Physical-Presence Test
Categories: Regulations, Tax
It’s the tax equivalent to the finders/keepers rule, or the universally recognized smelt it/dealt it assessment. Basically, the physical-presence test represents a simplistic rubric that solves an otherwise sticky legalistic situation.
In this case, we're dealing with taxation. In complicated situations, it can be confusing which tax jurisdiction a person should operate under. It comes up most with U.S. citizens working overseas during part of the year.
Are those earnings foreign earnings or U.S. earnings? Just apply the physical-presence test to find out. You're considered outside the U.S. if you're in a foreign country (or a series of foreign countries, if you're on your around-the-world tour), if you are physically in those countries for 330 days out of a 12-month span.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a tax haven?1 Views
Finance allah shmoop What is a tax haven Well it's
this kindly loving wonderful place just past the gates of
st peter you know maybe that's attacks heaven If you
tilt your telescope at just the right angle you'll see
the cayman islands of the bahamas You might see somalia
although it always seems to be storming therein And lately
you'll see ireland Yeah another tax haven Well how on
earth are all these countries linked Well they all offer
special tax incentives for corporations doing profitable business there such
that those corporations more or less pay little tax if
any Why was this even a thing Well in america
at least before trump became president there was a severe
hit against corporations who had divisions outside of the united
states selling printers or search links or purple leather handbags
for nine hundred ninety nine dollars each such that those
corporations were taxed once by the country in which they
did business Think france that was ah high tax rate
And then if those companies wanted to bring their cash
back to america to be held in an american bank
well then those companies were taxed again turning a dollar
Of profit into something like an thirty or forty cents
since it made no sense for companies to lose so
much hard earned profits so quickly to tax dollars Well
a mini industry in tax havens grew up all around
those unfair government dealings Well some of the schemes behind
these processes included something called a dutch sandwich and no
not the one with the raw hearing No in this
one the product is deemed as having been shipped by
an irish company but then booked or accounted for through
a shell or quays I fake company or holding company
in the netherlands sometimes remaining profits or then shipped to
the caymans or bermuda otherwise known as the bermuda black
hole Which leads the way for us to make a
joke here But we won't I say we do ever
strength There are three basic types of tax havens in
a dutch sandwich Primary tax havens Yeah those are the
ones with the shell corpse Then he have semi tax
havens where a country will produce goods for sale primarily
outside of their boundaries and have flexible regulations to encourage
you No job growth for themselves and third kind is
a conduit tax haven where income from sales mainly sales
made elsewhere is collected and then distributed back inside the
country Well over time the legal structure of tax havens
has shifted But in the new post obama era which
actively lowered corporate tax rates and defended american companies rights
to bring american cash back home to america While the
need for tax havens feels like it is slowly fading 00:02:43.803 --> [endTime] away But there's still more popular than tax heaven