General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm Old, on Social Security, and Just Finished Doing My Taxes [View all]DFW
(54,505 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 29, 2019, 04:36 AM - Edit history (1)
My situation is a total mess, too, but for other reasons. I am 67 but not retired. German residence and US based employer, so an effective tax rate of 50% in Germany with zero health insurance or pension. I have a Roth IRA, so I paid the taxes in advance ten years ago. The Germans want to ignore the double taxation treaty and tax the whole thing AGAIN, so 39.6% to the USA and another 50% to Germany. I had envisioned being able to keep more than 10.4% for my retirement.
I withhold in the USA and get most of it back, since my German taxes are higher than what I would pay in the USA. Property taxes are not deductible here in Germany, but there are no state income taxes, and I own no property in the States.
I have not yet started to take Social Security from the USA, as I don't yet need it, but with the cost of living here in Germany plus the $34,000 a year in health insurance they quoted me (and that was 8 years ago!) if I want health insurance here, I'll probably need it at some point. My wife's pension of 850 a month doesn't exactly go very far.
I wish you all the best of luck. We need a LOT of GOTV next year, and I can tell you the Democrats Abroad here in Europe are VERY active in doing our part! There are about 6 million Americans living overseas, and about 5,999,700 of us are NOT tax refugees living on yachts off of Monaco or the Cayman Islands.