Posted by
andyny
9 yrs ago
I have been here over 12 years mostly teaching English not a high salary but I have managed to save around $180k HKD. Not a lot but I haven't reported anything to the US about my finances since I have been here. In my opinion I am not living or working there so I choose not to tell them anything.
Now, I get this letter from HSBC asking me to fill out some tax forms like W8 and W9 and hand this stuff in by Nov 24th??!?
My question is does anyone know what can happen if I choose to ignore this letter or refuse to hand in the forms?
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I think these are new rules. I'm not American but had to fill in documents declaring this fact while applying for a new bank account yesterday
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I am afraid your opinion does not matter in this case, as the United States requires all citizens of the United States to file an annual income tax return with the IRS, including those who are residents of other countries, and even those who are also considered citizens of other countries through dual citizenship. I am surprised that you did not know this; or chose to ignore it if you knew it. Remember, taxes and death...
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1 thing is that at your salary - you are highly unlikely to actually owe any taxes to the US. You can take advantage of a few things: 1 the foreign earned income credit, the foreign housing deduction and the foreign income tax credit. In short, the first 90K USD that you earn is not subject to double taxation and while I'm not sure of your particulars, I'm guessing you are not making more than that.
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Thanks all!
No I am earning peanuts (barely half of 90k) and that's a good month lol!
They would be interested in my savings of over 23k USD though but I have begun transferring that to my partner's account who is a local girl and since I trust banks less and less nowadays anyway, I plan to just take it out and keep it at home safe.
From what I saw on the internet, it looks pretty scary...like failure to report income/assets can result in fines which could wipe out everything I'm worth AND even result in criminal charges! WTF?!?
At this point, paranoid or not, I plan to take my money out and do NOT plan to travel back there.
This is ridiculous and no other country does this.
I was going to get my baby boy his US passport but not anymore. if he wants to do it later then that will be his choice!
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It's because of the FATCA (foreign acount tax compliance act) ruling, Americans having an account overseas are to report these accounts. it's not income reporting and you are not filing a tax return, just making them aware of the foreign account. that amount of money will not raise any red flags.
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As much a it pains me to say this, you don't really have much choice if you are still a US citizen. The USA has passed a bunch of new laws and has also decided to actively enforce some ones already on the books.
If you don't reply, HSBC will most likely close your account at some point, or at lease they can. If they do not supply the info to the IRS then they are liable for big fines if they want to do business in the USA or with USA citizens.
It's a way to make sure you aren't hiding taxable income offshore.......
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