Is there a limit on how much money you can transfer to US? I’ve heard that amounts of over US$10,000 are flagged by the IRS or some other other government agency. Does anyone have the facts on this?
Most governments of most countries including the USA moditor wire transfers of any amounts. The worst that will happen is the tax office (may) ask you where you got the money – and why or why didn’t you pay tax on it.
The chances of that happening are slight — but still could happen.
Why send the money to the states? If you have paid
your Taiwan tax why not put it in a US$ account in a tax haven instead? Use it as rainy day money/for foreign investments/for when you travel.
10,000 rules are for cash deposits but I am sure
that that will include wire transfers too.
All transfers to the US over $10,000 require you to file with customs. The reason is mainly to track movements to prevent money laundering, terrorism etc. It quite legal to bring money in and out of the US in any amount and it is not subject to tax when you do so.
If you have to file taxes in the USA, you must declare if you are signatory over bank accounts containing more than US$10,000 equivalent in cash or other monetary instruments (stocks or bonds). Not doing so would be pergery. The reason in this case is that the US government is currently trying to clamp down on citizens keeping money in offshore accounts to avoid tax. If you do have an investment account here, you should declare it and income may be subject to tax (see below).
Note also if you are resident outside the USA, you can earn up to (around) $75,000 abroad without having to pay tax in the US. You do need to declare what you made, but it is not taxed. Earnings could be wages, salary, or income from investments. It would not be subject to tax if you then wired it back to the US.
Of course there is plenty of opportunity to try to avoid paying tax by pergering yourself and hoping you don’t get caught – but it is also worth considering that for residents living abroad that US tax treatment is quite favorable and there may be no need to break the law! You might actually make more money moving Taiwanese income to the US (legally) and putting in stocks and bonds there.
If large amounts are involved, you might consider contacting an accountant to check the rules. US international tax laws are rather complex and there are many other factors that may apply (dependents, businesses, US income, time of absence, employment, property…). Also check the INS 2555 form regarding foreign earned income.
Malkie
gazza, some of us wire money back to the states because we are up to our elbows in student loan debt and credit card debts 
Why don’t you just default on it and start building a nest egg for retirement? As far as I know defaulting on US debt only kills your USA credit rating for 7 years (it doesn’t affect your credit rating anywhere else). In the meantime you can get yourself a US based secured card - if you really need a credit card or if you are legal here you can try to get a local secured or non-secured one. If you have enough cash - many an offshore bank will give you a card too (but you probably won’t qualify as you are in debt and have no assets yet).
If you exceed 10,000 USD on a transaction the bank is required by law to submit the SS# or the Tax ID number of the recieptant’s account in the USA to the government. This can be problematic if you are in a tax bracket that is prone to audit. If you are audited you cannot shelter these transactions, but there is also no point in giving the government anymore reason to audit you.
Most people that are aware may break large wires into amounts less than 10,000 USD.
The fast wires are usually through ChinaTrust Taiwan to ChinaTrust USA from my experience.
Sorry to ask some very stupid questions, but I am really confused about transferring money to the US. My employer pays me through a post office account. I’ve been paying for expensive things like plane tickets from my US account since I don’t have a credit card in Taiwan (I guess I could have gone to the airport with a stack of cash…). I’m planning to leave and would like to close my post office account and bring my savings back to the US… how do I do it? I did a search and found this thread but am not sure how much of it still applies – or, to be honest, what any of it means.
If your transferring over 50,000 you can use custom house (a division of western union, may have just changed name to just western union now but will find on google) by just giving them a bank account in the states and then depositing the money into their account at one of the banks they work with. Not sure if they have an office in Taiwan but if they do then worth looking into since their fee is only 20pips on the exchange rate and then no other fees so a lot cheaper and the funds are generally available the next day and sometimes by the end of the day you send.
If you don’t feel like figuring out the process for the previous post then you can transfer money at pretty much any bank. Just show up with your cash and US bank account number. The fees are 400NT on this end (standard at every bank I think) and a % on the other end (I think 0.6% when I did the math).
Jason - are you saying that you can go to a western union branch (custom house?) with cash and wire directly into your US bank account? I’ve always thought that Western union was prohibitively expensive but if this can beat the 1+% that I’ve paid I don’t mind saving money.
Thanks so much, Jason88888 and Abacus – so you don’t need an account at the wiring bank to wire money overseas? I’m looking at the Western Union website (which seems to have offices inside Taishin banks in Taiwan), and they don’t seem to wire directly to banks – you have to pick up from a WU office. I also can’t find any information on the fees on the Taiwan site. I plan to call them and will report back. Thanks again for your advice.
no account is needed to transfer money at a bank.
[quote=“Abacus”]If you don’t feel like figuring out the process for the previous post then you can transfer money at pretty much any bank. Just show up with your cash and US bank account number. The fees are 400NT on this end (standard at every bank I think) and a % on the other end (I think 0.6% when I did the math).
Jason - are you saying that you can go to a western union branch (custom house?) with cash and wire directly into your US bank account? I’ve always thought that Western union was prohibitively expensive but if this can beat the 1+% that I’ve paid I don’t mind saving money.[/quote]
Western Union is expensive for just sending money but if its larger amounts over 50,000 american then they are cheaper than any bank I have found in North America since they give better exchange rates and no other fees. You would be going through the part of western union that is used more for business though and was formerly called Custom house before just taking on western union title. What you would do is just go to a bank that they have an account with and you deposit the money into their account at that particular bank and they will confirm the deposit and then transfer the money to whatever account you want in what currency you like. Due to current anti money laundering rules though you will be required to go to their office and show proof of ID and address I believe. I have never used it from Taiwan but my contact there told me is worked the same as from canada to america.
What are the fees though because you are only telling me that it’s cheaper. I looked at the exchange rate on one transfer and the exchange rate was exactly in the daily trading range so I’m not seeing the advantage.
How much are you planning to transfer? I used Citibank’s Global Transfer and it’s free till end of the year, I think. There’s a limit per transfer, from the US, it’s $1000. Since it’s free, you can just do multiple transfers in one day till you get all the cash out of here. I’ve been using Citibank to transfer money back to Taiwan. The exchange rate Citi gives me is about the same as every other bank in Taiwan.
I am not sure what banks in taiwan usually charge but in Canada and the united states the banks usually give you an exchange rate that is 1.5% away from what the real forex spot rate is so if the currencies are equal they sell at 1.015 and buy at .9850 where custom house would sell to you at 1.0020 or buy at .9980 and no other fees.