ptschram said:
Depends upon how long they are out of the country. It used to be 300 continuous days and no income tax was due.
I do think it's kinda disingenuous of them to tax the folks we've sent there to make them safe and build their nation. We aren't spending enough to help them?
The rule was 330 IIRC, then your first 87ish k was tax free. The rest used to be taxed at the remaining amount's tax rate, i.e. if you made 150k and was out of the country over 330 days, then you were only taxed on 63k as if that was all you made in a year. Of course due to the ability to claim gear, expenses, etc. it was less than that. Post 2009 IIRC, the tax rule changed and although it is still 330 days and 80-90k tax free, now the remaining amount is taxed at the overall tax bracket, i.e. you pay taxes on the 63k at the 150k rate. Also a lot of companies who were not based in U.S., like DynCorp used to not have to report what and who they paid, but that changed in 2009 as well. So quite a few changes in the last few years, all boiling down to the gov't trying to dip into the whole contracting world and regulate the income and get revenue from taxes. So with all that said, those who work overseas and are either 1099 (self-employed) contractors or those who have taxes deducted from their salaries as they work, the gov't regulates and collects their share. In light of all that being taxed by the Afghani gov't would seem ridiculous. Of course there are multiple ways to claim deductions, etc. on your tax returns after working overseas, the bottom line is that you are a U.S. taxpayer. If none of those guys paid taxes in the U.S., then I could see them having to pay them locally. But i seriously doubt such is the case.
