Non-Resident Irish Bank Account

crankygremlin

Hi Everyone!

I would really appreciate some help with an issue I am experiencing.

Context:

- Living in South Africa for since 2018
- Dual Citizen - Irish / South African
- Tax Resident in South Africa / Non-resident in Ireland
- While I was living in Ireland, invested in various US Equities through Degiro.ie
- Used an AIB current account for transactions
- AIB has decided to close my account 2 months ago as it was dormant for too long

Problem:
Degiro requires a EUR denominated account in order to transact and withdraw the investments. So I have been trying to open up an Irish bank account from abroad but this has been challenging.

AIB - Require a physical Irish address if opening an account online. As a non-resident, I have to fly to Ireland and visit a branch in order to open an account

Bank of Ireland - Will not open a new account solely for the purposes of investment trading through Degiro. They require that I am earning a salary or a certain amount of EURs needs to flow through per annum.

KBC - Need to be a EUR resident to open a bank account.

I feel like I am in a bit of a tight spot here not knowing how I am going to open an account without flying to Ireland and trying with AIB... ?

Does anyone know of another way to open up an Irish bank account without being an Irish resident?

Alternatively, Degiro only require a EUR denominated account and so I could open up an account elsewhere in Europe - say the Netherlands. I am just wondering about the tax implications of this if I decide to draw out of the account. Would I pay the Capital Gains tax to Ireland or the Netherlands?

If anyone has some advice for me on this, I would be EXTREMELY grateful!!

Thank you!

dennyk

BOI used to allow foreign residents to open accounts, as I opened mine while still living in the US before moving here, but maybe they've tightened their restrictions since then; that was five years ago.

You could consider opening a Transferwise borderless account:

https://transferwise.com/ie/borderless/

That will give you an EU IBAN to use with Degiro, and their currency exchange and transfer fees to move your money to your SA bank account are fairly reasonable.

Jim2007

ciaranwhitaker wrote: »

Alternatively, Degiro only require a EUR denominated account and so I could open up an account elsewhere in Europe - say the Netherlands. I am just wondering about the tax implications of this if I decide to draw out of the account. Would I pay the Capital Gains tax to Ireland or the Netherlands?

It is extremely unlikely that an European bank will agree to open an account for you as they all operate under the same EU directive on money laundering.


Do Degiro require a EUR denominated account or one with an IBAN? If the first them most SA banks will do this for you for a fee of course.

ciaranwhitaker wrote: »

You could consider opening a Transferwise borderless account:

https://transferwise.com/ie/borderless/

Transferwise is a regulated institution, it is unlikely that they would be able to do this as it would be a breach of the regulations.



OP, it you can't come up with any other workable solution, there are two things you might consider, but both are not going to be cheap.


- Request Degiro to issue the physical share certificates for your positions. When you receive them you could then deposit them with an SA broker and instruct them to sell them for you.


- Give someone in Ireland a notarized power of attorney to allow them to instruct Degiro to sell the positions on your behalf and receive the funds into their account. If you go this route, it is very important to ensure that the documents are properly notarized so the are acceptable in Ireland.



Of the two, the first is probably the most doable.

crankygremlin

Thank you so much for the help here. I really appreciate it!

Thankfully, I managed to open up an account with N26 and Degiro has accepted the new account! I can at least now sell and move over to a my UK Degiro Account.

Thanks again!