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i'm a czech-born american with american and czech dual citizenship. i'm seriously considering buying a home in czech or slovakia in a few years so i can a) be closer to family, b) travel to the dozens of various countries for 15% of the airfare it costs me now and the 2 week vacations i have to take that make it worth it, and c) not throw money away on california's (san francisco area) expensive rent or spend the next 30 years paying off a piece of sh*t $750K home.
i'm wondering:
1. if i did live in czech near linz or slovakia/bratislava near vienna, i assume i couldnt get away crossing borders for work in one of those austrian cities and paying the substantially lower income tax to czech or slovakia only.
2. since austria's income tax is so high, are the salaries competitive. i currently work at facebook making about $100K as a systems engineer. could i expect to find a similar job for say $80K (that's even less after austria's taxes than in CA, but i would be paying near nothing for my home and have amazing access to travel, so it would work out to be about the same)
3. i don't speak german, at least not yet, i assume that's not problematic working for some american/english-centric company? or would that diminish my employment opportunities
1. if i did live in czech near linz or slovakia/bratislava near vienna, i assume i couldnt get away crossing borders for work in one of those austrian cities and paying the substantially lower income tax to czech or slovakia only.
§ 1 Abs 2 EStG:
(2) Unbeschränkt steuerpflichtig sind jene natürlichen Personen, die im Inland einen Wohnsitz oder ihren gewöhnlichen Aufenthalt haben. Die unbeschränkte Steuerpflicht erstreckt sich auf alle in- und ausländischen Einkünfte.
You have to pay Austrian income tax, when Austria is your habitual place of residence. That's not the case when you leave Austria each day after work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dexterlaster
2. since austria's income tax is so high, are the salaries competitive. i currently work at facebook making about $100K as a systems engineer. could i expect to find a similar job for say $80K (that's even less after austria's taxes than in CA, but i would be paying near nothing for my home and have amazing access to travel, so it would work out to be about the same)
Frankly, you'll have to check job openings. $100k is quite a lot of money. Won't be easy to find a job like that except when your CV is fantastic. Keep in mind: Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia aren't really known for their IT industry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dexterlaster
3. i don't speak german, at least not yet, i assume that's not problematic working for some american/english-centric company? or would that diminish my employment opportunities.
Yes, not speaking German will diminish your employment opportunities. Realistically speaking, there will be native speakers with similar qualifications. Why should they choose you over someone who speaks German, get's the job done, is equally well trained and isn't demanding 100k a year?
Thanks for the response. I looked into it some more and it seems I would have to pay taxes to Austria on any Austria-made income regardless of my residency:
Live in Austria (min. 6 months in the tax year)? You must pay tax on your worldwide income there.
Lived in Austria but less than 6 months in the tax year? You are not considered tax resident and pay tax only on income earned in Austria.
Which sucks. And it's true that Europe does not value/need/has an over supply of technical jobs. It seems like they're at the bottom end of the pay spectrum, and I realistically couldn't expect anywhere near a Silicon Valley salary overseas even adjusting for cost of living. Regarding the language I was wondering more if being a native English speaker would be more valuable than German in a larger international/American company that may conduct business in English. I'll ping some Czech cousins who work in Austria, and keep investigating.
Live in Austria (min. 6 months in the tax year)? You must pay tax on your worldwide income there.
Lived in Austria but less than 6 months in the tax year? You are not considered tax resident and pay tax only on income earned in Austria.
The key-phrase of § 1 Abs 1 EStG is "Wohnsitz or gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt" (~eng.: habitual place of residence). If you don't have an Austrian apartment, hotel room or similar in which you spend more than 6 months, you don't have to pay taxes in Austria.
Your habitual place of residence would be the Czech Republic or Slovakia, where you'd be obliged to pay taxes.
Also, since there are a lot of tax treaties which provide double tax relief, it's unlikely that your worldwide income will be taxed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dexterlaster
Which sucks. And it's true that Europe does not value/need/has an over supply of technical jobs. It seems like they're at the bottom end of the pay spectrum, and I realistically couldn't expect anywhere near a Silicon Valley salary overseas even adjusting for cost of living.
Linz, Upper Austria or even Vienna aren't particularly known for their multi-billion internet behemoths, right? Who did you think would pay your ridiculously high salary?
Let's put it like that: You will never be a working-poor, even if you just get a regular Austrian salary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dexterlaster
Regarding the language I was wondering more if being a native English speaker would be more valuable than German in a larger international/American company that may conduct business in English.
Large American companies are here to do business with Austrians, there are only a handful large companies that conduct business entirely in English. Let's take IBM Austria as an example: All IT related job openings require you to be fluent German and you should have a MSc in a related field. Your gross salary would be at least €55.300,-- a year, which is quite okay.
You'll compete with Austrians that are pretty much bi-lingual. Guess who'll they choose?
Stay in the US, you have no chance (or at least infinitesimally small chance) to maintain your current living standard in this corner of the EU. There is no chance (my experience) to get a job in Austria without speaking German language.
You work for Facebook at $100, 000 a year. It's going to be difficult to find that kind of pay/living ratio pretty well anywhere else on Earth. If my heart was totally set on setting camp in CZ, I would probably make the most of that job and save buckets of money for a few years, then settle for (inevitably) a substantially lower paying job somewhere in the vicinity of CZ, and use the savings to balance out.
Also, could you maybe buy property in CZ and supplement income by being a sort of landlord?
Does Facebook move people around like Google does? I have friends at Google who worked in London, Sydney, Paris etc.
I used to work in that industry and have found not only is silicon valley / SF the only place where you get paid well, my skills were also pretty much useless everywhere else. Nobody in Czech Republic or Minneapolis needs an expert in Facebook scale software development. I switched into a form of game development which is easily transferrable into promotional casual games, art installations, etc. It is more volatile and not as well paying, but pretty good as a contractor. And there are random companies all over the place in Europe. Surprisingly this field is not as ageist as places like Facebook.
Your best bet in Europe is in Germany, either Berlin or Munich, or London. However, London does not help you out much with lowered cost of living.
If you are a Czech citizen it seems like that would help immensely with the visa situation throughout Europe. You could work in London and have a holiday home in Slovakia or CR. Or work in Mountain View and do the same.
Stay in the US, you have no chance (or at least infinitesimally small chance) to maintain your current living standard in this corner of the EU. There is no chance (my experience) to get a job in Austria without speaking German language.
Frankly, with a net income of €3000+ a month - which wouldn't be totally unrealistic - he could live a more than decent life in Austria. Savings for holidays included. Quality of live would suffer tremendously, though, by that two hour commute from the Czech Republic or Slovakia. Wouldn't want to do that just for saving a few tax-euros.
IMO he could get a English-language job in Vienna, if he has an outstanding CV. Mediocre education and underwhelming references? Meh.
I agree that landing a job in Linz without knowing German is pretty much hopeless.
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