gill@wanginst.UUCP (Timothy D. Gill) (12/23/85)
A further comment on salaries and taxes overseas. I lived in Switzerland and worked for the World Health Organization from 1975-1978 and 1981-1983. WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, with its headquarters office in Geneva (along with about 10 other U.N. organizations). The exemption that the IRS granted to Americans living overseas changed a lot during those years; I recall one year in which it changed three times and our returns had to be refiled at least once. At one point the exemption was only $20,000. The point: the exemption might change. Also, I grew up knowing that only two things are inevitable in life: death and taxes. But that's only (or doubly) true if you work for the U.N., as you do not pay taxes in your home country on that income. Oh, you have to file and do all the paperwork every year, but then the U.N. writes the check for you; and in the end they get it back in some revolving fund. I think the U.S. and one other country are the only ones not to sign the early U.N. treaty exempting "international civil servant" salaries from taxes in their country of origin; that is why Americans working there must file anyway (other nationalities don't). But to be fair to them, the U.N. simply pays the taxes (and then the next year's taxes on the increased income, and so on). The net effect is that your quoted salary (about $30K+ for programmers) is your take home pay. Foreign workers in Switzerland, outside of the U.N., pay Swiss taxes; U.N. workers do not (the U.N. pays an assessment on your behalf, but you never see it and it is not quoted as part of your salary).