Trading Around the World in Co-Working Places

[kmgilroy89]

How does this impact taxes? Say you want to trade from We-Works (or similar) around the world staying for less than 90 days (or whatever the maximum time they allow before a VISA, 30-180, but less than 183), are you obligated to pay taxes on those profits? Does it matter if you're a FINRA licensed professional trader?
Specifically:
North America:
Mexico, Canada
South America:
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile
Europe:
Iceland, Ireland, UK, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Romania, Greece, Turkey
Asia:
South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines
Oceania:
Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti
Africa:
Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda

 

[USDJPY]

You forgot Chad.

 

[schizo]

How does this impact taxes? Say you want to trade from We-Works (or similar) around the world staying for less than 90 days (or whatever the maximum time they allow before a VISA, 30-180, but less than 183), are you obligated to pay taxes on those profits? Does it matter if you're a FINRA licensed professional trader?
Specifically:
North America:
Mexico, Canada
South America:
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile
Europe:
Iceland, Ireland, UK, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Romania, Greece, Turkey
Asia:
South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines
Oceania:
Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti
Africa:
Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda

Why don't you just run an algo on a cloud server while you travel the entire world? Either way, you still need to pay taxes on any capital gains.

 

[kmgilroy89]

Why don't you just run an algo on a cloud server while you travel the entire world? Either way, you still need to pay taxes on any capital gains.

To any of those countries though? I get that I have to pay taxes to America.

 

[M.W.]

Not necessarily. Be a non citizen of a country that taxes world income, be a legal resident of, for example, Hong Kong, and run your server in HK that runs algorithms and hence where pnl is generated in a zero capital gain tax domicile. Now you can travel the world and even work on new strategies out of whatever place you want, as long as the order generation occurs in the no tax domicile you won't be paying a cent to anyone in the US, Canada, Australia.

Kicker for places like HK is that unlike with Canada or others where you need to reside a significant portion of the time in order to be considered a permanent resident, in HK you just need to touch down once every 3 years.

By the way, where is @luisHK, have not seen him post in a longer time. He seems to know a thing or two about HK and living in different countries.

Why don't you just run an algo on a cloud server while you travel the entire world? Either way, you still need to pay tax on any capital gains.

 

[schizo]

Not necessarily. Be a non citizen of a country that taxes world income, be a legal resident of, for example, Hong Kong, and run your server in HK that runs algorithms and hence where pnl is generated in a zero capital gain tax domicile. Now you can travel the world and even work on new strategies out of whatever place you want, as long as the order generation occurs in the no tax domicile you won't be paying a cent to anyone in the US, Canada, Australia.

Are you sure about this? I would have to look into it, but it sounds too good to be true. As far as I know, just running a server in a tax-free haven doesn't automatically qualify you to a tax-free status. What I've heard is people usually have some kind of business structure set up (eg, fictitious shell company, trust, etc.). But then again, that's probably illegal.

 

[schizo]

To any of those countries though? I get that I have to pay taxes to America.

If you only lived in any one country for just 3 months, then likely no. I think there's a required length of stay for them to designate you as an alien resident, which I think is 12 months.

However, you do need to pay taxes to IRS. But there's a way to reduce or even bypass that. See this link: https://www.americansabroad.org/information/taxation-and-compliance/us-taxes-abroad-for-dummies/

 

[newwurldmn]

US citizens pay tax to America regardless of their location. So it’s a moot point.

second, it’s a dumb idea to change your life to manage taxes. so travel if you want but don’t do it to reduce your tax burden.

 

[kmgilroy89]

US citizens pay tax to America regardless of their location. So it’s a moot point.

second, it’s a dumb idea to change your life to manage taxes. so travel if you want but don’t do it to reduce your tax burden.

This year I'm an American citizen living in FL. My lease is up in May and I expect to spend significant time traveling. Probably mostly Canada this summer. I am considering moving to Puerto Rico though in December. With their rules you don't pay any capital gains, but you're not allowed to have any other tax residency. I would like to spend significant time abroad as it is easy for me to be mobile.

 

[M.W.]

If you read carefully then you realize that I did not say that. There are multiple conditions I listed before one can set up an entity in a tax heaven to reap tax free capital gains.

Are you sure about this? I would have to look into it, but it sounds too good to be true. As far as I know, just running a server in a tax-free haven doesn't automatically qualify you to a tax-free status. What I've heard is people usually have some kind of business structure set up (eg, fictitious shell company, trust, etc.). But then again, that's probably illegal.