My friend is a European Citizen and US green card holder. She now plans to stay in US Permanently and plans to sell her house in Germany. The total profit is about $1.5 Million (converted to USD) based on the the current market rate. To save on taxes she is thinking of opening a Swiss bank account and dumping the money there. She had the following questions: 1. Does the US government also has ability to track the bank information for US green card holders who have accounts in Switzerland? I know that they can do it for US citizens but not sure about green card holders. 2. I read online and the major banks were Credit Suisse and UBS. Do we have to go to Switzerland and open the accounts or they can be opened remotely? 3. How can we access the money in US safely? I read that if you use regular debit/credit cards then you will get tracked easily. 4. Can you invest the money in like S&P 500 by also opening a brokerage account?
Swiss secrecy is a thing of the past, and I'm pretty sure 1.5m is too small to justify more-exotic schemes. Talk to a tax attorney.
The Swiss bank would be required to report your friend’s holdings to the US govt under FATCA. That’s assuming that your friend didn’t hide the fact that she’s a US PR. And your friend would be required to file a FATCA form 8938 as well as an FBAR. The penalties for failing to do so are very serious
Just for information purposes, does Swiss Bank report for #1 US Citizen #2 US Green Card Holders #3 US residents on visa All the 3 or only for #1 and #2? If it’s also for #3, than we can probably create an account under the parents name as they don’t reside in US.
#1: definitely #2: yes, if they know that she is a US GC holder #3: same as #2 (I think)
There should be a tax treaty between the EU and US to prevent double taxation. Also, I doubt that the US tax owed would be much higher than the EU tax. In addition, if this was your friend’s primary residence she should be able to claim the exemption on her US tax return
Talk to ur cpa and a tax attorney but long term capital gain is 20 percent
Pay the 20 percent and grow ur money in us
No point paying 20% tax which will be used for Trumps golf trips to Florida !
You have no control over such things. Having peaceful life is more important than doing such shit
It will effectively be the same .. don’t do shit and have no access to your money ..
Best approach is to see if you can deposit the money in Switzerland or any EU country in your parents / sibling / friend's name. From there, draw the money in small chunks
Get a instant issue debit card with the name “customer” on it. Not so easy to be tracked.
Thanks !
Another Protip: - Withdraw the money in Canada. Taking weekend trips to Vancouver is no big deal. Perhaps $5000 at a time. No more than 10,000 USD or 10,000 CAD whichever is lower at the time. - physically travel with the cash across the border - excess cash can be stored in a safe deposit box at a bank in the US Protip 3: - storing physical cash in deflationary currencies , such as Swiss Francs/Swedish Krona, can negate some of the downside of holding cash rather than investing.
Talk to a tax attorney. Not sure why you would get taxed on overseas profits if you are already taxed in that country.
This comment is probably the best advice he'll get on blind about this.
If suppose you are taxed at 20% in overseas country and US tax rate is 33%, then you might have to pay the difference if you are a US resident.