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I have to second this. I recently lived in China for a few months. As long as you have an address, visa, and passport(and are willing to hand the Chinese govern
by sambroner 8y ago
I have to second this. I recently lived in China for a few months. As long as you have an address, visa, and passport(and are willing to hand the Chinese government your social) it’s easy to get a bank account.
that was scary
- outworlder 8y agoYou need to give the Chinese government your US SSN? Please tell me I have misunderstood.
- United857 8y agoWhen I was in China, they accepted my US passport number for things like opening bank accounts. Things may have changed, but I doubt it.
- turtlecloud 8y agoI believe almost international banks require SSN for US citizens. It’s a US thing and why Swiss banks are less popular. US IRS doesn’t want its citizens to hide money in other countries and pressures foreign countries to comply
- Cyph0n 8y agoHeh, then I guess you do not know the lengths the IRS goes to track the income of US persons wherever they are. Double taxation of US citizens has even pushed some dual citizens to renounce their US citizenship...
- outworlder 8y agoThen IRS should have information about foreign accounts. And guess what, they already ask for that. It's fine. The other way around is what I find concerning.
- Cyph0n 8y agoThe IRS requires that local banks take the personal data of US citizens simply because it does not trust Americans to cooperate willingly. And I think that's a fair assessment, because no one would willingly pay taxes to two countries at once.
- briandear 8y agoYou have to do that in pretty much any foreign country because of FATCA — assuming they’ll allow you to open a bank account at all.
- geomark 8y agoNo banks ask me for my SSN in Thailand when I open accounts. They report as required by FATCA. Presumably your US passport number is adequate.
- paulie_a 8y agoThey probably already have it anyways. From the extensive apt campaigns.
- Youden 8y agoTo add more specifics to the other comments: If you're required to pay taxes in the US for any reason, you have to give just about any bank in the world that will accept you either an IRS form W9 (citizen or "US person") or W8-BEN (anyone else). The US government requires this.
- Bayart 8y agoThat's because of FACTA. I know some banks over here (France/Western Europe) outright refuse US clients because they don't want to deal with that stuff.
- HaloZero 8y agoChina and the US have a bilateral agreement about this I believe. It's to make sure Chinese citizens aren't storing money in the US and vice-versa. I imagine a US bank would do something similar to a Chinese national.
- briandear 8y agoNothing to do with the bilateral agreement, it’s because of FATCA.