Transferring Money to Finnish Bank Account from US

[acyborgkitty]

Hi, I've managed to open a Finnish bank account and I'm wondering if there are limits or any legal or tax implications to consider before transferring money from my US savings account to the Finnish one.

Thanks!

Erica

[FinlandGirl]

Hi, I've managed to open a Finnish bank account and I'm wondering if there are limits or any legal or tax implications to consider before transferring money from my US savings account to the Finnish one.

You have to pay Finnish taxes on anything you earn/inherit/gift anywhere in the world, but no limits or taxes on transferring your own money.
For large amounts the bank might ask for documentation regarding the source of the money.

[betelgeuse]

Hi, I've managed to open a Finnish bank account and I'm wondering if there are limits or any legal or tax implications to consider before transferring money from my US savings account to the Finnish one.

No tax implications as long as both accounts (and all money) are yours. At least larger transfers can trigger money laundering questions (origin of funds).

[heretostay]

You have to pay Finnish taxes on anything you earn/inherit/gift anywhere in the world, but no limits or taxes on transferring your own money.
For large amounts the bank might ask for documentation regarding the source of the money.

Not necessarily. For example, the USA and Finland have an inheritance tax treaty.

”Although an inheritor living in Finland must usually pay tax on a foreign inheritance, exceptions can be made from this general rule based on a bilateral tax treaty. Such treaties governing inheritance tax are in force with Denmark, Iceland, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America.“

[FinlandGirl]

You have to pay Finnish taxes on anything you earn/inherit/gift anywhere in the world, but no limits or taxes on transferring your own money.
For large amounts the bank might ask for documentation regarding the source of the money.

Not necessarily. For example, the USA and Finland have an inheritance tax treaty.

”Although an inheritor living in Finland must usually pay tax on a foreign inheritance, exceptions can be made from this general rule based on a bilateral tax treaty. Such treaties governing inheritance tax are in force with Denmark, Iceland, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States of America.“

Actual rules are more complicated.
Important is to be aware that you have to pay taxes when your mom gifts you 10k.

[fintel]

Hi, I've managed to open a Finnish bank account and I'm wondering if there are limits or any legal or tax implications to consider before transferring money from my US savings account to the Finnish one.

I use transferwise.com to do international transfers from US. It's great!

Any transaction under 10k is not reported to IRS and Finland I think is the same.

[betelgeuse]

Hi, I've managed to open a Finnish bank account and I'm wondering if there are limits or any legal or tax implications to consider before transferring money from my US savings account to the Finnish one.

I use transferwise.com to do international transfers from US. It's great!

Any transaction under 10k is not reported to IRS and Finland I think is the same.

There is no such automatic reporting to the Finnish Tax Authority. If the transfer is suspicious, under 10k must be reported though.

[betelgeuse]

There is no such automatic reporting to the Finnish Tax Authority. If the transfer is suspicious, under 10k must be reported though.

And money laundering reports are not done to Vero directly while it might eventually end there as well.

[fintel]

There is no such automatic reporting to the Finnish Tax Authority. If the transfer is suspicious, under 10k must be reported though.

If she is worried about triggering authorities, the best way is to convert her money into crypto currency and then cash it here in Finland.

For example, a 40 million dollar transaction will cost her 0.40 cents to move from one wallet to another.

[Upphew]

There is no such automatic reporting to the Finnish Tax Authority. If the transfer is suspicious, under 10k must be reported though.

If she is worried about triggering authorities, the best way is to convert her money into crypto currency and then cash it here in Finland.

For example, a 40 million dollar transaction will cost her 0.40 cents to move from one wallet to another.

Eh? 40M or 40k, you can be sure that the bank will freeze that money and ask for the source. I highly disagree that crypto would be the best way.

[fintel]

Eh? 40M or 40k, you can be sure that the bank will freeze that money and ask for the source. I highly disagree that crypto would be the best way.

I meant if the transaction is super large (40m) then it's better to use crypto. There are money exchanges (kraken.com and such) that would happily give you equivalent euros for your bitcoin without demanding a source of income.

[Upphew]

Eh? 40M or 40k, you can be sure that the bank will freeze that money and ask for the source. I highly disagree that crypto would be the best way.

I meant if the transaction is super large (40m) then it's better to use crypto. There are money exchanges (kraken.com and such) that would happily give you equivalent euros for your bitcoin without demanding a source of income.

Sure. But there aren't a lot of places you can buy stuff with bitcoin. Does Kraken send cash if you want change your bitcoins to euros? Prepaid credit cards?

[fintel]

Sure. But there aren't a lot of places you can buy stuff with bitcoin. Does Kraken send cash if you want change your bitcoins to euros? Prepaid credit cards?

Kraken can send euros (cash) to your Finland account or if you want you can just spend bitcoins directly using a visa debit card. There are multiple options for this. Revolut is a european bank which provides bitcoin debit cards for this purpose and there are many others.

[Upphew]

Sure. But there aren't a lot of places you can buy stuff with bitcoin. Does Kraken send cash if you want change your bitcoins to euros? Prepaid credit cards?

Kraken can send euros (cash) to your Finland account or if you want you can just spend bitcoins directly using a visa debit card. There are multiple options for this. Revolut is a european bank which provides bitcoin debit cards for this purpose and there are many others.

I can imagine seeing following line on netbank:
Deposit 40.000,00€ Kraken *frozen until money laundering investigation concluded*

Using credit card from them might be more doable.

And don't forget to pay your taxes: https://www.vero.fi/en/detailed-guidanc ... urrencies/

[betelgeuse]

Sure. But there aren't a lot of places you can buy stuff with bitcoin. Does Kraken send cash if you want change your bitcoins to euros? Prepaid credit cards?

Kraken can send euros (cash) to your Finland account or if you want you can just spend bitcoins directly using a visa debit card. There are multiple options for this. Revolut is a european bank which provides bitcoin debit cards for this purpose and there are many others.

Revolut is an electronic money institution. EMIs in daily banking look like normal banks but there are differences (like deposit insurance).

"We are authorised to issue e-money by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 (firm reference number 900562). Our company number is 08804411."

https://www.revolut.com/legal/terms