Dual US-EU passport - which should I use?

[Strong Eagle]

Here's a tricky question!

I have both an EU and a US passport and will shortly be relocating to Singapore. Which passport should I use to register in Singapore? Does it make a difference?

Thanks!

It really depends on where you plan to travel the majority of the time. If to the USA, then use the US passport... you need your US passport to enter the USA. If you go to the EU more frequently, then choose that passport. For other travel, it doesn't matter.

Thanks Strong Eagle! So (just to be absolutely sure!) In Singapore I can use one or the other indifferently, regardless of whether I am opening a bank account, getting a Long Term Visit Pass or being hired by a local company... correct?

You should verify this with MOM and the ICA... and...

If you are on an EP, then you can only have one passport at at time registered to your EP with MOM. You must use this passport for entry and exit from Singapore. This would also be the passport you would have to use for other government related business (LTVP), if a passport is required.

Therefore, in response to your question about being hired, the passport you present to the company is the one that will be on MOM's records and is the only "official" one you can use.

As for bank accounts and other, I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if they had a method of verifying. On the other hand, while I was EP, I opened bank accounts under my old passport number, got a new passport, never updated. But, the whole point of requesting your passport is to identify you as a resident in a positive way, ie, a government record.

If you are a PR, then you can register more than one passport with ICA and travel on either of them... I did so for my American and British passports. The issue of which passport to use for other activities never came up as I had a NRIC number as opposed to a FIN.

[PNGMK]

OP does have a point in a way. Never ever filing for taxes can be surprisingly effective in avoiding income tax, particularly in countries where you 'volunteer' (i.e. self declare) the income. While you might lose out on the tax rebates/deductions and returns (which is really just a sweetener to get you to file) as a young person, generally it turns very lucrative as your investments, capital gains and income from outside interests builds.

There are cases in Australia where lawyers (solicitors) have gone their whole life never filing and avoided being caught only to have the situation become apparent on death (i.e. dissolution of the partnership or asset transfers) or in one stupid case when the solicitor tried to claim an input tax credit. I have friends with dual US ciitizenship who have followed this strategy and I know a CPA in Australia who has not filed for two decades.

I often wish I didn't have an "identity" in a certain country but had simply driven without a licence, never paid taxes, never declared my real name.

Not moral, not legal perhaps and probably not effective in Singapore.

[zzm9980]

OP does have a point in a way. Never ever filing for taxes can be surprisingly effective in avoiding income tax, particularly in countries where you 'volunteer' (i.e. self declare) the income. While you might lose out on the tax rebates/deductions and returns (which is really just a sweetener to get you to file) as a young person, generally it turns very lucrative as your investments, capital gains and income from outside interests builds.

There are cases in Australia where lawyers (solicitors) have gone their whole life never filing and avoided being caught only to have the situation become apparent on death (i.e. dissolution of the partnership or asset transfers) or in one stupid case when the solicitor tried to claim an input tax credit. I have friends with dual US ciitizenship who have followed this strategy and I know a CPA in Australia who has not filed for two decades.

I often wish I didn't have an "identity" in a certain country but had simply driven without a licence, never paid taxes, never declared my real name.

Not moral, not legal perhaps and probably not effective in Singapore.

One thing the US Embassy does is ask for your previous X years of tax returns for almost anything you ask them to do. Have a kid, need a visa for a wife, etc.

Otherwise, sounds like a good idea.

[aster]

Also, you are right about the citizenship. I knew a lady who was born in the US, never had a US passport and 30 years later IRS came knocking asking for money.

A passport is a travel document. As a citizen you can get one. Not having one doesn't mean that you are not a citizen.

There is no statute of limitations for owing Uncle Sam money so yes, technically someone can come knocking in 30+ years. This is a regime that will go to any length to collect any $$$ that it can. When they send a gov't plane to Haiti to rescue US citizens and bring them back home do you think they do this for free? Nope. Once the media hype is over, all those people will get a bill in the mail from the govt asking for payment.