Move 1-2-3 (Part 3)

...the story continues...

10. Green Cards
By the time we decided to come back we had just received our green cards - not wanting to give up something that we had spent so much time waiting for (ofcourse we were considerably lucky than our peers, one of my co-workers had an approved labour cert which he vacated to jump onto wife's GC app, thus allowing me to leap frog the most long and painful part of the whole GC process that stalled so many people - dumb luck if you can call it that. So THANK YOU Avina / Karan!). So, anyhow, we had our GC's did not want to give it up. Here is the short of it - after talking to a battery of lawyers and doing a lot of research on the internet..

- If you stay outside the US for more than 6mths, its upto the discretion of the immigration officer to let you in.
- If you stay outside the US for more than 1 year, you are deemed to have abandoned your resident status. Its still upto the immigration officer, but at this point you're essentially done.
- The bypass is to get a "Re-Entry Permit", these are valid for 2 years at a time, you must be in the country when you APPLY for it, you need stick around for approval. The re-entry permit is pretty easy to get once you apply for it - the form is pretty easy to fill - I filled it out - but had a lawyer file it for me - lawyers can receive your approval and then fedex it to your India location - more reliable. The lawyer was also reasonable and charged me less since I had done all the research on my own! :)
- You can renew your re-entry permit ONCE. This means you can stay outside the US without losing your resident status for upto 4 years. After that if you still stay out, you're done.
- If you travel frequently, there is no need to take a re-entry permit, I did and in hindsight I shouldn't have. The immigration officers dont give you any issues.
- An important part of maintaining residency is to file federal / state taxes regularly.
- Thats about it, I also maintain a residential address in the US, its my friend's house (THANKS Rudra / Tanya), this is useful for my mail, credit cards etc. Just easier when I'm travelling to the US, which I do often.

11. Dual Taxes
This bring me to the dual taxation - yes, you pay taxes in India as well as in the US. In the US you file to keep your GC alive, in India, if you stay longer than 180 days then you become eligible to pay taxes in India. Interestingly the India / US taxation atleast for me works out pretty much 1:1. I file for a Foreign Tax Credit and get back my taxes from the US government and I have to pay ALL that money back to the Indian IT folks. In my situation I still end up getting my salary in the US so I still have income and hence need refunds etc. Note that CA doesnt recognize foreign tax credit and makes you pay state taxes - bummer!

I was unable to find any CA that would take on my case, so had to do the research myself - beaware of US CA's that claim to know how to file returns for you - most people cant handle returns beyond the basic 1040 - after that its all guesswork for them. I used to use a guy called Viren Lalka, terrible, un-recommended. Two years in a row I had to do the research myself and tell the guy how to file my return. Anyhow, hopefully google indexes this post and people looking for references to Viren Lalka and Lalka Tax Services can read about my plight!

Fin
...Thats it for the move-back posts, I think I've covered everything that I encountered during my move back. The dual taxation is a pain really, because when one tax year ends, the other begins - so I feel like I'm paying taxes all year long! :))

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Music2Ears

I'm currently enamored by a composer called Mithoon - he's given music to some random movies - but I find some of his tracks quite interesting - havent seen any of the movies - just heard the songs - check out soundtracks to

- The Train (Mahesh Bhatt nice Hollywood knockoffs)
- Anwar (some spelendid tracks)
a. Maula Mera Maula
b. Anwars Dream
c. Javeda Jindagi

The soundtrack to Cash (Vishal / Shekhar) is pretty catchy - flava of the month. My Punjabi fix for the month is O Yaara Dhol Bajake (Movie:Dhol) - Labh Janjua, once again after his blazing track of Pyaar Ke Side Effects (O Pape Pyaar Karke Pachtaya) - Its my belief that there is a computer somewhere that churns out generic Punjabi songs complete with lyrics - I have to post on this funda sometime!

Nothing too notable in English music - my last good purchase was "The Travelling Wilbury's" - if you're into that music - its a recommended buy - Wilbury's is a coming together of Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. I love Roy Orbison/Tom Petty and Bob Dylan , 3/5 aint so bad - and I must say its an amazing album - musicians in synch at the top of their game. Its mellow stuff - but I like it.

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Move 1-2-3 (Part 2)

..So my stuff got to India, I was in India. We were staying with family in the interim, time to ..

5. Rent / Buy
We moved to Bombay, so buying is a hard proposition right out of the gates, in our situation we had some uncertainities so we decided to rent. However, if you can afford it, buying is always the better option IMO. Renting was funky - there are a lot of random "so-called" real estate agents, very few dependable and who know what they're doing. Essentially, figure out where you want to live, you can go building to building and ask the watchmen / managers and they will give you information about open houses - its a bottom up approach - but quite effective. You also get a buzz for who the better agents are. Get an agent, it makes it easier. Typically landlords are gunning for long term company leases so you're already down in the order, typically people will give you 1 year leases, depending on paranoia - your landlord will either ask you to register the document (registrar office) OR just sign it and be done with it - registering it is in your interest as well as the landlords because your agreement becomes an address proof for items you want to do later (bank, cc etc). You have to put up a deposit equal to 2/4 mths rent, varies. Insist on wardrobes, paint job - standard stuff in Bombay. You pay for parking,electricity, gas - your landlord picks up the society maintenance, any non-occupancy charges.

6. Bank Accounts
We previewed 3 banks, ICICI/HDFC/HSBC - ICICI had hordes of people at the bank, not a pleasant banking experience, here I can be perceived as a snob with my dollars coming back home! :) Truth is that we were looking for some 1:1 banking system - which abounds in India - you will get it by default since you will come in with all your USD's - and heck you've earned it. I found out later that ICICI has a separate cell for high net-worth individuals (HNI), yes, thats you now - atleast till you make giant purchases like a home! :) Anyhow, so checked out HDFC, seemed very sarkari but was able to get into the bank and see faces - very sarkari - bored. HSBC met our requirements, small crowds (they have a min balance requirement) - instant 1:1 attention and smiling non-sarkari faces - I've been with them for 2 years now - very good experience so far - recommended. I opened an account in HDFC as well, thats useful cause
1. you can pay your taxes there
2. HDFC interfaces with almost ALL online outlets in India (websites, bill payment, ticket vendors) HSBC does not.
3. They supposedly have better loan products.

Its a good secondary account so far, best of both worlds as it were.

6. Move your money
You can only move it in smaller chunks if you transfer online - RBI has some norms. A good point to note is that you are NOT liable to pay taxes for any monies earned before you returned home, but bring it back in good time.

7. Find a good CA / PAN Card / Enter into the tax structure
I actually did this as #2 (after I decided to move!), found an amazing CA - Kamdar Desai & Patel - http://www.kdpaccountants.com/ - I've not met these guys since I moved here - all my interaction has been over email / phone - they've filed my returns - gotten all my tax related items done thru them. Very highly recommended! Young team of people - they get the concept of service and provide it without having to travel to all corners of the city! Convenient! Apply for a PAN card ASAP, this is India's answer to SS # - everyone will ask you for this - so get it. There is a loophole - some Form 60 - but I hear that they are discontinuing that practice now.

8. Get a cellphone
Need I say more. Get tons of passport size photos and figure out what your address proof will be. Hold on to your old voter ID card or ration card if you had one. If your passport has the same address that you are living at - excellent - use that. Essentially to give you a cellphone line - you got to give photographs, address proof - if you aint got it, ask a relative to help you out - get an add on SIM card or a pre-paid card. You can always get your own later. Note that India does NOT have number portability yet.

9. Vehicle
Buy a car, a small car / hatchback preferably - why small - when you can afford much more. Couple of reasons - parking/parking/parking/small streets/fuel efficiency - my wife talked me out of buying an expensive giant ass car - good move on her part! :) A set of people might think less of you (seeing how your foren returned and all) - seeing that you've bought a small cheap car - I had a driver in my buiding (observant) - asking me why I didnt buy a Honda City - his exact words were "Saab, aapke gaadi mein sooo (show) nahi hain!". Ha! Incidentally we bought a Maruti Swift - love it - recommend it - peppy and fun to drive, seats 5 people - gets into small roads and takes little parking space - is also a looker (think Mini Cooper) - but these things are subjective. I've owned that car for 2 years - no issues, they came out with a Diesel version - supposedly rocks and has great reviews as well. Maruti really have re-invented themselves since I was last in India - I think they are a very smart company.

...more to follow..green card, dual taxes...in part 3

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