Possible to open bank account in US or Australia as a foreigner?

[boroangel]

Hmm....just comparing the few options, at the moment I do not need the flexibility of withdrawing the funds in advance, meaning I can wait for them to mature according to the tenure.

Given that Certificates of Deposit yield better rates than T-bills, I suppose going with IB and buying a CD is better?

Also....what about say opening an international bank account with Barclays and putting it in their time deposit. How would that compare to buying CDs with IB? I think they are domicled in Isle of Mann...

 

[BBCWatcher]

It's not going to be possible to beat U.S. federal government deposit insurance (or any other government guarantee) for U.S. dollars, and the fees are likely to be higher whenever you have currency X in country Y.

CDs are fine, as long as you are highly likely to hold them to term. But how about some of both? If you're parking US$250K then you can easily reach the Interactive Brokers US$100K level to avoid the monthly minimum fee, and use that for CDs -- say, US$200K worth (a ladder of four $50K CDs, for example). At the same time, you can open a more modest Schwab account, use that for T-Bills and Notes ($0 transaction fee at auction), and get their lovely ATM/debit card.

I've described the U.S. tax consequences for all non-U.S. persons already. To repeat/summarize, as long as you file truthful IRS Form W-8BENs with Schwab/IB, there's no U.S. income tax on T-Bills, Treasury Notes, CDs, or bonds. The only U.S. tax that might apply is the U.S. estate tax, and that'd be only for cash at the broker, not these instruments while they're in these instruments.

Remaining tax consequences (if any) would be based on your country of residence. Some countries have no income, no wealth, and no estate taxes. Others have all of the above, and some are in between. Just check your local tax code, that's all. You already live in your country of residence, so presumably you know what its taxes are and how it would treat offshore income, in this case interest income. Some countries also have financial reporting obligations, even if no tax is owed.

 

[tiertime]

Nab. Google sgdividends Nab Australia bank account .

Putting a Singapore address is better as u will be taxed at 10% of your interest ONLY if your interest earned is above a certain threshold.

Putting an Australian address require u to put in your tax identification , and if u don't have..u will be taxed around 40% ( exact not sure)

Mine is below threshold , so I am not taxed.

Interest is 2.5% currently..used to be better

2.5% , r u referring to this "NAB Reward Saver" :
https://www.nab.com.au/personal/banking/savings-accounts

if interest stated as "variable"... means not fixed? then how to calculate the interest... ?

 

[tiertime]

i read somewhere in this forum that the best way to convert big amount of cash into other currency is through IB, has anyone tried that before, anything we should watch out for? (I can't seem to find the thread where i read it from..)

i have an IB account that i have opened last year but never used / deposited any cash in it before, so i am not sure on the process at all , any advise is appreciated !

 

[sgdividends]

2.5% , r u referring to this "NAB Reward Saver" :
https://www.nab.com.au/personal/banking/savings-accounts

if interest stated as "variable"... means not fixed? then how to calculate the interest... ?

Yes. just need to deposit $1 and dont withdraw every month can hit 2.5% already....used to be higher.

Yes, it seems can transfer from IB to NAB and vice versa when i played with it.
Havent actually dont it yet