Using an Irish account from abroad

live4thesky

Hi all,

I had a good look around but could not find anything specific to my questions.

Firstly, has anyone any experience in transferring cash from the states to an Irish account? Possibly 4 transfers to two different accounts of less than 10k each

Secondly, can I use my Irish account like that while not living here? Will I be have to pay tax on money I transfer into my account? Will revenue even find out?

If anyone has any experience in doing this I would appreciate any input/advice

Cheers

murphaph

You are exempt from DIRT (the tax you pay on interest earned on Irish bank deposits) as a non-resident. You will have to make a declaration to this effect if you wish the bank not to deduct DIRT.

If you are non-resident for tax purposes, then Revenue also have no claim on your income derived outside Ireland, even if lodged with an Irish bank, if that's what you meant.

The question is...are you non-resident or just abroad on a working holiday or whatever?

live4thesky

Thanks for the response murphaph.

I will need to look into that DIRT thing. The amounts would be minuscule anyway.

I am currently a resident in Ireland but will not be from August of this year. I suppose this makes me a resident for tax purposes for 2013. I will only be spending 6 weeks per year maximum in Ireland for the foreseeable future and definitely wont be working here. The kind of work I will be doing abroad will be very transient. 3 months here, 3 months there (not always legally working) so setting up a bank account and proving I am a resident elsewhere will be difficult.

I am also wondering about sending money from the US. It wont be from working, I am selling some sports and music equipment. Just dont know how closely they monitor money transactions. Particularly from someone there on a holiday visa

murphaph

I don't think you have anything to worry about. They don't monitor anything small. If you're under 10k it'll not be noticed. I don't think you'd be liable anyway as Ireland will cease to be your domicile and you may become voluntarily non resident if you wish given how few days you'll spend in Ireland each year.

hfallada

As someone already said. Keep everything under $10,000 as if you transfer over $10,000 us version of revenue is notified. Also if you open a bank account with $9,900 us revenue wont be told by the bank about it.

chris85

murphaph wrote: »

I don't think you have anything to worry about. They don't monitor anything small. If you're under 10k it'll not be noticed. I don't think you'd be liable anyway as Ireland will cease to be your domicile and you may become voluntarily non resident if you wish given how few days you'll spend in Ireland each year.

hfallada wrote: »

As someone already said. Keep everything under $10,000 as if you transfer over $10,000 us version of revenue is notified. Also if you open a bank account with $9,900 us revenue wont be told by the bank about it.

Both these posts are false, the €10k threshold doesnt not need to be one transaction, it can be many transactions which the sum of are over €10k. This figure is pointless as the regulations basically require the bank investigate if transaction are out of the normal activities on the account.

See link below. Page 40 is good place to start.

http://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/processes/anti-money-laundering/Documents/Financial%20_Institutions%20Guidance%20Notes%20-%20CJA1994%20Regime.pdf

So basically you could be asked about source of funds.

BuffyBot

Indeed, folks, if you're going to give advice on such a delicate matter, at least be sure it's correct advice.

murphaph

chris85 wrote: »

Both these posts are false, the €10k threshold doesnt not need to be one transaction, it can be many transactions which the sum of are over €10k. This figure is pointless as the regulations basically require the bank investigate if transaction are out of the normal activities on the account.

See link below. Page 40 is good place to start.

http://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/processes/anti-money-laundering/Documents/Financial%20_Institutions%20Guidance%20Notes%20-%20CJA1994%20Regime.pdf

So basically you could be asked about source of funds.

Where did I say that the 10k was per transaction??

I assumed he meant <10k per year tbh. Anyway, he is not liable for any income tax or DIRT etc. if he's non-resident which ha can elect to become as soon as he fulfills the rules wrt days spent in Ireland.

chris85

murphaph wrote: »

Where did I say that the 10k was per transaction??

I assumed he meant <10k per year tbh. Anyway, he is not liable for any income tax or DIRT etc. if he's non-resident which ha can elect to become as soon as he fulfills the rules wrt days spent in Ireland.

Well the OP asked about a number of transactions and each being under €10k, your response said if under €10k it wont be noticed. This alldues to a per transaction threshold limit of €10k in place which there is not.

Also you can hardly assume <€10k per year when the OP said that there would be 4 transfer under €10k each. Assuming it would be above €10k total would get your better odds from the bookies.

murphaph

Fair enough chris, I didn't read it properly (probably does imply that he'll want to xfer over 10k in total) but he has nothing to worry about really and I think we all know that. He has no income tax nor DIRT liability in Ireland as a non-resident, which he will be according to his description of how many days he'll spend in Ireland.

chris85

murphaph wrote: »

Fair enough chris, I didn't read it properly (probably does imply that he'll want to xfer over 10k in total) but he has nothing to worry about really and I think we all know that. He has no income tax nor DIRT liability in Ireland as a non-resident, which he will be according to his description of how many days he'll spend in Ireland.

Ultimately he will need to show revenue the source of the funds if they come asking. If he cant do this account would be frozen. anti money laundering legislation is not only concerned with tax liabilities but criminal acitivities so they would be very concerned as to where a sudden injection of funds is coming from.

Ultimately the OP will be involved in illegal activities. I am not here to debate the morals of this but if the Revenue feel its coming from illegal activities they will freeze the account and a long battle would be had to get it back.

live4thesky

Thanks for the info folks.

I will be in the US on the VWP for 3 months. I will be selling some stuff (skydiving gear and a couple of guitars) to some friends over there, all worth about 18k. They can only pay cash, i didnt ask why. I will then be travelling around Asia for 6 months before spending 3 months each in India, Dubai and Brazil on tourist visas.

I have 2 accounts in the same BOI branch and a CU account i can use.

Like most people, i would like to avoid paying income/import-export/whatever tax if I can, particularly if i do not have to. I would also like to avoid arousing suspicion with relevant governing bodies