris Van Hollen D-MD Fax (202) 225-0375
Henry Waxman D-CA Fax (202) 225-3976
Joe Wilson R-SC Fax (202) 225-2456
Frank Wolf R-VA Fax (202) 225-0437