Double taxation.

[PNGMK]

For item 3 in BBC list there is a work around.

[sundaymorningstaple]

If it can tell me how to further optimize my taxes to get something back from nothing I'll read it, but my tax is pretty well optimized already in as much as I haven't been paying anything substantial for a number of years now. So if I can get them to send me something I haven't been giving them.......

[BBCWatcher]

Having a child in college -- in a U.S. Department of Education listed college/university, at least -- generally works. (The American Opportunity Tax Credit, $1000/year. It's a refundable tax credit and compatible with the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.)

See if you can work on that, SMS. Although you have to get busy because under current tax law the AOTC's last year will be tax year 2017. (It's been extended a couple times before.)

Another option: go (back) to school (even part time) and take out a U.S. federal direct student loan to pay for it (or for beer, or both). Go onto income-based repayment when you leave school. If your Adjusted Gross Income is zero or nearly zero (thanks to the Foreign Earned Income and Foreign Housing Exclusions), your income-based payment will be zero. After 20+ years the principle and interest is forgiven, whereupon you pay income tax on the value of that loan forgiveness. But you still get to keep (or your estate gets to keep) about 75% of that value, depending on your tax rate when the loan is forgiven. This is all under current tax law and student loan regulations.

[GSM8]

Or the US can move to residence based taxation (RBT) like the rest of the world.. Beyond our compliance with current tax rules, a little additional effort on the part of normal middle class expats like us, towards articulating the flaws of citizenship based taxation (CBT) to the lawmakers in DC, gives it a slight chance of being achieved instead of nil chance.

[BBCWatcher]

Or the US can move to residence based taxation (RBT) like the rest of the world..

One wee problem with that idea, especially considering this is a forum devoted to Singaporean topics. From November 1, 2015, Singapore adopted "CBT" in the form of its compulsory MediShield Life premiums, otherwise known as taxes. Those taxes apply to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents no matter where they live except for those with the lowest incomes and wealth. Moreover, the U.S. requires tax from only about 6% of overseas Americans; for Singapore it's more like 90%.

Singapore is the fourth country with a "CBT," although some other countries have CBT-like aspects in their tax laws. Also, about 40 countries, including Singapore, require their citizens (and sometimes permanent residents) to perform compulsory national service. That requirement is not waived with overseas residence. The U.S. is not one of those countries.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Why do you keep calling insurance premiums taxes? I'd call it a levy before I would call it a tax.

It almost sounds like you are defending CBT. You are working for the US government here are you?

[BBCWatcher]

Why do you keep calling insurance premiums taxes?

If they're the government's compulsory bills, they're taxes. Even the U.S. Supreme Court figured that out recently.

I'd call it a levy before I would call it a tax.

OK. I'll send my levy in with my IRS Form 1040.

It almost sounds like you are defending CBT. You are working for the US government here are you?

I have no affiliation with any government.

I recognize that governments ought to be able to impose citizenship-based responsibilities and obligations, but in my view they must be democratically decided and fundamentally non-discriminatory, and there must be a "reasonable" citizenship termination option. By these criteria the U.S. and Singapore both do rather well, although I think Singapore still needs to do more to help its overseas citizens vote.