Wiring money from USA to Thailand

[toenail]

I have lived / worked in Thailand for over 12 years. Now I am on my second year of retirement & have decided to purchase a small condo. I have made wire transfers from my USA bank to my Thai bank numerous times but always under $ 5,000 each transfer. I will eventually be transferring a larger amount, more like $ 40,000 ( into baht ofcourse) Is there a limit how much I can transfer from USA to another country? Is it better to divide the full amount into 3 or 4 segments? 

[tsocr]

I have lived / worked in Thailand for over 12 years. Now I am on my second year of retirement & have decided to purchase a small condo. I have made wire transfers from my USA bank to my Thai bank numerous times but always under $ 5,000 each transfer. I will eventually be transferring a larger amount, more like $ 40,000 ( into baht ofcourse) Is there a limit how much I can transfer from USA to another country? Is it better to divide the full amount into 3 or 4 segments? 

I don’t know if there is a limit, but the bank will report amount is 10k or more to the IRS.


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[Jingthing]

There shouldn't be a limit. I suggest wiring in the full purchase amount for the condo. Send in dollars of course. Get a currency import document from the Thai bank and tie the wire to the purchase of a specific condo. Without that, you may never be able to send the funds back out if/when you ever sell the condo. Post in the real estate forum for the technical details. 

[Jingthing]

Also to add, don't worry about the 10,000 dollar reporting thing in this instance. You have a legit reason to wire more than that, to buy a condo. The absolute worse thing for you to do would be to send multiple wires of 9,000 dollars. That will be seen as very suspicious. I think it's called structuring. 

[Pib]

13 hours ago, tsocr said:

I don’t know if there is a limit, but the bank will report amount is 10k or more to the IRS.
 

It is not reported to the IRS.  It is reported to FinCEN which stands for Financial Crimes Enforcement Network office of the U.S. Treasury.  It's reported on a Current Transaction Report (CTR)....a quite common, automated, everyday occurrence with thousands upon thousands of transfer greater than $10K occurring every day.   And a CTR is not to be confused with a SAR, Suspicious Activity Report, which a bank can submit to FinCEN pretty much on any amount if the bank smells something fishy.

 

OP, 

 No limit on what you can transfer.  And actually doing a lot of little transfers can draw more attention than larger transfers.  No need to worry about the amounts you want to transfer and the purpose.  Just do it.

 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

It is not reported to the IRS.  It is reported to FinCEN which stands for Financial Crimes Enforcement Network office of the U.S. Treasury.  It's reported on a Current Transaction Report (CTR)....a quite common, automated, everyday occurrence with thousands upon thousands of transfer greater than $10K occurring every day.   And a CTR is not to be confused with a SAR, Suspicious Activity Report, which a bank can submit to FinCEN pretty much on any amount if the bank smells something fishy.

 

OP, 

 No limit on what you can transfer.  And actually doing a lot of little transfers can draw more attention than larger transfers.  No need to worry about the amounts you want to transfer and the purpose.  Just do it.

 

Typo...I meant to type "Currency Transaction Report"....not Current Transaction Report.

[wwest5829]

Easiest way for me was to simply do an EFT from my Fidelity account to my Bangkok Bank Account through the Bangkok Bank NYC. Shows up here within a couple or three business days. Wire transfer fees I used only in the beginning and were much more expensive. Bought condo in 2012 and sold last year.

[hereforgood]

20 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Easiest way for me was to simply do an EFT from my Fidelity account to my Bangkok Bank Account through the Bangkok Bank NYC. Shows up here within a couple or three business days. Wire transfer fees I used only in the beginning and were much more expensive. Bought condo in 2012 and sold last year.

 is is this the type of transfer that they are going to stop allowing April one next year?

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, hereforgood said:

 is is this the type of transfer that they are going to stop allowing April one next year?

Yes anyone transferring money to Bangkok Bank via deposits in their New York branch needs to be aware that that facility will end in early 2019. There are several lengthy threads on this topic on Thai Visa.

 

 The problem apparently was that these dollar transfers between two domestically registered banks in the US were not being reported as foreign exchange transactions.

 

you can, of course, still do transfers to Bangkok bank in Thailand as designated foreign wire transfers using BB's SWIFT code and this may or may not involve the New York branch as a correspondent bank .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Suradit69

[kjun12]

On 9/15/2018 at 2:05 AM, tsocr said:

I don’t know if there is a limit, but the bank will report amount is 10k or more to the IRS.


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Why do you feel compelled to comment on this topic when you obviously know nothing about the subject?

[3421abc]

I did a wire transfer over 30k twice. BEFORE YOU WIRE THE FUNDS go to the bank here and tell then to give you a better rate and they WILL. Over 1million baht you get a slightly better rate but if you dont tell them in advance they will not give it to you

[flexomike]

I have transferred over $40,000 a couple of times, no problem whatsoever

[The Theory]

You only need to see how much your US bank allows you for every transfer from US bank to Thai. 

And you need to report to IRS if the fund in your overseas accounts exceed $50,000. 

[Jingthing]

10 minutes ago, The Theory said:

You only need to see how much your US bank allows you for every transfer from US bank to Thai. 

And you need to report to IRS if the fund in your overseas accounts exceed $50,000. 

There won't be a limit at his levels. If any.

There is no such reporting to the IRS. 

It's to the treasury department.

It is very important to do when required as the penalties for not reporting are MASSIVE. 

There is FBAR and also FATCA.

All U.S. with foreign accounts need to learn the rules.

Yes he would definitely need to file an FBAR. Not sure about FATCA. 

 

https://www.goldinglawyers.com/fatca-reporting-2017-10-things-you-need-to-know-for-u-s-tax-compliance/

Edited September 16, 2018 by Jingthing

[The Theory]

12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

There won't be a limit at his levels. If any.

There is no such reporting to the IRS. 

It's to the treasury department.

It is very important to do when required as the penalties for not reporting are MASSIVE. 

There is FBAR and also FATCA.

All U.S. with foreign accounts need to learn the rules.

Yes he would definitely need to file an FBAR. Not sure about FATCA. 

 

https://www.goldinglawyers.com/fatca-reporting-2017-10-things-you-need-to-know-for-u-s-tax-compliance/

FBAR report is for less than 50,000 , if the the total fund exceed 50,000 reporting to IRS is mandatory ( for US addresses) as well as FBAR.

Unless his living address is Thailand.

in that case the limit for IRS report is about $250,000 if my memory still ok. 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by The Theory

[Jingthing]

Just now, The Theory said:

FBAR report is for less than 50,000 , if the the total fund exceed 50,000 reporting to IRS is mandatory as well as FBAR. 

Yes, of course it is.

Info was in the link.

I already said he DEFINITELY would need to file an FBAR.

The rule for FBAR is if you have foreign accounts which in composite go over 10,000 USD at any time during the year. 

As detailed in the link, the rules for FATCA are more complex. 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, The Theory said:

You only need to see how much your US bank allows you for every transfer from US bank to Thai. 

And you need to report to IRS if the fund in your overseas accounts exceed $50,000. 

Don't confuse/mix FBAR FinCEN From 114 and IRS Form 8938 reporting requirements.  FBAR reporting amount is over $10K; 8938 for unmarried or filing separately is $50K.  Different reporting requirements and trigger amounts required for each.   Different animals. 

 

See comparison/full details at below IRS webpage...partial quote also below.

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements

Quote

 

The Form 8938 filing requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer’s obligation to file FinCEN Form 114 (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts). Unlike Form 8938, the FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is not filed with the IRS. It must be filed directly with the office of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, separate from the IRS. 

Individuals and domestic entities must check the requirements and relevant reporting thresholds of each form and determine if they should file Form 8938 or FinCEN Form 114, or both. Form 8938 and Instructions can be found at /form8938. FinCen Form 114 and Instructions can be found through FinCen’s BSA E-Filing System, http://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Pib

[flexomike]

2 hours ago, The Theory said:

FBAR report is for less than 50,000 , if the the total fund exceed 50,000 reporting to IRS is mandatory ( for US addresses) as well as FBAR.

Unless his living address is Thailand.

in that case the limit for IRS report is about $250,000 if my memory still ok. 

 

FBAR is $10,000 

[The Theory]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Don't confuse/mix FBAR FinCEN From 114 and IRS Form 8938 reporting requirements.  FBAR reporting amount is over $10K; 8938 for unmarried or filing separately is $50K.  Different reporting requirements and trigger amounts required for each.   Different animals. 

 

See comparison/full details at below IRS webpage...partial quote also below.

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements

 

 

1 hour ago, flexomike said:

FBAR is $10,000 

$10,000  don’t need to be reported geniuse ???

[The Theory]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Don't confuse/mix FBAR FinCEN From 114 and IRS Form 8938 reporting requirements.  FBAR reporting amount is over $10K; 8938 for unmarried or filing separately is $50K.  Different reporting requirements and trigger amounts required for each.   Different animals. 

 

See comparison/full details at below IRS webpage...partial quote also below.

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements

 

Ok whole brain ???

whatever makes you happy ?

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, The Theory said:

 

$10,000  don’t need to be reported geniuse ???

Come again?

Quote

An annual FBAR must be filed with the Treasury whenever a taxpayer has an interest in, or signature authority over, a foreign financial account with a value over $10,000 any time during the calendar year. It makes no difference if the average amount in the account during the year is less than $10,000 or all the money is withdrawn by the end of the year. If the account held more than $10,000 any time during the year, the FBAR must be filed.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/irs-reporting-rules-foreign-bank-accounts-fbar.html

 

To add, the above is incomplete. It's not only about one account. For example if you had 9000 in one account and 1100 in another, that adds up to over 10K USD and BOTH accounts must be FBAR reported. 

[MyFriend You]

On 9/14/2018 at 8:05 PM, tsocr said:

I don’t know if there is a limit, but the bank will report amount is 10k or more to the IRS.


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Almost correct, he will have to report the amount of his foreign bank account every year - if it is over $10K   -  they may come back with questions, IRS asked me in a letter why I had more than $$$K in a foreign bank - I answered   -  High Life Style, Expensive tastes  -  they  sent me another letter asking about Interest, I sent them back  $00.00 per annum.  Never heard from then again, that was 10 years ago.  I still file FBAR every year.............

Edited September 16, 2018 by TunnelRat69

[Jingthing]

Yes but the original concern was about US Bank reporting of external wires over 10k which is a different thing and explained by Pib.

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[SteveInBKKandMAUI]

As good advice above states, talk to your bank or financial organization in BOTH USA and Thailand.  Just cover yourself with talk and documents.  You will be fine.  Good Luck!

[Peter Denis]

Maybe this is off topic due to the specific nature of the OP's question.

But when transfering money abroad it is wise to check up front what exchange rate will be applied as well as the bank transfer fee, and the time it will take to have the funds on your thai bank account.

In my experience, making use of TransferWise < https://transferwise.com/ > is the fastest, cheapest and most transparent way to transfer money.  TransferWise applies the actual middle exchange-rate between selling/buying (always better than any bank selling rate) and charge very modest fees for their service, and money is on your Thai bank account within 1 or 2 days while you are being kept up to date on the steps of the process by e-mail and on-line.

 

[Retfed50]

On 9/15/2018 at 3:40 PM, Pib said:

It is not reported to the IRS.  It is reported to FinCEN which stands for Financial Crimes Enforcement Network office of the U.S. Treasury.  It's reported on a Current Transaction Report (CTR)....a quite common, automated, everyday occurrence with thousands upon thousands of transfer greater than $10K occurring every day.   And a CTR is not to be confused with a SAR, Suspicious Activity Report, which a bank can submit to FinCEN pretty much on any amount if the bank smells something fishy.

 

OP, 

 No limit on what you can transfer.  And actually doing a lot of little transfers can draw more attention than larger transfers.  No need to worry about the amounts you want to transfer and the purpose.  Just do it.

 

Unless you physically bring more than $10,000 in currency into the bank, a CTR will not be filed. Hence the name, "Currency Transaction Report".

[flexomike]

17 hours ago, The Theory said:

 

$10,000  don’t need to be reported geniuse ???

Sorry, anything over $10,000 will require an FBAR report

[Jingthing]

13 hours ago, SteveInBKKandMAUI said:

As good advice above states, talk to your bank or financial organization in BOTH USA and Thailand.  Just cover yourself with talk and documents.  You will be fine.  Good Luck!

Again, I think the OP needs to post in the REAL ESTATE forum.

It's very important that he links the wire to the condo he is buying. 

He will need a document from the Thai bank showing that if he ever hopes to repatriate the funds back the USA on a sale. 

It's been a while since I did this so he needs fresher, current, specific advice.

He's not getting that here. 

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, flexomike said:

Sorry, anything over $10,000 will require an FBAR report

Of course. Even if it hits his Thai bank account for five minutes out of the year. Those are the rules. Don't mess with FBAR!

Again, I'm unclear on FATCA rules but that should be looked into as well (obviously much more than 10K for that). 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Jingthing