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That week in Berlin where I got triple taxed on one paycheck

Spent last Tuesday through Thursday bouncing between US and German consulates trying to prove I didn't owe both countries income tax on a freelance gig, and somehow still ended up paying Switzerland too because the client's bank was based there. Anyone else ever get caught in a three-country tax trap?
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angelarivera
...and that's when I realized I'd accidentally filed the same invoice in three different languages, which apparently counts as "tax evasion" in two of them. I feel your pain, I'm still getting letters from Luxembourg and I've never even been there. At this point I just mail them a blank check every few months and hope they get confused.
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hugos46
hugos4620d ago
$3,400. That's what I lost to the Swiss tax man on that Berlin job because of some dumb "proxy banking" loophole I still don't understand. @michaelgrant at least your misadventure had a bike ride in it, mine was just three days of filling out forms in buildings that smell like stale coffee and regret. Honestly at this point I'm convinced the only way to win is to just pay everyone and hope one of them feels bad and sends a refund, which is basically what angelarivera is doing with those blank checks. I bet Luxembourg has a whole filing cabinet labeled "Hugo's nonsense" by now right next to theirs.
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michaelgrant
Haha oh man, I've been there! I once paid taxes to France, Belgium, and Monaco all in the same month just because I took a wrong turn on a bike ride near the border.
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