That reminds me about those remittance codes I always use when I transfer money to my Taiwanese account:
Most bank employees seem to keep telling that code 510 ( 贍家匯款收入Receipts of allowances to family or relatives ) is perfectly fine and that‘s also what everyone seems to be using.
But I can’t shake the feeling that this actually not the right way to do things and it might cause some trouble at some point in the future…
I have no idea what mine come through as – I think I told them some variant of “salary” or “money for goods and services” the first time they called me several years ago, and they haven’t asked again since. It doesn’t seem to appear in the app or passbook either.
I use 692 (sale of foreign currency deposit) when I’m converting the resulting USD into TWD in the Mega Bank app though – no idea whether that’s the correct one either. I think I used another one previously too.
When transferring from Taiwan to the US I use “511 Allowance, the cost of living” and “remittance by overseas worker” (or something like that) because that’s what the bank employee told me to use long ago. It always seemed odd to me, because I live in Taiwan, so the money I’m sending to the US is obviously the money I’m not using for my cost of living, but whatever.
wow, I can’t believe the conversation that this simple inquiry has sparked.
In a somewhat related question, what happens if you are a US citizen and your bank account hits over $10k USD? There’s some kind of report, the FATCA I seem to remember as the acronym. Does the account holder have to do anything, or just some kind of report is automatically triggered and sent?
You haven’t been doing it?
You better google exact regulation, because if you haven’t been doing it, you could get fined if they find out and want to go after you.
At least start doing it for accounting year 2023.
You have to record all accounts and the maximum they hit during the accounting year.
I’ve been doing it ever since IRS and Treasury demanded it, so I’m quite familiar with details. It’s a pain, but best to be upfront, especially now that you’re sending money into U.S.
I don’t think of it as a pain at all, but I guess it helps that I only have one account to list. I just select “unknown” (or whatever) for the maximum value of the account, because I honestly don’t keep track and don’t know how to look that up. I figure if they really want to know they’ll figure it out.
The hardest part is just remembering to do it. Thankfully my employer and tax guy both remind me every year.
It’s a pain when have brokerage account, too.
Gotta report highest value of portfolio, even if you did nothing that year and even at year-end it is lower than that highest level.
If have spouse with green card/US citizenship, then add his/hers, too. It compounds.
As I understand it, yes. I just fill it out every year to be safe, even though I try to keep my Taiwan bank balance low. (The quicker I can get funds into investment accounts in the US, the better.)
Just need English name of bank, address in English (you can do this yourself), bank account #, highest amount, and what F/x rate you used and where did you get F/x rate, if amount is not originally US dollars.