Dollar Inheritance

CrazyEric

My wife will shortly receive approx $50,000 in an inheritance from her uncle. As he lived in America it will come in the form of a dollar cheque. What would peoples recommendation be for changing that into Euros. We could just give it to AIB and let them give us the balance but I suspect we would lose out on fees and a poor exchange rate.

TabbyLongTails

wise, currency fair etc

notsocutehoor

Do Revolut accept Dollar cheques, if so probably best route. Cheque (or Check) seems a bit outdated at this stage, can they not send it EFT, would save a lot of hassle

CrazyEric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122544611#Comment_122544611

Sorry for the late reply. Yes it is a cheque and they don't send it any other way…. I have a Revolut account and I will maybe look into if they will accept a dollar cheque.

CrazyEric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122539894#Comment_122539894

Wise and Currency Fair…. never heard of either which is probably why I don't know what I am doing, so time for a bit of googling. Thank you.

Revolut don't take cheques

Oscar_Madison

I don’t have the “best” answer for you OP- but keep in mind:

There’s buying rates and selling rates - make sure you’re comparing like with like when researching

Some places will have fees on top of the rate exchange - some don’t

Banks used to get dealer rates for anything over 10k- check with your bank to see if they still do that ie a better rate than advertised

Not sure on the regulations for holding a dollar account these days but 30 years ago if rates were bad, that’s exactly what people did if they didn’t need the money right away- they held their dollars in an Irish bank as a dollar account - then drew down when the rates were more favourable

Glaceon

Could there be tax implications for this?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122567940#Comment_122567940

yes. €32,500 tax free exemption (if the wife has never had a previous gift or inheritance from a "Group B" relative), with the balance taxed at 33%

JVince

Call into your bank and ask for their best rate.

It won't be as good a wise or similar, but it will be far better than published rates.

The cheque will take up to 4 weeks to clear.

Don't bother asking revolut - they don't deal in cheques or cash.

Any possibility it could be sent by wire transfer?

Charles Babbage

Services like currencyfair will allow electronic transfer, but it is not so easy to process a cheque other than in an old fashioned bank.

The year the revenue use for inheritance is September to August, if she gets the loot after today then she should have until next October to pay the tax.

JVince

I'd also wait until the budget - tax free rates are near certain to change and the 32500 should move to over 40k.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568028#Comment_122568028

It's an inheritance. Might be hard to ask the guy to cone back to life before the budget.

pale rider

just hold the check until after the budget before you negotiate it and actually receive the inheritance.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568094#Comment_122568094

That's not how it works unfortunately

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568068#Comment_122568068

Isn't the tax calculated when you receive it

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122567940#Comment_122567940

Isn’t there some rule based on tax already having been paid on the deceased persons estate, so it’s not liable here.

pale rider

ok you got me, please explain

If the funds are not received in this country and by received I mean the tax payer has them available then how is tax due before that when the funds are in another currency and the tax payer has not yet received them.

Tax is to me due once it hits our shores and is in Euro,

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568124#Comment_122568124

It seems that the tax date is when the final amount is made available.

So ideally you want the executor to hold off final declaration until the budget - but that is unlikely to happen with a USA will especially as the op is probably one of several beneficiaries.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568124#Comment_122568124

Tax in the US is applied to the estate, before anything is handed out to anyone named in the will.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568028#Comment_122568028

Drat. I should have told my relatives to live a couple of years longer.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568145#Comment_122568145

While they might announce a change then, it isn't clear that they would use the date of the budget as anything significant. They might use the September date or next September or perhaps the end of the year. So delaying a few weeks is neither here nor there.

pale rider

Yes of course, my point is that until you receive funds within our shores no tax is liable as for a start tax is payable as a percentage if the amount received…in euro, that is not established until it’s converted, might be worth a query to Revenue

OU812

Is your wife American?

Open a US bank account with a credit/debit card attached and use that for adhoc payments for things, put the money you'd usually spend on them aside.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568446#Comment_122568446

Make sure it’s an anonymous query with revenue. You can’t trust them.
Consult a decent accountant I would advise.

CrazyEric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568490#Comment_122568490

Yes she is. We did look at this idea briefly but couldn't find a bank that would let us do t without an American address

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122586770#Comment_122586770

Has she no relatives whose address she can use?

I’ve a Bank of America account using my address here, but it was originally set up when I was in the US. They are really difficult to deal with though. They just can’t get their heads around me not living in America.

CrazyEric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122586847#Comment_122586847

She had a bank account and they sent out forms to fill to stop it going dormant, she filled them and returned them and the account went dormant anyway. When she got speaking to a manager 3 months later they said they had just found the forms, sorry, bye. So now she has no account and had to spend 6 months fighting to get her money back from the office of unclaimed funds.

I think I will look to see can we open a Dollar account with AIB and at least it will be somewhere safe till we figure it out.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122568446#Comment_122568446

Where are you getting that information from? I don't believe inheritance tax is charged on the remittance basis. An Irish tax resident is subject to CAT on worldwide assets inherited. Possibly there would be a double tax credit available, depending on any US inheritance tax paid (if any).

pale rider

I’m no tax expert hence my suggestion to raise a query direct with Revenue.

homer911

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122544611#Comment_122544611

You would be surprised how backward Financial Services is in the US, cheques are still very common. They have only recently started to roll out credit cards with pins

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122602627#Comment_122602627

If you're no tax expert then maybe don't write comments like "until you receive funds within our shores no tax is liable as for a start tax is payable as a percentage if the amount received"

pale rider

hang on a moment, get off your high horse , perhaps you would like to divulge your own expertise as a tax expert ?

This is a forum where people genuinely try to help and assist others. It is not a substitute for professional advice.

If I were the OP I would follow my advice, until the funds land in this country and are converted into Euro they are not available to me nor can I accurately assess the tax I need to pay, after that I suggested to raise a query with Revenue that would keep me right regardless of the remittance method or otherwise.