FATCA COMING TO THE PHILIPPINES - US CITIZENS GET READY!

You may want to ask your bank about the full impact of wiring $ to the Philippines. The last time I tried to do that my bank told me it is hard now days to transfer money out of the U.S.

 

I just recently switched one pension auto-pay from a US bank (closed that US bank out of my life) and am having this pension auto-deposited into a Fidelity Cash Management Account. Fidelity is not a bank or a credit union per say, but rather, they are a stock brokerage-type investment company. To be honest, I don't know a thing about the stock market, but you don't need to invest any money in the stock market to open up a Fidelity CM account.

Setting up an account with Fidelity was very easy, (did it on-line and then placed a phone call for help when I got stuck), didn't cost me a nickel, and they offer a Visa logo debit/credit card with 1% foreign transaction fee (same rate as USAA with USAA using a Master Card logo).

Fidelity will be my primary foreign use card - it's good all over the world and they have unlimited reimbursement of ATM bank fees, with many ATMs to choose from all over the world (over a million ATMs). Except for Dumaguete area, where the local banks only allow for locally issued Visa bank cards to be used in their ATMs - or so I've been told....

(Anyone have a work-around for that? Trying to figure out a low cost way to get money to pay monthly rent and stuff).

I also set up my Fidelity so that funds can be transferred from USAA to Fidelity (no charge for this as it's a USA-to-USA transfer). I don't think I want to set up a Philippine bank account (except for the account I have to set up in order to get my Courtesy Visa). If I have to set up a local account, I will.

I'm just trying to simplify my life and avoid getting FATCA-papered to death, and not add any more filing drop-dead timelines/dates into my life.

nwlivewire

 

Outstanding! Thanks! This will make my life much easier....

nwlivewire

 

Below taken from your web posting....

Who Must File an FBAR
United States persons are required to file an FBAR if:

1. the United States person had a financial interest in or signature authority over at least one financial account located outside of the United States; and
2. the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported.

United States person includes U.S. citizens; U.S. residents; entities, including but not limited to, corporations, partnerships, or limited liability companies, created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States; and trusts or estates formed under the laws of the United States.

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For me, since my required Courtesy Visa deposit (1,500 USD) to a foreign account will be under the USD $10,000 minimum, I'll not trigger the need to file FBAR papers.

And, I THINK, as long as I buy a vehicle (if I DO buy a vehicle as I am simply thinking of only renting one from time to time), if the purchase price (or USD transfer amount) is LESS than 10,000 USD, I may not have to file papers, either.

If I'm wrong on this, please correct me.

nwlivewire

 

There are no papers as the FATCA report to the US Treasury is only done during a live online Internet session. But when you file your IRS tax return there is a Form 8938 where you must also report your foreign accounts.

Do the tax return first then the FATCA report is a simple copy & paste to an interactive PDF form you can easily do yourself.

 

If you have to submit and sign FATCA compliance with your local bank, the bank will take one copy to submit to satisfy their requirement and send that copy to FATCA and you will receive the other copy. If your income requires you to file a tax return for that year, you would submit that FATCA form with your return. If you do not have to file a tax return, you do not have to submit your copy of the FATCA Form.