Has anyone done this before?  I’d love to know.  We had a hard time finding tips for this same scenario.  A lot of people had done a year of travel but didn’t work, or had traveled while being assigned by Teach for America or a similar group itinerary type thing.  All of those seem like great opportunities, but unfortunately they didn’t really help us.

First we’re focusing on if it’s possible.  For us, it’s a “yes”.  Kevin’s current job okay-ed his remote year. Kim’s job search is focusing only on remote opportunities.  So, therefore she’s a “yes” by default.

Here’s a fun fact we learned while doing research, and something all long term travelers should know.   There is a real law where you are exempt from paying federal income taxes if you are out of the country for 330/365 days withing a year.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be January – December, but any 12 month period.  It’s call the Physical Presence Test.  There are a lot of very confusing and heavy worded sites you can look at, but in my opinion here is the best; straight from the IRS.   Naturally, we thought it was a bit too good to be true.  We wanted to confirm our understanding of the law and also ask a few misc questions. To calm our nerves we researched options and finally contacted Greenback Expat Tax Services.  They offer consulting via phone or Skype and have really straightforward pricing $150 for 30 mins (as shown on their site, 1/1/17).  That sounds expensive, but considering the potential cost of getting tax laws wrong while you’re travelling it’s a great deal.

This tax exemption is a HUGE part of our planning.  So, naturally it had to be mentioned in our very first blog post.

Planning countries, cities, and timing is the next step.   Daunting?  Only because we want to go everywhere.