+1 - those were my thoughts to some extent as well. However as an Aussie I'm acutely aware that Singapore DOES share information with the ATO.Strong Eagle wrote:Singapore doesn't actually give a shit about Europeans or Americans... although we have been the beneficiaries of Singapore's somewhat occluded banking reporting system.
Singapore's banks are full of money from Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand... and more recently, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China. No one asks where the money came from... and it has come from lots of questionable places.
And many believe that our "friend" who crashed his Ferrari, killing several people, wasn't actually an "investment banker" but rather a money launderer for shady interests in PRC.
Strong Eagle wrote:Singapore doesn't actually give a shit about Europeans or Americans... although we have been the beneficiaries of Singapore's somewhat occluded banking reporting system.
Singapore's banks are full of money from Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand... and more recently, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China. No one asks where the money came from... and it has come from lots of questionable places.
And many believe that our "friend" who crashed his Ferrari, killing several people, wasn't actually an "investment banker" but rather a money launderer for shady interests in PRC.
I'm not aware that all foreign holdings are reported. Do you have a citation? I thought only requests by the US government, which Singapore deemed worthy of response, would be reported.Brah wrote:What about the change in reporting of all foreign holdings to IRS? Whereas before the IRS might not know of foreign bank holdings unless declared by the taxpayer.
Or is that what you mean tongue-in-cheek about 'beneficiaries" ?
Strong Eagle wrote:Singapore doesn't actually give a shit about Europeans or Americans... although we have been the beneficiaries of Singapore's somewhat occluded banking reporting system.
Singapore's banks are full of money from Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand... and more recently, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and China. No one asks where the money came from... and it has come from lots of questionable places.
And many believe that our "friend" who crashed his Ferrari, killing several people, wasn't actually an "investment banker" but rather a money launderer for shady interests in PRC.
I'm pretty sure you're supposed to report all of those holdings. I know when I opened a Citi account here, I filled out IRS forms for them to report for me. DBS and OCBC did not have me fill out those forms. Since they don't have my social security number and without those forms, I imagine they're not voluntarily sending anything to the US Gov.Brah wrote:No citation, but I thought all banks were required to report to the US on overseas holdings of Americans.
In Japan I think only Citi did that, but here I thought all were being required to do it, something relatively recent.
I never filled out any reporting forms for any of my accounts. It is my understanding that the Singapore government will not entertain fishing expeditions. If the USA can show hard evidence, Singapore will cooperate... but if the USA just comes calling to see if I have an account in Singapore that I haven't reported, the response will be a one finger salute.zzm9980 wrote:I'm pretty sure you're supposed to report all of those holdings. I know when I opened a Citi account here, I filled out IRS forms for them to report for me. DBS and OCBC did not have me fill out those forms. Since they don't have my social security number and without those forms, I imagine they're not voluntarily sending anything to the US Gov.Brah wrote:No citation, but I thought all banks were required to report to the US on overseas holdings of Americans.
In Japan I think only Citi did that, but here I thought all were being required to do it, something relatively recent.
I was referring to this one:Strong Eagle wrote:I never filled out any reporting forms for any of my accounts. It is my understanding that the Singapore government will not entertain fishing expeditions. If the USA can show hard evidence, Singapore will cooperate... but if the USA just comes calling to see if I have an account in Singapore that I haven't reported, the response will be a one finger salute.zzm9980 wrote:I'm pretty sure you're supposed to report all of those holdings. I know when I opened a Citi account here, I filled out IRS forms for them to report for me. DBS and OCBC did not have me fill out those forms. Since they don't have my social security number and without those forms, I imagine they're not voluntarily sending anything to the US Gov.Brah wrote:No citation, but I thought all banks were required to report to the US on overseas holdings of Americans.
In Japan I think only Citi did that, but here I thought all were being required to do it, something relatively recent.
Who Must File an FBAR
United States persons are required to file an FBAR if:
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
The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year to be reported.
Well, they don't know, and the Singapore government won't help them fish. The IRS has to have hard evidence of laundering, tax avoidance, etc before Singapore gets involved. If the IRS comes over and says, "Hey, does Strong Eagle have lots of bank accounts with lots of money in them?", the answer will be, "Piss off".zzm9980 wrote:I don't know how they know if you meet those requirements or not if you don't fill one out, but I imagined at the time they could look at your tax return and make an educated guess.
I go back and forth on this. While it offends the hell out of me that the US Gov demands this detail, I worry what will happen if I don't provide it. What if five years down the road I move back, or do *something* where I need to show proof of paying taxes and it comes back to haunt me? When my daughter was born, I needed to show five years of income tax returns to get her CRBA and passport.Strong Eagle wrote:Well, they don't know, and the Singapore government won't help them fish. The IRS has to have hard evidence of laundering, tax avoidance, etc before Singapore gets involved. If the IRS comes over and says, "Hey, does Strong Eagle have lots of bank accounts with lots of money in them?", the answer will be, "Piss off".zzm9980 wrote:I don't know how they know if you meet those requirements or not if you don't fill one out, but I imagined at the time they could look at your tax return and make an educated guess.
While not encouraging tax evasion (which is a crime - as opposed to every citizens legitimate right to minimize taxes) nor money laundering (which is a crime as opposed to being discreet about ones means) I'd suggest that we all need some form of legitimate income coupled with the logical and appropriate number of bank accounts, pension funds, taxes paid etc for each and every jurisdiction we might intend to live in.zzm9980 wrote:I go back and forth on this. While it offends the hell out of me that the US Gov demands this detail, I worry what will happen if I don't provide it. What if five years down the road I move back, or do *something* where I need to show proof of paying taxes and it comes back to haunt me? When my daughter was born, I needed to show five years of income tax returns to get her CRBA and passport.Strong Eagle wrote:Well, they don't know, and the Singapore government won't help them fish. The IRS has to have hard evidence of laundering, tax avoidance, etc before Singapore gets involved. If the IRS comes over and says, "Hey, does Strong Eagle have lots of bank accounts with lots of money in them?", the answer will be, "Piss off".zzm9980 wrote:I don't know how they know if you meet those requirements or not if you don't fill one out, but I imagined at the time they could look at your tax return and make an educated guess.
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