Move to Puerto Rico and pay no taxes?

Who is to say you do all your hiring in PR. I haven't seen anything stating you can't set up a base of operations in PR while hitting up other countries for talent.

Not only that, but there seems to be some wiggle room for the amount of days you need to spend in PR. There are a lot of other countries out there that you can spend your time in besides the US.

You will be paying more than 4% taxes when you add in the salary requirements which is taxed at something like 33%.
 


mattseh said:
bluechinagroup, PR is ultimately beholden to the federal government, is it somehow different with HK and PRC? Couldn't PRC say "taxes on worldwide income for HK residents are now x%?"
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Yeah it's different between HK and the PRC. For starters HK is its own incorporated entity with a high degree of autonomy. HK has its own common law legal system and its own currency that is separate from China. The HK Constitution enshrines a low tax policy and specifically states that Chinese laws do not apply. That's why Hong Kong has civil liberties, an uncensored Internet, etc.

Also the HK constitution also specifically forbids taxes being sent to China. Likewise, the Chinese government can not collect any taxes from the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong citizens are not required to file any tax returns to China. They are only required to file tax returns to Hong Kong if they have taxable income. The Hong Kong government's Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is the only recognized tax authority that can collect taxes in HK.

Even if China does tax on worldwide income, it can't include Hong Kong. It would violate the Hong Kong constitution as well as the Sino-British Joint Declaration which is a legally binding international treaty between China and the UK regarding Hong Kong.
 
cardine said:
Right now four full time software engineers, not including myself. We have job openings now, and my goal is 10 full time software engineers by this time next year, and many more than that in the future.

I imagine it would hurt my recruiting quite a bit if I tell potential hires from Johns Hopkins/Carnegie Mellon/University of Maryland/University of Delaware that they need to relocate to Puerto Rico.

Really what my point was, is that it seems considerably more difficult to scale a company beyond 7 figures/year in Puerto Rico.
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Puerto Rico, probably so. But there are other countries with preferential tax regimes that are nice, and have good availability of people like software engineers. Holland?

Although it would probably involve renouncing your citizenship, and I don't claim to fully understand how that works.
 
-joe- said:
Puerto Rico, probably so. But there are other countries with preferential tax regimes that are nice, and have good availability of people like software engineers. Holland?

Although it would probably involve renouncing your citizenship, and I don't claim to fully understand how that works.
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I agree, there are places outside of America that have the similar benefits. Unfortunately Puerto Rico does not. If Puerto Rico had the same infrastructure and skilled workforce that a place like Hong Kong did that would be a completely different story.
 
dsiomtw - I came to the same conclusion as you, even before you started this thread.

I'm super focused at running my business, making money. Weather, entertainment options, etc is all secondary to me at this stage of my life. As long as I'm safe and as long as my basic needs are met, I'm good.

Part of making money is to reduce unnecessary expenses, including tax expenses.

Let's say you are from California or NY or NJ. In the top bracket, you're paying at least 40% of your profit in the form of taxes. If you're in California, it'd even worse as overall income tax rate is over 50%. That, to me, is HUGE.

It takes you 5 years in PR to make you the same profit as it would take you 10 years in CA.

Again, this only applies to the subset of people who can literally work from anywhere and have no reason to stay at a specific place. And for those people, they can choose reside in a specific place (called Puerto Rico) and can basically double their income. It's basically a "no-brainer."
 
dsiomtw said:
1. PR isn't a shit hole. You've obviously never been there.

2. By moving there for 2-3 years I'd effectively be able to DOUBLE (that's 100% for the mathematically challenged) the amount of money I put in my pocket over the next 3 years, adding up to a very significant amount.

3. You're ignorant.
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Agree fully.

PR is a beautiful place. Probably the most naturally awesome area I've visited.

Shame about the poor people and all, but residents aside, it's the bomb.
 
Funny, I just found out today that one of the big IM "gurus" just moved to PR from La Jolla.

Not sure exactly when just yet, but I'm definitely headed in that direction ...

If anyone has any questions or needs info, feel free to PM me. I've done a ton of research, I've had boots on the ground and going back next month, talked to tons of CPAs and attorneys both in PR and stateside, etc. etc. etc.
 
LOL @ people making 500k-1.5M moving to some shit stain in the middle of the ocean to save a few bucks on their taxes.

This is a brilliant idea, why dont we just cut our dicks off so we dont have to worry about getting laid while were at it.

how about stapling our stomach so we reduce our food bill?

Walk around in snuggies and keep the heat at 60.

brilliant, im glad we had this brainstorming exercise on pinch a penny economics.
 
Zaino said:
This is a brilliant idea, why dont we just cut our dicks off so we dont have to worry about getting laid while were at it.
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Ah, makes sense why you're so angry. Hire a prostitute or something man.
how about stapling our stomach so we reduce our food bill?
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That is probably why you're not getting laid. Stop being a fatty and you might have a shot at getting laid.

Walk around in snuggies and keep the heat at 60.
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I take that back, you have no shot at getting laid.
 
Zaino said:
LOL @ people making 500k-1.5M moving to some shit stain in the middle of the ocean to save a few bucks on their taxes.

This is a brilliant idea, why dont we just cut our dicks off so we dont have to worry about getting laid while were at it.

how about stapling our stomach so we reduce our food bill?

Walk around in snuggies and keep the heat at 60.

brilliant, im glad we had this brainstorming exercise on pinch a penny economics.
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What country do you live in? If you make 500k-1.5m in the US, you will save more than a few bucks. More like several hundred thousand a year depending on where you currently live in the US.

Well, I guess that Aristotle was right when he said some people are born to be slaves.
 
Zaino said:
LOL @ people making 500k-1.5M moving to some shit stain in the middle of the ocean to save a few bucks on their taxes.
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I suggest you work on your reading comprehension skills.

Between the lower cost of living compared to most places in the US, and paying 0-4% in income taxes, you can effectively double your income by moving there. That's not a few bucks.

If you live in the US and make 1 mil most people are going to pay somewhere between 300-400k in taxes (unless you're cheating and doing something illegal). If you're a bona fide PR resident and that income is PR sourced income, you'd probably pay 30-40k in taxes at most depending on how you have things setup.

You've obviously never been to PR. It's pretty sweet. Aside from big cities like LA, San Fran, NYC, Chicago etc (if you're a big city person) or other "niche" locations in the US that fit your lifestyle, most people I talk to who spend time in PR like it better than boring suburbia in "Anytown, USA".

PR is a big, pretty well developed island with something like 4 million people. It's not some "shit stain" banana republic like most people seem to assume ...
 
dsiomtw what resources are you using/did you use to move to PR? Any dedicated forums or subreddits, etc where this is being discussed in detail?

I search for it on Google and I mostly see links from law firms basically explaining how the law works. I'd like more information on how to actually move there (what areas are good, what sort of cost structure there is, the nuances, etc).
 
charlesmartel said:
What country do you live in? If you make 500k-1.5m in the US, you will save more than a few bucks. More like several hundred thousand a year depending on where you currently live in the US.

Well, I guess that Aristotle was right when he said some people are born to be slaves.
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I dunno, people making that kind of money are at the top of their game, fleeing to some 3rd world aids floatation device essentially takes you out of whatever game it is your playing.

Ive not heard of an entrepreneur who says, "my biggest break came when I move to this island full of pot smoking poor people"

I could be totally wrong, this just seems way out there to me.

Dont let me stifle your dreams and ambitions!
 
Zaino said:
I dunno, people making that kind of money are at the top of their game, fleeing to some 3rd world aids floatation device essentially takes you out of whatever game it is your playing.
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Paulson

Schiff, who runs Westport, Connecticut-based brokerage Euro Pacific Capital Inc., relocated his $900 million asset management arm from Newport Beach, California, to San Juan in 2013. He plans to move to the island within the next several years. For now, a son from a first marriage is keeping him in Connecticut.
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Zaino said:
Ive not heard of an entrepreneur who says, "my biggest break came when I move to this island full of pot smoking poor people"
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Nobody is going to publicly brag about avoiding taxes for starters you moron. Companies do this kind of stuff for tax avoidance ALL THE TIME, but they tend to be very discreet about it.

Even when Eduardo Saverin renounced his US citizenship and switched to Singaporean nationality, he didn't brag about it being due to tax savings. He specifically said it wasn't due to tax avoidance to avoid dealing with the liberal outrage machine
 
Shoot me an email via PM. I got what you need.

Hurr-Durr said:
dsiomtw what resources are you using/did you use to move to PR? Any dedicated forums or subreddits, etc where this is being discussed in detail?

I search for it on Google and I mostly see links from law firms basically explaining how the law works. I'd like more information on how to actually move there (what areas are good, what sort of cost structure there is, the nuances, etc).
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dsiomtw said:
This is all fine and dandy, and most smart people are already doing some or all of these things. But the issue is that it doesn't achieve the stated goal of significantly reducing your tax burden while increasing the amount of spendable cash in your pocket.

These are all "little" things. If you make 500k+ a year, doing little things like having a company car, a company golf membership, writing off a portion of your bills from a home office, etc. barely makes a dent in your tax burden.
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Here in the UK, a fully electric car is a full writeoff and not treated as a benefit-in-kind (Tesla?). But yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to work with a country with such a restrictive tax regime, if I was in the US and concerned about tax, I'd get out early (although to a first-world country - Western Europe, Canada, etc). But it depends how you do it, and how many aspects of your business you can delegate. Starbucks has a coffee bean importer company in one country, a processor in another, etc, and end up paying very little in tax (at least over here).
 
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