Transferring large funds out of Taiwan

Recently the comedy business has picked up a bit, probably due to people being fed up with all the negative news about viruses, the botched democratic primary and whether we should keep the big orange man in the white house. Thus, I have a little bit more cash on hand and rather than investing all of it in BBQs and whiskey, I figured I’ll buy some overvalued Tesla stocks and some cheap Macy’s stocks to balance it out.

So I’m in the process of setting up an Interactive Brokers account. Real pain in the ass! But I guess the bigger hassle will be funding the thing once it’s ready.

So here’s my question: What’s the best way to transfer US$100,000 from Taiwan to an IB account. Should I break it into batches of $9,999 to stay under the $10,000 limit that might trigger additional money laundering checks (in which case BOT will hit me with 10 wire fees) or should I just send $100,000 in one batch?

Most of this money is legal income on which I’ve paid taxes and I am able to provide supporting documentation if necessary.

Edit: How did this end up in Temp? It’s a serious question.

Don’t do that. That will be a huge red flag for them!

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First of all: 恭喜發大財! :money_with_wings:

In my experience: If the recipient account is in the same name as your Taiwanese bank account the local banks are a bit less strict. Suggestion: If you have a US bank account in your name and the fees for receiving a wire are acceptable, transfer it there first (the whole sum) and then transfer it to IB.

In any case, transfer the whole sum.

Excellent, thanks a lot!

Only transfer most of it then!

I recently transferred a slightly larger amount between a MEGA bank account and a HSBC account and I got a call from my account manager a week later asking for details on where the money came from etc. Both accounts in Taiwan and in my name.

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If you have 100,000 USD to transfer just go and transfer it. Don’t make several transactions of 9999 dollars because that is a HUGE red flag and you will be investigated, audited at the very least. Wire transfer fees are fixed anyways. If you made money on stocks you will have to pay capital gains tax.

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Yes, unfortunately the US government has received a lot of money from me over the years. At least Taiwan doesn’t seem to have capital gains taxes.

It depends if you really make enough to want to renounce your US citizenship. I hear a lot of long term expats do that especially if they are not US born and never lived in the US.

Why don’t you use a Taiwanese brokerage to trade?

Trading fees on overseas securities are very high.

$9,999 would trigger all sorts of bells and whistles.

Send it all and pay whatever it costs in lump sum - I did the same about half year ago and didn’t have any questions.

@rooftopclown Please keep us updated on how this goes. I am very curious as to the process and cost of these sorts of wire transfers, especially with Interactive Brokers with whom I plan to keep my investment money when we move to Taiwan.

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