I read today in the english forum that some US citizens have received letters from Post Finance requiring they send in their FBAR to post finance. Has this happened to anyone on GLOCALS?
I am compliant with all tax laws and I think that sending in data of all of my accounts to Post Finance would violate my data privacy.
I read today in the english forum that some US citizens have received letters from Post Finance requiring they send in their FBAR to post finance. Has this happened to anyone on GLOCALS?
I am compliant with all tax laws and I think that sending in data of all of my accounts to Post Finance would violate my data privacy.
What is "FBAR"? I received a letter with a form requiring the form to be filled and sent back to PostFinance. I thought all Swiss banks require US citizen customers to do this now. Why not PostFinance? Is there a difference between PostFinance and UBS, Credit Swiss or Raiffeisen? MiGros Bank does not even accept US citizens as customers now. Consider yourself lucky when you can have a bank account now in Switzerland.
What is "FBAR"? I received a letter with a form requiring the form to be filled and sent back to PostFinance. I thought all Swiss banks require US citizen customers to do this now. Why not PostFinance? Is there a difference between PostFinance and UBS, Credit Swiss or Raiffeisen? MiGros Bank does not even accept US citizens as customers now. Consider yourself lucky when you can have a bank account now in Switzerland.
Im afraid that if you don`t honour their request you could very well receive a letter to inform you that they will be cancelling your account.
Im afraid that if you don`t honour their request you could very well receive a letter to inform you that they will be cancelling your account.
Hi Jen
The FBAR is not the form you are speaking about. The FBAR is the form you must fill in each year and send in by June 30 to the US government
You give you Social security number, address for every one accessing any foreign account
listing the Bank names, addresses account numbers, Highest value in the account in the year
for all private accounts and for any account you have signature authority over (such as at work -even if not your private account)
This is a lot of information that Post Finance employees should not have a right to access and it certainly presents a data security issue.
So far I have heard of 2 americans who have accounts at Post Finance who have been asked for this, in addition to the form you are asking about.
Hi Jen
The FBAR is not the form you are speaking about. The FBAR is the form you must fill in each year and send in by June 30 to the US government
You give you Social security number, address for every one accessing any foreign account
listing the Bank names, addresses account numbers, Highest value in the account in the year
for all private accounts and for any account you have signature authority over (such as at work -even if not your private account)
This is a lot of information that Post Finance employees should not have a right to access and it certainly presents a data security issue.
So far I have heard of 2 americans who have accounts at Post Finance who have been asked for this, in addition to the form you are asking about.
Hi David,
Thank you very much for providing the information!
Now I know. This FBAR form is the form you are supposed to send to the US Dept. of Finance or something, to report your "foreign" bank accounts. But the accounts which need to be reported should have more than $10,000 at any given time. I do not understand why giving this form to PostFinance, the bank. Suppose if someone does not mind spending the time and energy to open quite a few bank accounts and keep the balance less than $10,000, they do not need to fill out these forms. Of course, now it is difficult to open bank accounts for US citizens. Or if money is kept at a US bank inside the US, then no such a need to fill out this form. Am I correct in understanding this way?
Hi David,
Thank you very much for providing the information!
Now I know. This FBAR form is the form you are supposed to send to the US Dept. of Finance or something, to report your "foreign" bank accounts. But the accounts which need to be reported should have more than $10,000 at any given time. I do not understand why giving this form to PostFinance, the bank. Suppose if someone does not mind spending the time and energy to open quite a few bank accounts and keep the balance less than $10,000, they do not need to fill out these forms. Of course, now it is difficult to open bank accounts for US citizens. Or if money is kept at a US bank inside the US, then no such a need to fill out this form. Am I correct in understanding this way?
hi Jen
You need to add in your pension accounts and your 3eme pillar. If the total of all of those accounts has more than US 10000$ then you have to do FBAR. With pension that can easily put you over the threshold.
In addition with there is new form 8938 has to be filled since tax year 2012 and included in with your US tax return
Unmarried taxpayers. If you are not married, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $ 50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year
hi Jen
You need to add in your pension accounts and your 3eme pillar. If the total of all of those accounts has more than US 10000$ then you have to do FBAR. With pension that can easily put you over the threshold.
In addition with there is new form 8938 has to be filled since tax year 2012 and included in with your US tax return
Unmarried taxpayers. If you are not married, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $ 50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year
