Should I keep my US bank, brokerage, investment, IRA, or retirement account if I move to Belize?
Frik De Meyere
I would recommend that if you already rely on the US system, you should leave what you already have open and just open a secondary account here in Belize to receive funds from the US.
I wouldn’t want all my financial eggs in one basket. Belize is still a Third World Country. Banking in Switzerland is okay. I would try to have to have a balance as to where my assets and accounts were located.
I wouldn’t want all my financial eggs in one basket. Belize is still a Third World Country. Banking in Switzerland is okay. I would try to have to have a balance as to where my assets and accounts were located.
I would recommend that if you already rely on the US system, you should leave what you already have open and just open a secondary account here in Belize to receive funds from the US.
I wouldn’t want all my financial eggs in one basket. Belize is still a Third World Country. Banking in Switzerland is okay. I would try to have to have a balance as to where my assets and accounts were located.
I wouldn’t want all my financial eggs in one basket. Belize is still a Third World Country. Banking in Switzerland is okay. I would try to have to have a balance as to where my assets and accounts were located.
Posted December 1, 2014
Kate Corrigan - Caye International Bank
You could transfer your US brokerage or retirement accounts, or not, depending on your circumstances. You would have to speak to your custodian on that investment account and see what the possibilities are for you. As far as I’m aware, you can’t liquidate or make withdrawals from your US tax deferred retirement account without penalties. (We don't have them in England but I have worked with people from the US who do have them.)
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You could transfer your US brokerage or retirement accounts, or not, depending on your circumstances. You would have to speak to your custodian on that investment account and see what the possibilities are for you. As far as I’m aware, you can’t liquidate or make withdrawals from your US tax deferred retirement account without penalties. (We don't have them in England but I have worked with people from the US who do have them.)
You can move your IRA to a qualified account here in Belize without having to liquidate it and pay the taxes. People do that all the time. What happens is that you would self-direct your IRA or 401K, using a US custodian to do so. And once self directed you would then place the funds in an account in the name of an international LLC. The director of that LLC, I believe, would be a US custodian, and you would be given permission to be able to invest, under the same parameters under which the IRA or 401K was set up. You cannot use it for any personal investments. It is all very transparent and your investments are all reported through the same channels, but you would have more control on where these investments were being made. That said, you couldn’t go on investing into your uncle's restaurant, because you would be taking personal returns from that. That doesn’t happen. You can't pay yourself salary, or even invest in a condo that you were going to live in. I'm very limited in my knowledge in this, because this is not something the bank does. I just know that we hold the accounts that are owned by the LLCs that have investment money in them and is managed by the client. But there is a process, you must speak to the custodians of those investments to insure that they are doing it exactly to the letter and reporting everything they do; it's very important.
Posted December 1, 2014
Christian Burn
In the short term, when you move to Belize, I would recommend keeping your US bank or brokerage account or IRA, but I am not sure if that is still beneficial if you want to stay in Belize for the long term. If someone is moving to Belize, they need to be committed to that emotional decision so that they will immigrate over and essentially will let go of all their North American assets and investments, but I do not think anything needs be done overnight. I think that is a process that...
In the short term, when you move to Belize, I would recommend keeping your US bank or brokerage account or IRA, but I am not sure if that is still beneficial if you want to stay in Belize for the long term. If someone is moving to Belize, they need to be committed to that emotional decision so that they will immigrate over and essentially will let go of all their North American assets and investments, but I do not think anything needs be done overnight. I think that is a process that takes some time. I do not think that liquidating your assets right away is recommended.
The way the Canadian government and tax system is set up is a bit different than in the US. For example, whereas Americans have to expatriate in order to stop paying taxes to the US government. Canadians do not have to do that. In Canada, it works against you if you do keep your brokerage accounts, so Canadians are encouraged to let go of all of that so that you are not paying into the Canadian tax base and to do so, you are not allowed to hold any assets in Canada. So, if you are Canadian and you do not want to pay Canadian taxes you have to let go of your accounts. However, if you are from the US, none of this makes a difference; you still have to pay taxes to the US, regardless of where your accounts are located. So, if you are from the US, there is no tax advantage to not having US accounts, so I suggest that, if you like them, you keep them.
The way the Canadian government and tax system is set up is a bit different than in the US. For example, whereas Americans have to expatriate in order to stop paying taxes to the US government. Canadians do not have to do that. In Canada, it works against you if you do keep your brokerage accounts, so Canadians are encouraged to let go of all of that so that you are not paying into the Canadian tax base and to do so, you are not allowed to hold any assets in Canada. So, if you are Canadian and you do not want to pay Canadian taxes you have to let go of your accounts. However, if you are from the US, none of this makes a difference; you still have to pay taxes to the US, regardless of where your accounts are located. So, if you are from the US, there is no tax advantage to not having US accounts, so I suggest that, if you like them, you keep them.
Posted December 2, 2014