Euro Pacific Bank

[SB21]

Does anybody have experience with euro pacific bank now they have moved to Puerto Rico? They require all new accounts to fill in an IRS W8BEN form declaring not a US citizen or resident. My concern is that the IRS can and will then share this information with other countries tax offices. So despite not being obliged by the CRS to report the IRS will do it instead.

 

[negon]

They most often will require you to complete this form in order to have your information on record to comply to Internation tax laws. I assume they will report you to the IRS if you are a US citizen.

 

[W4rhol]

You will be in the IRS database but you have to understand the process of every tax administration.

If you don't have any account on the US soil and you stay in the US only on the purpose of travelling (less than 90 days/year will trigger nothing) then your tax administration will never have the idea to ask something to them. And even if there is nothing is guarantee that the US will share something.

Maybe your Tax administration will need a court order for obtain such information.

 

[W4rhol]

Sorry for the double post I just want to correct the following sentence :

" And even if there is SOMETHING nothing is guarantee that the US will share IT "

 

[Martin Everson]

Completing a W-8 BEN does not compromise your privacy. It is purely a way for a bank to certify that you are not a US person. It also to ensure that as paying agent it is withholding the correct amount of tax and paying it to the IRS. The form is not even given to the IRS but must be made available for inspection if requested (not sure if this has changed in recent years but W8-BEN have always been kept internally at a bank).


The big issue is that Puerto Rico is risky. They have around 44 offshore banks and 22 of them were established in last 2.5 years. Now you explain the reason behind the doubling of the banking sector in a bankrupt country. Perhaps its just a coincidence the banks all got established in wake of CRS coming into force also including EPB. You have limited secrecy with FATCA (which is bilateral) and with a tax assistance request from a foreign government under the existing double taxation agreements (DTA) the US has signed your details can be obtained easily. Remember your home country can do a John Doe summons for all accounts belonging to that country that are held in Puerto Rico.

 

[SB21]

Completing a W-8 BEN does not compromise your privacy. It is purely a way for a bank to certify that you are not a US person. It also to ensure that as paying agent it is withholding the correct amount of tax and paying it to the IRS. The form is not even given to the IRS but must be made available for inspection if requested (not sure if this has changed in recent years but W8-BEN have always been kept internally at a bank).


The big issue is that Puerto Rico is risky. They have around 44 offshore banks and 22 of them were established in last 2.5 years. Now you explain the reason behind the doubling of the banking sector in a bankrupt country. Perhaps its just a coincidence the banks all got established in wake of CRS coming into force also including EPB. You have limited secrecy with FATCA (which is bilateral) and with a tax assistance request from a foreign government under the existing double taxation agreements (DTA) the US has signed your details can be obtained easily. Remember your home country can do a John Doe summons for all accounts belonging to that country that are held in Puerto Rico.

Thank you Martin, I didn't realize FATCA was bilateral, thought it was a one way street hence all the huffing and puffing by the EU towards the US not signing up to CRS. Yes, agreed it is no coincidence that the offshore banks have increased in PR due to not having to comply with the CRS for now. EPB moved there end of last year from St. Vincent. But what you are saying is home country tax offices can go on fishing expeditions. The bank currently has no obligation to comply, but you are saying the US IRS could request EPB to hand over my W8 and check my account? Then hand that over to home country tax office. So it sounds that home country tax office would have to approach the US IRS and make a request along the lines of we want you to give us all details of account holders from our country for every bank in Puerto Rico. That's a helluva big request. Has this ever happened?

If so what would you recommend if you want to maintain some privacy under CRS? Is there a limit for a company account that doesn't require reporting? Or is $100 enough to trigget auto reporting by the bank? No choice but to get a visa from a zero tax country or one with terroritory tax system?

Thanks again for all the answers above.

 

[Spinat]

But what you are saying is home country tax offices can go on fishing expeditions.

this is exactly why I hate the situation as it is right now! It seems the world is changing too fast and hiding your money gets even more complicated than ever before

crypto, darks, offshore company and IT security may be the only way through this hell!

 

[Darren]

Does anyone know if the Bank is FDIC insured or what happens if the bank goes under?

 

[globalconsultancy]

Thank you Martin, I didn't realize FATCA was bilateral, thought it was a one way street hence all the huffing and puffing by the EU towards the US not signing up to CRS. Yes, agreed it is no coincidence that the offshore banks have increased in PR due to not having to comply with the CRS for now. EPB moved there end of last year from St. Vincent. But what you are saying is home country tax offices can go on fishing expeditions. The bank currently has no obligation to comply, but you are saying the US IRS could request EPB to hand over my W8 and check my account? Then hand that over to home country tax office. So it sounds that home country tax office would have to approach the US IRS and make a request along the lines of we want you to give us all details of account holders from our country for every bank in Puerto Rico. That's a helluva big request. Has this ever happened?

Not all FATCA IGAs are bilateral. The IRS announced that they would not engage in reciprocal exchange with foreign countries that do not meet their stringent information safeguard, privacy, and technical standards.

Even with countries that have reciprocal IGAs, the amounts of information exchanged in both directions are not equal. The US requires foreign countries to report names, SSNs, account balances, amounts paid in during the year and lots of other information. All they send back is the information the IRS already collects on foreigners, namely, US-source interest income earned on individual depository accounts. For non-cash accounts, they report US-source dividends and interest earned. The IRS does not seek to identify the residency of beneficial owners.

I don't know what a "John Doe summons for all accounts held in Puerto Rico" is, but it sounds like pure fantasy.