[caymanjim]

It's $97,600 of tax-free income per year. You have to establish that you're not a US resident. The easy way to do this is to spend <33 days per year in the US. The slightly harder way is to establish a "bona fide residence" outside the US, which allows you to spend more than 33 days per year visiting the US, but requires that you sever more ties. In practice, it's not very hard to pull off, if you're genuinely not living in the US.

You can also write off some living expenses. It works out to approximately $125k/year that you can earn before you have to pay any tax. You still have to file a federal return, even if you don't owe. If you earn $150k/yr, you pay tax on the ~$25k, at the tax rate for your full salary bracket.

Source: Not a lawyer or accountant, but lived and worked overseas for three years, so have done all this.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/fore...

[simonebrunozzi]

You pay tax above that threshold ONLY IF the taxes you already pay in the country you reside in are LOWER than the ones you would pay in the US (and in that case, you pay the difference).

e.g. If you live in Singapore, you end up paying a lot.

If you live in Italy or Sweden, you will never pay a dime.