The US taxes you on wages only if you are within the borders when you do the work. So a noncitizen doing work outside the USA and getting paid by a US customer or employer is not taxable in the USA on those wages.

You would not need that intervening corporation in Ireland for income tax reasons but there are probably good business reasons for putting a layer between you and the US company.

If you are a US citizen you are taxed on your wages no matter where you are on Planet Earth. Some relief is possible (first approx $100k not taxable, for instance).

@deciplex - you are right if you live in a country with an income tax.

If you live in a country with no income tax then your US income tax is a net cost to you -- making you poorer compared to that British coworker who makes the same salary as you but pays no UK tax. Look around Dubai. Count Americans and count British people. Tax is part of the reason.

Definitely, though in that case since the local tax is 0 the principle still holds.

Thanks for this, by the way, very informative.

>If you are a US citizen you are taxed on your wages no matter where you are on Planet Earth. Some relief is possible (first approx $100k not taxable, for instance).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but after that $100K deduction you're essentially paying the higher of the local tax, or the US tax?

you are paying BOTH - another reason this is an issue.

expats pay tax on full amount to host country, plus tax on amount over $92k to US. So the money over $92K is double taxed - making it "pointless" (not completely, obviously) to earn that extra

Thank you!