Comments for US meets UK

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Josiah

Josiah — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:06:51 +0000

i’ve been reading her formspring, stupid people!

anyway, ever since i’ve moved up to this area, i’ve been going to a real expert instead of going on h&r block.com, now i’ve been getting money back instead of owning money

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Chic 'n Cheap Living

Chic 'n Cheap Living — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:01:44 +0000

This will be us next year when we do have to pay DOUBLE taxes for Singapore and the US. Argh if we had stayed in London…

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Mr Dorsay

Mr Dorsay — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:31:32 +0000

Font size request duly noted and changed!

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Christiana

Christiana — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:22:06 +0000

*things -I need to make the font bigger in this comment box!

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Christiana

Christiana — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:21:27 +0000

Well, those types of questions I leave to her discretion. I only delete the ones that ask for her death, her baby’s death or say thinks like c word or b word face. Someone once asked how I know the difference between a mean comment and hard question. The citizenship ones, while xenophobic and asinine were questions and they weren’t swearing. So I left them for her to deal with; mean comments that don’t ask questions, or questions with excessive swearing commentary - they get deleted.

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Jess (BucknellBride)

Jess (BucknellBride) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:14:40 +0000

Wow, Mrs. Gingerbread…I remember that post, and I’m pretty flabbergasted by those comments. Should you want to pay more than someone else in the same position? I mean, everyone I know files their taxes in such a way as to owe the least amount possible, right? You use all your deductions, file jointly if you can and it helps, etc to get the lowest possible (legal) bill. So I don’t understand why people would think it’s unreasonable for you to want to do the same thing. Ugh.

And the craziness on Jenna’s formspring is just that - craziness! Maybe I’m not as patient as her/you, but I think I’d have deleted a lot more of those.

Comment on SERIOUSLY!?! by Cécy

Cécy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:11:34 +0000

Wow, it’s crazy to read this.
I found out through TH that the US taxes you even if you live out of the country. I honestly did not know about it.

I still have a full year before I can even apply for citizenship. We were actually talking about it with my husband last night and I told him it’s not something I’m going to take lightly.
To me becoming a citizen means embracing all that America stands for and I’m not sure I’m ready for it yet. I don’t want to take the citizenship just because one doesn’t have to apply for the green card and can vote (although voting is quite important for me).

I have the chance to be French and as is I won’t loose my citizenship because France recognizes dual citizenship with the US. It’s not the case everywhere, some people can loose they citizenship if they take the american one from what I heard.
If I had to choose between one or the other I would keep my birth citizenship because no matter how long I live in the US I will always be French in my heart.

Hubby and I got married quickly because of immigration. I say it honestly, if it wasn’t for that we would have waited until we were a bit more ready for it. But it was marriage or being separated for who knows how long again. So we got married and I don’t regret it.

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by Christiana

Christiana — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:01:04 +0000

Once again, the personal is political. So wtf were you supposed to say? Could the commentors not see that that is a difference of several thousand dollars?! Do you receive better tax benefits in Canada? I mean, in addition to your relationship actually being recognized? I think once you have to file in two countries, an accountant is definitely the way forward.

Comment on Oh ma gah. I’ve never been so confused by taxes before. by twochicksnest

twochicksnest — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:52:57 +0000

Unfortunately same-sex couples can’t file jointly for federal income taxes. I posted about this a couple of years ago (on WB) when I did a breakdown of how this impacts us. Being in California during the tax year in question, we were recognized as domestic partners which did help our state tax return. We fell into the second category, but in most states we would have fallen into the third one. Of course, being able to file jointly, as in scenario #1, would have been optimal.

- The Gingerbreads as married in the eyes of the U.S. government = $6600 tax return.
- The Gingerbreads as domestic partners in the state of California, but not recognized by the federal government* = $2884 tax return
- The Gingerbreads as “married in our hearts” aka “legal strangers”** = $1284 tax return

People get really weird about taxes (and immigration and gay stuff) and several people at the time responded to my post by telling me to stop whining/being political so I can certainly empathize.

Anyway, now it’s a whole new ballgame. I’m using an accountant because I have to file in Canada and the U.S. Ugh. As long as I’m a U.S. citizen living abroad, I’ll have to keep reporting to the IRS. Fun times.

Comment on Boeuf Bourguignon for Sunday Dinner by ak

ak — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:53:34 +0000

Saw your response to my comment at ThatWife and checked out your blog. My husband has been asking for this (Childs’ version, although that doesn’t mean mine won’t turn out as “franken boeuf”) ever since we watched Julie and Julia (which I loved, btw). I don’t eat beef, though, so I can’t justify making it just for him. And maybe I was a *little* intimidated. Maybe I will the next time we have family over…