Taxs

A previous thread got me wondering. Anyone every figure out how to write off a trip to Ja ? What a lovely concept.

My guess would be to have a business there (or here, right now :cool:).

It kind of depends what you do for a living. We have friends who are landscapers and wrote their trip off on the premise that they were going to check out landscaping and man made waterfalls at the old Enchanted Gardens in Ocho Rios. They also met with a groundskeeper and they had a lunch meeting. That was about 15 years ago and they never got audited



a 1981 treaty between the United States and Jamaica makes
business meeting expenses there tax-deductible

In 2007, I was asked to make arrangements for a columnist from The Guardian, Vicky Baker, to rent a place in Accompong Town and arrange for interviews. I was very surprised that my accountant told me that Professional Services such as that could be itemized. I took a trip to Jamaica and got everything arranged. To my recollection about half the cost of my week there was tax deductible and I was reimbursed for the effort.

Here is a link to that article for anyone interested http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...aica.accompong

Peace and Guidance

Before the tax law changed in 1988 I not only wrote off my travel but I never paid US income tax on the money I made in US dollars in Jamaica. At the time if you had a domicile in a foreign country you didn't pay US taxes.

I was a registered foreign investor in Jamaica under a program called the JNIP (Jamaican National Investment Programe) Thanks to Wray and Nephew and had a fifteen year tax forgiveness on any money I made in Jamaica.

During the tourist season we'd usually get paid in US dollars for the water sport rentals and because I had other income from the cane business I paid my employees in Jamaican dollars with out having to exchange the US.

At the end of the season I'd travel back to the US with a small suitcase full of US dollars. Perfectly legal at the time but I sure did attract the attention of various three letter US agencies. After a while they got tired of watching me I guess.

Two things ended this.

1. By 1985 it was illegal to hold US dollars in Jamaica due to a foreign exchange shortage
2. The US changed it's laws and the foreign domicile deduction went away

AH....but those were the days..........

Cap

I would be curious what constitutes a business in Ja. I'm sure some Ja. Gov. forms--- maybe a fee? Might need to put Lisa in charge of our southern branch.

I have no idea what it takes now.

Rob probably does.