I am owed some money by an organization that is legally restricted from sending payments to US banks, but can send payments to bank accounts in most other countries. I’d rather not elaborate in any more detail than this, but I will say that I am not aware of any US laws being violated by receiving the money owed and am not opening the bank account to avoid paying taxes.
I’d like to open a bank account in a country outside of the United States and a currency other than USD. I previously tried using Citibank’s multi-currency account, which links a US Citibank account to Citibank accounts in a variety of other countries. This sounds good in principle, but the experience has been a nightmare. There is no online access to my account, and it often takes multiple calls that may go on for hours for someone at Citibank to find my account. Wires through the other countries require special instructions about intermediary banks, sort codes, and such. I still haven’t been able to successful send a wire to the account. The only consequence has been a notable loss on currency conversion due to the decreasing value of a Euro, with a $50k min deposit for the account.
So I’d like to find an alternative offshore bank. The main criteria I am looking for are quick to open, easy to access (preferably with online access), low annual fees, low minimum deposit size if in a historically unstable value currency, and decent customer service for English language persons. Does anyone have suggestions about specific banks?
I know it’s a nightmare because I tried it, but it took a while. I finally was able to open an offshore account at HSBC in UK. It was not an easy process, but I was able to have a global account and get currency in non USD. If you keep above a certain limit then it’s free or have a certain limit over the USA HSBC then it’s free.
Although you are mostly asking about online access --and I assume-- online opening of the account, how about looking into opening a bank account in a country that is within easy reach from the US by plane or by driving. This obviously points to Canada for some and Mexico for others. Baja California is an easy destination from Southern California and there are a number of banks that have very good connections to the United States and present NO problem for the transactions you describe. The accounts in Mexico can be in foreign currencies (Euro for instance) and banks such as Bancomer, Banamex, HSBC, and Santander have online access and useful debit cards. The fees are acceptable but the accounts should not be entirely free.
Please note that there are growing information exchanges between the US and Mexico which might be a … bonus since your intent is to report the transactions.
You will have to physically travel to the country to open an account in there. But that is the only hard part, higher fees overseas are part of the deal as well.
Nothing illegal or wrong with opening a foreign account, just make sure you check the box on your Federal Tax form next year.
You don’t check the box if you have a USA account. I read the instruction multiple times. I don’t earn any interest but if I do there must be form for me to report to the IRS.
I had HSBC acct(s) when I worked abroad. I could sign on to either acct and able to see the other acct, and it was easy to transfer between my US and foreign acct online. The transfer would happen instantaneously, no waiting and no phone calls. The only thing is I think you may need to open the foreign acct in person to comply with “know your customer.” I would find out if you would need a local address. Don’t be surprised if you should get audited for money laundry.
Some banks in other countries aren’t opening accounts for US customers any more due to the recently enacted FATCA regulation that requires reporting back to the IRS (or to the country’s tax authority, that then reports to the IRS). And more info is being requested when you do open an account. It tends to be the larger institutions that are still handling accounts for US customers. They are also going to be more likely to have online services, too.
I didn’t use overseas address, didn’t go oversea to open my account. I did everything here in USA, California to be exact, but I opened the US bank account first in person then UK account. It took HSBC almost 3 months and lots of complaining from me. This was 2012 time frame.
A lot has happened at HSBC since 2012. I would think they are more careful and go by the book now. I know there is a very strict protocol to follow when opening an acct.