"Sanford Millar is a domestic and international tax attorney in LA, and Commissioner of the California Bar’s Taxation Law Advisory Commission. Find him at MillarLawOffice.com, where his firm handles cross-border compliance matters with a sub-specialty in e-commerce and internet gaming."

article from September of 2010

http://calvinayre.com/2010/09/15/leg...-on-full-tilt/

def looks like ftp has known this was going to happen for a while now

Holy crap whoever wrote that IMO is a full blown ******.

He states: and as such have no control or discretion over the investment of the funds

Last time I checked, it wasn't the site that was playing by bankroll and making my decisions for me. No control over my investment? WTH is this guy smoking.

He also states: For the purpose of filing Foreign Bank Account Reports, some players may have taken the position, consistent with the position of the IRS, that they are general unsecured creditors in a common pool fund of deposits,

How on earth do you make that parallel. Additionally, welcome to 2010 jackass. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...148849,00.html We don't have to file a FBAR for poker accounts. (also see here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...counts-986865/ )

Lastly, what tax problems is he talking about. We already pay taxes on our winnings. Just NOW we should suddenly be worrying about tax implications? Get real.

Jeezus christ. Now I bet thousands of people are panicking because some gigantic moron decides to spout off a buncha of BS that makes ZERO sense.

(not flaming on you M_Reed, but whoever wrote that can GFHS)

Multi Entry tournaments

If the DOJ has it, it will be a pain in the ass get back. That's not that surprising. It would be more surprising, if the DOJ has actually managed to seize the trust accounts. Given that stars and fulltilt are still running and Stars has been calling individual players to assure that their balances are safe, I think the chance DOJ has actually seized enough money to threaten stars viability is fairly low. Though honestly this is just speculation. I don't think anyone knows enough to comment at this point.

ahaha

+1

Guys it would be a huge help if you have ANY information for U.S. Citizens moving abroad to play poker. Even stuff like, "U.S. sites are blocked here", would be really useful. We don't want anyone picking a country only to find out half of his are blocked and the neighbors speak a word of English.

Most important info:

Visa Entry/Exit Requirements
Banking Options
Housing options: Websites would be tremendous help
Is English enough or is another language required to learn?

Misc.

Food
girls
Nightlife
Culture
Atmosphere/weather
Safety

sooo true i talked to a few people about it when it came out.

amazing quote:

"Go after the people responsible for empty houses, not full houses," Frank added. "I'm not saying violate the law, but to give this priority in law enforcement over some other things I think is a terrible idea and I think the administration is wrong on this."

One thing I've recommended to a few people is that if you're around college aged and haven't graduated yet is to study abroad.

This will allow you to get a visa, place of residence, foreign student id, and foreign cell phone bill.

Plus, studying abroad is ****ing awesome and classes are not exactly tough.

I used CEA, it's a big company and I'd recommend it.

I'm sure it varies by school, but any chance study abroad schools are still accepting for this Fall 2011?

I just checked the CEA website and all of their Fall '11 are still accepting. For a few the deadlines is mid May, and for some it's later.

the website is gowithcea.com

i studied in barcelona, but i had friends in a ton of places, so if anyone is interested and has any questions, feel free to shoot me a pm and i'll try and help

source?



awesome idea



what should work is if they're full, to ask to move in for Spring and either attend Fall in the U.S. or request a leave o absence for a semester and move to Europe.

perfect

would you care to write a guide on visiting Barcelona?

For those interested, this is the stuff I've found so far:

ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS FOR U.S. CITIZENS: Spain is a party to the Schengen Agreement; as such, U.S. citizens may enter Spain for up to 90 days for tourist or business purposes without a visa. For further details about travel into and within Schengen countries, please see our Schengen Fact Sheet.

Banking Options in Spain: http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/info...pats_in_spain/
His favorite rec:
http://www.catalunyacaixa.com/Portal
USA: There are Citibanks in Spain, but it doesn’t make your international banking any easier: the same charges apply as if it were a different bank. With some Spanish banks, you can open both dollar accounts and euro accounts, and transfer between them.
If you’re under 26 you can qualify for a foreigner’s account with Caixa Catalunya that includes a Visa debit card and all transaction fees are free (in general, not including other banks’ fees). They seem to have nice people, but you’ll probably have to speak Spanish.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1024.html

Is there anything you guys would like to see added to this format?

Any suggestions or feedback would be useful



Spain

U.S. Visa/Entry:

U.S. Citizens may enter Spain up to 90 days for tourist or business purposes without a Visa.
Beginning Jan 1st 2011, should you wish to stayin Spain for three months or longer, you must get an FBI criminal records check before you can apply for your Spanish visa.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1024.html

Bank:

According to this Expat guy:
USA: There are Citibanks in Spain, but it doesn’t make your international banking any easier: the same charges apply as if it were a different bank. With some Spanish banks, you can open both dollar accounts and euro accounts, and transfer between them.
If you’re under 26 you can qualify for a foreigner’s account with Caixa Catalunya that includes a Visa debit card and all transaction fees are free (in general, not including other banks’ fees). They seem to have nice people, but you’ll probably have to speak Spanish.
http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/info...pats_in_spain/

His recommended bank: http://www.catalunyacaixa.com/Portal


Poker Policy – Welcome to play on all sites.

Language – Primary: Spanish, Secondary: Catalan. ENGLISH OK

Food –

Additional Sources:

http://www.spainexpat.com
http://wikitravel.org/en/Spain

Vancouver +1 minus weather/safety actually safety is mostly fine... its just car break-ins.
Taiwan ftw?

lol I meant PM me with info, not clutter the threads w/tidbits

a vancouver TR would be really useful as I know of 5+ ppl looking to move there

I have Toronto covered

Montreal is required and would be great

If I wanted to rip a dvd, what software should I be using?

i feel bad for them too, but i really wonder what the ppl with families, no savings, and playing 1-2 for a living were thinking? i mean really!?!?!

Syous, was skimming over your post about Spain and noticed this:

"Poker Policy – Welcome to play on all sites."

I think what you're doing is cool, but if the goal is partly to guide pro poker players to new locations, you should also note the uncertain legality of internet gambling in places like Spain. IIRC, they are one of many EU countries considering (or working on) legislation to regulate and block offshore gambling.

If you guys want something to take your mind off the **** going on, Portal 2 just came out and it is freaking amazing so far.

Syous has the right idea, we all need to spend some time researching some other places to live. Ill try and contribute some this week. Interested in Europe mainly. Any specific places I should look into first? Was leaning toward Netherlands first (<3 amsterdam).

http://www.imgburn.com/

pretty sure it rips

Me, Syous and my current room mate are considering Valencia, Spain. It's an amazing city on the south-eastern coast of Spain, not too far from Barcelona. Winters are mild and short (avg day temperature is 50 f). Not very expensive for a European city, great night life, hot girls (I think, doing more research on this - however it would surprise me if that wasnt the case).

Would be cool with a MSNL community down there imo. Some apartments we checked out:

http://www.valencialuxury.com/apartment/bedrooms/3