This may be a stupid question, but since when do laws passed by the United States congress have any legal authority over a bank operating outside of the United States’ borders?
In other words, why don’t the foreign banks just tell the US government to piss off?
I had to use a Czech company as well to buy the home we own - that is getting to be a problem too with new Czech residency laws - they are no longer allowing that method for mortgages and even as a US director of a Czech company banking is becoming a problem. The consulate is effectively useless. We are self employed so there is no company to help us obtain various services.
They certainly can - but the US can prevent them from buying US securities and USD as well. It can also prevent them from offering Mastercard and Visa cards to their clients.
Sorry, I though you meant that he could pay by mail - cheques still need a bank account.
Canada, IIRC, does not have problems with Americans having accounts. (They do with IRanians, but that’s a different thread). I think they ask for a Social Insurnace Number (like the SS number) and I’m not sure what happens if you don’t have one. A lot of Canadians are dual Americans, and FACTA has created a dilemma for them. Until now, many have skipped or not realized they need to file US tax returns. the deadline was pretty sudden, and the number of cross-border tax accountants limited. Request a delay and put yourself on the radar, or ignore it and risk getting nailed next time you visit the USA?
There is also an “assets over $100,000” declaration. A lot of them may have home equity or RRSP (like an IRA) that exceeds this.
Most Canadian banks have subsidiaries in the US market (TD Bank anyone?) so they already conform to US reporting practices. They will have to report all US citizen assets to the IRS, assuming they know if someone is a US Citizen. One suggestion I saw was to move your assets to a small local credit union which has no US entanglement.
This is a congress which had no problem dumping millions of workers out on the street over ideological disputes. Do you think they care about some expat citizens who probably never vote anyway? the alleged excuse for the law was to catch millionaires evading taxes and stashing assets overseas, but obviously even when they saw the problem, they still did not fix it.
I don’t know about the Czech Republic or Dubai, but in Germany where the situation is generally similar banks offer bank transfers for non-customers. It is inconvenient because you have to do it in person and the fees are steep (EUR 5-10 vs. nothing) but if that’s what it takes to keep the lights on then it can be worth it.
I tries to get a money order in Austria as a non-customer (Erste Bank) and it took a few hours. They made it clear that they were making a special exception this once. The money order was to pay a visa fee at an Embassy in Vienna.
Maybe it is easier in Germany.
There are banks - ING Direct comes to mind (http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/index.html ) - which serve Canadians without any local branches, strictly through the internet.
A quick search of their website shows no indication of whether they discriminate against people from outside Canada, the setup seems predicated on having an existing Canadian bank account.
For that matter how do American diplomats handle stuff like this overseas? Are they able to get buy with only their American bank accounts or do they open whatever the local equivalent of a checking account is? What about the embassies & consulates themselves? They have bills to pay too. It’s be delightfully ironic if FATCA started interfering with operating diplomatic missions.
Desert Nomad have you talked to a local financial consultant? If there are any UAE banks that will still accept US accounts, they will know it. Googling a bit I found an article that indicates that HSBC was going to accept US citizen accounts as long as the customers provided all the information needed.
Don’t know what utility bills are going to become impossible, but according to this site one of the methods available for paying your electric bill in Prague is cash, at the post office.
http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/money/czech-utilities-electricity/
Yup. I am aware of HSBC as we used to have an account there.
Are you saying that HSBC already kicked you out and closed your account for being a US citizen? Here’s another one, apparently BNY Mellon is actively expanding looking to accept US accounts overseas.
I’m wondering why US banks aren’t railing against this if they’ll have to start reporting local assets of foreign nationals back to their homelands (assuming that they have or will eventually have an IGA in place that requires reporting reciprocity).
The USA is pretty much unique in requiring its citizens to file tax returns even if they never set foot in the country, have no real connection, left long ago, etc.
Canada, for example - as long as you have severed ties with the country - you do not need to file taxes except for the eyar you left and the year you come back. “Severed ties” means you have no real connecton - i.e. no property, no furniture or auto in storage, no ongoing jobs or pay from Canada, etc. If you have indeed “left the country” you do not have to pay tax on foreign income.
(Alos IIRC if you owe no taxes in Canada, there is no penalty for failing to file or filing late).
The USA, by contrast, has a lot of millionaires and a bee in their bonnet about these guys skipping the country or hiding their assets overseas. All US citizens must file taxes, and along with this, must declare any foreign assets over (I think) $100,000. This covers a lot of retirement accounts and house equity. Whether you owe taxes or not, failure to file and failure to declare are offenses subject to penalties.
So the reporting issues are mainly all about US citizens and their assets, and their spouses’ assets. Most other countries don’t care.
Contact a local lawyer (or other trustworthy agent), about arraigning to have your account expanded to a joint account, (or open a new one) with the agent named as a jointer, and have the account in their name.
That won’t work, because the bank is refusing to have American citizens as account holders. Their burden of compliance is the same whether the Americans hold accounts in their own name only or joint accounts. You could have a trustworth agent open the account in his or her name only, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.
Business accounts, joint accounts and all other manner of other arrangements won’t help.
FATCA requires reporting of accounts in a Foreign Financial Institution over a minimum balance over which the American citizen has signatory control. Doesn’t matter whose money it is.
Do you, as a US citizen residing in France, have Power of Attorney over your French citizen father-in-law’s financial affairs? You must disclose his accounts in your FATCA filing if you have signatory control.
Do you, as a US citizen residing in Dubai, have an account for your small business over which you have signatory control? Yes, you must disclose this in a FATCA filing.
Do you, as a US citizen residing in Canada, have CDs in your retirement account at a Canadian bank? Those are subject to FATCA filing too.
To escape FATCA reporting you must not have signatory control of the foreign account. An irrevocable trust might do the job. *
*I am not a trust lawyer. I am not your trust lawyer.
ETA: Apparently an irrevocable trust won’t do it according to the nice folks at Deloitte.
Actually a large fraction of both the lower class and the middle class live paycheck to paycheck. So all you need to do is to cash your payroll check at the issuing bank, a local grocery store or a check-cashing place and pay your bills either in person or by a money order.
If he does get a payroll check. I don’t know his situation, but in Thailand direct deposit is mandatory at many if not most if not all companies. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of payroll checks since I left the US. In fact, here they’ll even specify the bank you must open an account with just to receive your salary.
I’m thinking more along the lines of foreign nationals who reside in their own country (so they should be paying taxes there) but use the US as an offshore tax haven.
After a bit of digging I came across an article that brings up the issue:
And further down in that same article I see my other question answered - the banking lobby IS annoyed by the IGAs and to a lesser extent, by FATCA itself: