its some sort of scam, someone who has lived here for 28 years would know its not legal, and it just reads like your typical scam email.

nothing to see here, move along

Yes and she will still be able to take advantage of the Foreign earned income exclusion for her US taxes. She says she will not be making much so do not know what that means regarding that credit. Perhaps her US tax obligation will be nothing as a result.

You are correct, the computation is quite complex.


But assuming that the bulk of the family income is earned by an American (OP did not state her husband's nationality) and taking the convoluted US tax code and double taxation treaties into consideration, the bottom line is that one's total tax liability is usually fairly close to what one would have owed to the US if one were US resident.*

Living in a low tax canton means less credit for foreign taxes paid, and one ends up paying a chunk to Uncle Sam that would have gone to Helvetia if one lived in a higher tax canton. Now that opens a whole different can o' philosophical worms, though...

* Either that, or I need a new accountant.



ETA: There are indeed advantages to living in a low tax canton for Americans, as tax planning can be simpler. Plus one doesn't feel the bite of the AMT as much... There may well be advantages I don't know about, as my eyes tend to glaze over every time I try to read an IRS document...



ETA II - Good point about being retired; I really don't know how the US/CH tax issues affect non-earned income. I don't plan to worry about that for a few years yet.

Melloncollie

That has been our experience as well. Maybe we need another accountant too if that is wrong!

cheers

If it was really so simple as that, don't you think we would all be living in Wollerau by now ?

This was obviously meant to be a private message.
What a great first post.

Or alternatively...

Oh oh, I mean to say, um, really, well, should not this whole thing be taken away completely?
Not a good thing to be googled I imagine, after all, the idea is there.

According to Meloncollie, the idea is in peoples' heads in her region already. I didn't delete the post as I think the replies are important - just in case anyone else on here comes up with a similar plan.
I, too, think it was probably intended to be a personal message but it was put into a Thread on housing. I just removed the personal details and separated it. Up till then, no-one had noticed it.

If another Mod, Admin or Ed Bob thinks it shouldn't be here, they can delete the Thread easily enough.

loads and loads of mailbox address buildings in zug - the OP should explore that option if they want to have cheaper taxes.