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
