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Opening an IRA with an HK Address (for U.S. Citizens)

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    6,531
    Quote Originally Posted by LoganH:
    The main drawback is the 25,000USD minimum opening balance. However, I still feel it's best and simpler for US citizens to invest using US financial institutions or not at all.

    If your spouse isn't a US citizen and you fully trust your spouse, then there are many financial institutions that'll be happy to work with your spouse, but many in HK say no to US citizens. Thus, except for a property (this could be in your name, both, or just your spouse's) you could have all investments in your spouse's name. I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I know in an unfortunate case of divorce it shouldn't matter whose name is on an asset especially if the asset was acquired while a couple was married.
    What's the advantage to putting assets in a spouse's name? Avoiding the bureaucratic IRS nightmares?

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Taiwan and HK
    Posts
    6,158
    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    What's the advantage to putting assets in a spouse's name? Avoiding the bureaucratic IRS nightmares?
    Lots of financial institutions don't want to deal with US citizens, too much hassle. No advantage to you, just they don't have to deal with whatever US banking reporting requirements.
    Elegiaque likes this.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    411
    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    What's the advantage to putting assets in a spouse's name? Avoiding the bureaucratic IRS nightmares?
    No US capital gains taxes or IRS filling requirements. More detailed reasons can be found online, but here is one source of more information on why a US citizen wouldn't want to invest in most financial products that aren't US based. https://thunfinancial.com/home/ameri...d-mutual-fund/

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Gulf Region, ex Mid-Levels
    Posts
    1,933

    I opened an IRA with Schwab from the Hong Kong many moons ago. Often calling them up helps. The main limitation with Schwab if you have a foreign address is that they switch off you ability to buy internationally.