Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
The form 5471 is a breeze to fill out, and you can submit it via conventional mail through the Costa Rican Correo, if TurboTax doesn’t make provision for it (which I think it does not).
I filled out one 5471 several years ago leaving the “Tax Year” field blank. Every year, I make a copy, enter the Tax Year dates, sign it anew and send it in. So far, IRS seems to have been placated.
If TurboTax would suffice in all other respects, I don’t see how the book you asked about is going to give you much new information. Knock out the 5471, mail it in, and go on with your life.
It’s really easy.
[quote=”kwhite1″]. . .I expect nothing, nada, zip, zero from the government other than the military protection I pay for in taxes.[/quote]
(Can’t let this one alone . . .) So, kw, can we safely assume that in retirement you won’t be driving on the public roads and bridges? You won’t expect the public safety agencies to come put out your house fire, resuscitate you, etc?
If you come to Costa Rica, just how will you accomplish that? Remember, no driving on the public roads. Won’t you need to fly from a publicly-funded airport, guided by governmentally-paid air traffic controllers, comfortably ensconced in a plane safety inspected by governmental regulators? Or will you travel from a publicly funded seaport?
And who do you suppose will have paid to educate the military folk who are protecting you? Who paid for them to learn to read and write?
I could go on . . .
The former $600 per month income requirement for [i]pensionados[/i] was in effect for many years. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it will be increased anytime soon. What’s more, especialy for a couple, living here on $1,000 per month would be very tight indeed, so if you couldn’t meet an increased minimum income standard, you probably couldn’t afford to live here anyway.
(With apologies to costaricabill) I’d recommend either the red or the white available at MaxiPali in the boxes with the Grosso label.
Elsewhere, folks have reflected positively on this outfit, but the prices you’ve quoted seem high.
An alternative would be to join the ARCR, let them pre-process your documents, and then let them refer you to one of their affiliated attorneys. That said, I’ve never understood what the ARCR staff contributes to the process.
Were it mine to do, I’d go straight to the ARCR-affiliated attorney who processed our [i]pensionado[/i] and [i]permanente[/i] applications without a hitch. He’s done the same for a bunch of folks we’ve referred to him, too.
[quote=”sweikert925″] Is it possible to just hop on a plane to Miami for a visit, get a 90 day supply of your medication and use your Medicare benefit to pay for it and then return to CR?[/quote]
Sure, you could do just that if you could establish a relationship with a prescribing physician in the U.S. [u]and if[/u] you were not constrained to using a mail-in pharmacy service with the attendant delay in processing.
Or, once you had that relationship, you could have that physician fax in a prescription to be delivered to an address that you could access on that trip to Miami or wherever.
What has become practically impossible is to import medications from the U.S. to Costa Rica using either the Costa Rican Correo (postal service) or one of the transshippers based in Miami (Aerocasillas, Jet Box, et al). The bureaucratic hurdles are daunting. You could, however, have meds sent to a friend or relative who’s coming to Costa Rica so they could bring them to you.
Of course, somewhere in this consideration, you’ll have to decide if it’s cheaper to fly to Miami and pay the co-pays, etc, or whether its better to pay cash over the counter at a retail pharmacy here in Costa Rica.
Soylent Green was a 1973 science fiction movie. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green
My take on it is that Victoria won’t have the technology available to convert the neighborhood children to soylent green and will, instead, simply develop the techniques to fatten, harvest and prepare them using conventional means.
Remember, you read it here first.
[quote=”jmcbuilder”]
David, foolish insult.[/quote]jmc, I intended no insult. If you perceived one, please accept my apology.
Victoria, the answer must lie in whether your tax situation is simple or complex. I’ve been using TurboTax for several years. It couldn’t be much easier, but our situation isn’t complicated. On the other hand, friends who just moved here and who sold a farm and other things in the U.S. before leaving also just used TurboTax and likewise found it pretty simple.
Were it mine to do, I’d go the TurboTax route first. You create an account online, input all your information, answer all their questions, and they compute your answer. Only when you either print out the return to file by mail or go to e-filing do you actually pay any money, so there’s no risk except for your time. See
It’s true that Congresspersons pay attention to the subjects of the mail they receive, but they pay no attention to the content. Write a letter about (say) gun control to any Congresspersonn and you’ll get the same content-free reply whether you’re fer it or agin it:
“Congressperson whatshisname shsres your oncerns in the matter of (whatever) and has it high on his or her list of priorities.
“Thank you for writing. You can send your donation to the re-election fund to . . .”
In the run-up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (fondly called “Obamacare), I wrote to everyone involved trying to get someone to consider what I still think is a much better approach. I had a brief outline I offered to send to anyone who would read it. Not one response.
Here’s my take . . .
The “chained CPI” will be adopted by Congress and approved by the President. Its effect will be much more devastating on seniors than anyone has suggested. And the impact will be felt much sooner than anyone will admit.
The premise behind the chained CPI is that as one thing becomes more expensive, people will opt for less expensive alternatives. So, for instance, if beef becomes prohibitively expensive, people will move to pork, then chicken, then fish and then eggs. Eventually, of course, people will exhaust all the affordable options.
As a result, people in remote areas (think the Lake Arenal area) will be the first to resort to kidnapping young children from local families and fattening them in carefully concealed outdoor pens before butchering in an effort to meet their protein needs. The movement to subsist on human flesh will be led worldwide by well meaning women who follow VictoriaLST’s initiative.
Unlikely? No, you read it on the Internet.
[quote=”VictoriaLST”]Here is my take on the future of SS outside the country.
Government will state:
As of June 1, 2016, if you move out of the US and are on or apply for SS, you will be paid 75% of you SS. This is a temporary measure.
The next will be:
As of June 1, 2020, if you move out of the US and are on or apply for, SS, you will be paid 50% of you SS.
Following that will be:
As of June 1, 2022, if you move out of the US and are on or apply for SS, you will be paid 25% of you SS.
[/quote]Victoria, do you base the foregoing on one single fact (just one fact) that you can point to, or is it pure speculation on your part?
Do you know of anyone (just one person) in a position of authority (the President or anyone aspiring to the position, any member of Congress, any cabinet Secretary or anyone else) who has proposed anything that you speculate? Or is this simply some doomsday scenario that you’ve dreamed up or adopted as your own from some other equally questionable source?
Where do these “effective” dates come from? Why do you pick June 1 dates? You know, do you not, that the federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30. How do you know? Or did you just pull these dates out of some dark place?
Where do the percentage reductions come from? How do you know that these imagined reductions will be 75%, 50% and 25%? Why not 66%, 33% and zero? How about 1%, 1.5% and 2%? How do you know?
Absent one supporting datum, what is it you accomplish by posting this stuff?
(Later . . .)
Or are you taking a creative writing class? If yes, here’s a link to something that makes some real sense:
At the risk of shedding some light on the foregoing questions . . .
First, it’s critical to understand the differences between Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). From the outside, they are easy to confuse.
SSDI is awarded to those who have worked enough quarters to qualify much as the Social Security Old Age benefit is awarded. Eligibility is based upon a sliding scale of work quarters depending upon the applicant’s age.
For example, an 18 year-old, who worked one summer at McDonald’s and had two quarters of work credit and who them became permanently disabled (think diving accident) would probably qualify for SSDI even though his or her work record was very brief. On the other hand, a “career” homemaker who had no paid work history but who had the same diagnosis would not qualify. The payment is based upon recorded earnings but there is a minimum.
To qualify for SSDI, you must apply and provide sufficient information to convince a medical examiner. The bar is pretty high.
It is also possible for a disabled child, one who was born disabled or who acquired his or her disability before age 18, to qualify for SSDI as the dependent of a parent who receives (or maybe is eligible) for Social Security.
Eligibility for Supplemental Security Income, on the other hand, is based upon a combination of disability and poverty. Back in the mid-1970s, the Social Security Administration federalized the States’ welfare programs for disabled, blind and aged poor people.
The medical eligibility requirements are essentially the same for SSI and SSDI.
______________
Two further notes . . .
First, if you don’t know the intimate details of someone’s eligibility for SSDI or SSI, it’s easy to confuse the two.
Second, some peoples’ disabilities are not readily apparent to the casual (and especially untrained) observer.
