[seanmcdirmid]

> double that for a married couple

Only if your spouse also qualifies, which isn’t necessarily just because they have an ITIN (oh, and it only applies to their income, and not yours…which often won’t work out if your spouse is earning local wages). SS and Medicare aren’t collected on income earned abroad, but you also have to be careful because your credits towards benefits don’t accrue either.

I quickly dropped the FEIE in favor of the foreign tax credit. Turns out I paid more in Chinese taxes than I would have paid USA taxes, and computing the FTC on top of the FEIE was just too complex by hand.

[gregjor]

Digital nomads generally aren’t getting permanent residency or work permits, so they aren’t paying local taxes wherever they happen to stay. Longer-term expats and retirees will have different visas and tax situations.

[seanmcdirmid]

A lot of countries require you to pay local income taxes even if you don't have permanent residency or a work permit (as long as you do the work in country, you are supposed to pay taxes on what you earn from it). But they have no way of tracking the worker's income, so won't know unless somehow they happen to find out about the tax fraud.

[gregjor]

Can you name any countries that tax foreigners who work there without a work permit (or a visa that allows remote work)? Suppose I'm a US citizen working for a US company while I enjoy living in Thailand. I don't have a work permit in Thailand. Technically (according to Thai immigration and labor law) I am not allowed to work at all, so I'm breaking the law. In practical terms there's no way for the Thai authorities to enforce those laws unless I go around telling everyone I'm running a business or working for a foreign employer. If I try to pay taxes there without a work permit I am either going to get confused looks or deported.

The US is like this -- it's illegal to work in the US without a work permit or visa that allows work. If a French citizen comes to the US on a tourist visa and works for their employer remotely they are technically violating the conditions of their tourist visa, which prohibits any kind of work. Practically there's little to no enforcement for people working on laptops from coffee shops.

I'm not saying I don't believe you, I just haven't heard of any country requiring local taxes unless you have a work permit or some kind of visa that specifically allows you to work remotely. I can't see how those governments would enforce that unless they raided every coffee shop and hotel room looking for foreigners with laptops.

I know some countries have so-called digital nomad visas that allow working for a foreign employer remotely. I don't think that's what you're describing, though.