Question Revolut alternative recommendation? (Greece self-employed)

[chren]

Hi, as many of you might know Revolut is transferring to a Bank on Jul 1, 2022.
I have been using it up until now to get paid for my regular job, did not report in my - pretty expensive - jurisdiction (Greece, I am also a resident) so far because it rarely surpasses USD 4k / month, coming from the US, so I thought the amounts are not too large.
I have taken a look at the EMIs list but not sure what is safest in my case, and also I don't know if I am safe with my transactions so far with Revo.. :/ (my accountant says there is a minor risk but not sure if he is really knowledgeable about it).
I have considered making it legal in my home country but I would pay like 40% AND employers don't want to offer me a contract, making things complicated.
Does anyone have a recommendations on a new EMI? or what I should do with current acc?

 

[Martin Everson]

I would recommend to make it legal for your own piece of mind. Playing hide and seek with taxman is not really a good long term game plan.

 

[GlowAndFlow]

Acc to this document DAC2 which "extended the scope of the mandatory automatic exchange of information to information on financial accounts." does not cover "electronic money institutions" as it is the working groups suggestion that it SHOULD do so in the future: "4.2: Under DAC2: Include FIs that are currently excluded within scope, e.g. electronic money institutions. 19"

I mean this is the only reason you havent been caught yet, as its a company registered in the UK and had it been a bank your tax services would have known about it immediately. (Any countries on the bottom of this list have banks that share info automatically with tax services among each other : Automatic Exchange of Information - OECD Automatic Exchange of Information - OECD)

I dont know anything about EMIs really as I haven´t had use of them. But I couldn´t imagine how you´d be caught if you just closed the account and cashed out (I guess to other EMIs?).
If it´s worked for you so far, it should work for you in the future with an other EMI as long as the authorities don´t suspect something and engage in a manual audit. And ofcs if the legislation doesn´t change.

Could you tell me how you managed so far? Were you transferring small sums now and then to your bank account? Did/Is Revolut providing some kind of debit card? Im just trying to learn about it.

 

[chren]

Acc to this document DAC2 which "extended the scope of the mandatory automatic exchange of information to information on financial accounts." does not cover "electronic money institutions" as it is the working groups suggestion that it SHOULD do so in the future: "4.2: Under DAC2: Include FIs that are currently excluded within scope, e.g. electronic money institutions. 19"

I mean this is the only reason you havent been caught yet, as its a company registered in the UK and had it been a bank your tax services would have known about it immediately. (Any countries on the bottom of this list have banks that share info automatically with tax services among each other : Automatic Exchange of Information - OECD Automatic Exchange of Information - OECD)

I dont know anything about EMIs really as I haven´t had use of them. But I couldn´t imagine how you´d be caught if you just closed the account and cashed out (I guess to other EMIs?).
If it´s worked for you so far, it should work for you in the future with an other EMI as long as the authorities don´t suspect something and engage in a manual audit. And ofcs if the legislation doesn´t change.

Could you tell me how you managed so far? Were you transferring small sums now and then to your bank account? Did/Is Revolut providing some kind of debit card? Im just trying to learn about it.

Thanks for the info. I have been getting the monthly payckeck directly to my Revolut accound and they have a debit card so I used that one for my own expenses and gave another card to my family so they could spend too... It's just that I still have savings there too so I guess I need to deal with that at some point.

 

[GlowAndFlow]

Thanks for the info. I have been getting the monthly payckeck directly to my Revolut accound and they have a debit card so I used that one for my own expenses and gave another card to my family so they could spend too... It's just that I still have savings there too so I guess I need to deal with that at some point.

Ah thats crazy that these services have debit cards. I might use it then.
but its also risky as again the working group plans to "plug the hole" as per above so one would have to keep updated on laws.

What EMI are you thinking about to replace it with?

 

[chren]

Ah thats crazy that these services have debit cards. I might use it then.
but its also risky as again the working group plans to "plug the hole" as per above so one would have to keep updated on laws.

What EMI are you thinking about to replace it with?

Ι have stumbled upon Monese but honestly it's just a wild guess at this moment! I have had 0 problems with the debit card by the way, really useful.

 

[MonaLisa]

Have you looked at Transferwise / Wise? Usually they are the go-to for most people besides Revolut in terms of EMI. As to my current knowledge they are not forwarding any data to tax institutions. But that may change any moment. So as others have said already, the only real good advise would be to make it legal as this could backfire years from now.

 

[scrawnycrewmate]

Also looking at an alternative to Revolut, despite being a happy customer... so far.

Revolut is already making life difficult for Cyprus individuals and companies that I know,
it's only a matter of time before I get affected as well.

Wise.com is becoming more expensive by the day. Not a good option.

You need 2 of every service that you heavily rely on. I need 4 for tranquility.

I've already left Paysera behind (crappy interface, customer service, hidden fees).

(Note: I just NOW discovered that Bunq supports every country in the EU, sweet)

 

[chren]

Also looking at an alternative to Revolut, despite being a happy customer... so far.

Revolut is already making life difficult for Cyprus individuals and companies that I know,
it's only a matter of time before I get affected as well.

Wise.com is becoming more expensive by the day. Not a good option.

You need 2 of every service that you heavily rely on. I need 4 for tranquility.

I've already left Paysera behind (crappy interface, customer service, hidden fees).

(Note: I just NOW discovered that Bunq supports every country in the EU, sweet)

I made an account with Monese but I haven't made any transactions yet! Let's see how it goes. Thanks for your feedback on Paysera. Yeah Revolut has been surprisingly good for daily use!

 

[fasu]

Revolut is already making life difficult for Cyprus individuals and companies that I know,
it's only a matter of time before I get affected as well.

Zen support Cyprus
https://www.zen.com/files/tc/permitted_jurisdictions.pdf

 

[Novice]

Zen support Cyprus
https://www.zen.com/files/tc/permitted_jurisdictions.pdf

Any review for zen?

Seems to be a new company.

 

[JohnLocke]

Does Wise not support Greece ?

 

[chren]

Does Wise not support Greece ?

I think it does! Actually just made an account so, I am testing it out now.

 

[sup3rman]

i had the same problems and now I'm using Wamo. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm pushing my luck.

 

[EricG]

I made an account with Monese but I haven't made any transactions yet! Let's see how it goes. Thanks for your feedback on Paysera. Yeah Revolut has been surprisingly good for daily use!

Let as know, please, when you transact with Monese.
Question: what's the max that you are allowed to wire transfer to Revolut?

 

[Forester]

Any review for zen?

Seems to be a new company.

It is not new – established at 2018, seems to be fully working since 2019. It is one of ~60-70 Lithuanian EMI's, so probably easy to overlook . But, according to their webpage, their pricing is competitive, I must say.

"Does Wise not support Greece ? "
I think it does! Actually just made an account so, I am testing it out now.

Well, do not rely on Wise as the only account solution without backup.
Wise (as well as Revolut, BTW) is known to have one pitfall: Closing the (especially business) accounts without any warning or notice, without any reasonable explanation and freezing the cash for undefined time (evt. search here at forums). AFAIK, nobody lost the money, finally they return it to the owner but even freezing your cash for some months can ruin your life and/or business perfectly.
Of course, it can happen with another EMI, too; but at Revolut/Wise it is AFAIK quite frequent. Perhaps, they are too big to handle all the related agenda effectively and too known not to attract very different people, sometimes definitely with really shady intentions...

(Note: I just NOW discovered that Bunq supports every country in the EU, sweet)

Yes, and it is not a new information. But note also that Bunq has a standard banking licence, so automatic CRS reporting.

 

[scrawnycrewmate]

(Note: I just NOW discovered that Bunq supports every country in the EU, sweet)

Bunq did not pan out thus far, I was not allowed to use a VPN during account registration (a big no-no since I never trust the WIFIs I'm connecting through). Also the IOS app said I was being verified for a few days, and finally I went back to the IOS app and it said "This account has been closed". No explanation, no communication. I contacted support, and will file a complaint in short order. Not much hope though, they can accept or deny whoever they want. But that is sad, because I've had personal+business accounts at both Revolut and Wise.com for some time, without issue.