Offshore Bank where Phillipenes resident can open

[Freeman111]

I could not find a Philippine brokerage service that I could buy US stocks through. Backpacker do you know of any?

IBKR will open an account easily from everywhere except from sanctioned blacklisted countries.

 

[RexS9999]

IBKR will open an account easily from everywhere except from sanctioned blacklisted countri

But if you are a tax resident of a CRS country and open such an account while living in the Philippines you will be subject to reporting. You can open an account with a Philippine brokerage but can only trade Philippine stocks. This is the issue. From what I learned from this forum there is no way to get around this.

 

[Freeman111]

But if you are a tax resident of a CRS country and open such an account while living in the Philippines you will be subject to reporting. You can open an account with a Philippine brokerage but can only trade Philippine stocks. This is the issue. From what I learned from this forum there is no way to get around this.

ok but the point is to tell IBKR that you are a tax resident of the Philippines, pretty sure it must be very doable to get a tax ID there if you spent over 183 days in the country.
the whole point of moving to a territorial taxation country like the philippines is to become tax resident.

 

[backpacker]

ok but the point is to tell IBKR that you are a tax resident of the Philippines, pretty sure it must be very doable to get a tax ID there if you spent over 183 days in the country.
the whole point of moving to a territorial taxation country like the philippines is to become tax resident.

Unfortunately, with regards to the Philippines it does not work like this.
First of all, the Philippines does not have a 183-day-rule. This being the Philippines (where everything is a bit different to the rest of the world), in order to become a tax resident a person has to have the intention to reside permanently in the country (make PH the person's permanent habitual abode). This condition excludes any and all people with visa extensions - they are not considered to be "resident aliens", even if they stay the entire year in PH. Reason: A simple visa extension is not indefinite, however the indefinite remark is needed. To give an example, a visa 13a would be indefinite. Also a resident permit under E.O. 1037 (Special Resident Retirees Visa -SRRV) is indefinite, hence qualifies for being a tax resident from the onset.

So, in order to get the necessary documents (certificate of the residence, community tax certificate, national tax id ...) a person needs to have a permanent and indefinite residence permit of the Philippines.
Do not confuse a residence permit with a simple tourist ACR-I card!

the whole point of moving to a territorial taxation country like the philippines is to become tax residen

Please note that the Philippines is not a territorial taxation country.
There is only an exclusion of resident aliens and certain groups of citizens (e.g. OFW's) from worldwide taxation.

The difficulty here: Quite a lot of Filipinos have dual citizenship. Once retired some of them return to the Philippines and settle there for their Golden Years. At first a logical decision since living costs are very low. However, very often the decision proofs to be costly since they are taxesd on their worldwide income because of not being considered a "resident alien". That means a tax rate of up to 35%. Not exactly cheap!

 

[MiltonStone]

IBKR will open an account easily from everywhere except from sanctioned blacklisted countries.

but that would not be a bank account but a brokerage account!

 

[Freeman111]

Unfortunately, with regards to the Philippines it does not work like this.
First of all, the Philippines does not have a 183-day-rule. This being the Philippines (where everything is a bit different to the rest of the world), in order to become a tax resident a person has to have the intention to reside permanently in the country (make PH the person's permanent habitual abode). This condition excludes any and all people with visa extensions - they are not considered to be "resident aliens", even if they stay the entire year in PH. Reason: A simple visa extension is not indefinite, however the indefinite remark is needed. To give an example, a visa 13a would be indefinite. Also a resident permit under E.O. 1037 (Special Resident Retirees Visa -SRRV) is indefinite, hence qualifies for being a tax resident from the onset.

So, in order to get the necessary documents (certificate of the residence, community tax certificate, national tax id ...) a person needs to have a permanent and indefinite residence permit of the Philippines.
Do not confuse a residence permit with a simple tourist ACR-I card!


Please note that the Philippines is not a territorial taxation country.
There is only an exclusion of resident aliens and certain groups of citizens (e.g. OFW's) from worldwide taxation.

The difficulty here: Quite a lot of Filipinos have dual citizenship. Once retired some of them return to the Philippines and settle there for their Golden Years. At first a logical decision since living costs are very low. However, very often the decision proofs to be costly since they are taxesd on their worldwide income because of not being considered a "resident alien". That means a tax rate of up to 35%. Not exactly cheap!

Thanks for the details, I am not very familiar with the Philipines yet so this is golden for me, thanks again!

 

[RexS9999]

Unfortunately, with regards to the Philippines it does not work like this.
First of all, the Philippines does not have a 183-day-rule. This being the Philippines (where everything is a bit different to the rest of the world), in order to become a tax resident a person has to have the intention to reside permanently in the country (make PH the person's permanent habitual abode). This condition excludes any and all people with visa extensions - they are not considered to be "resident aliens", even if they stay the entire year in PH. Reason: A simple visa extension is not indefinite, however the indefinite remark is needed. To give an example, a visa 13a would be indefinite. Also a resident permit under E.O. 1037 (Special Resident Retirees Visa -SRRV) is indefinite, hence qualifies for being a tax resident from the onset.

So, in order to get the necessary documents (certificate of the residence, community tax certificate, national tax id ...) a person needs to have a permanent and indefinite residence permit of the Philippines.
Do not confuse a residence permit with a simple tourist ACR-I card!


Please note that the Philippines is not a territorial taxation country.
There is only an exclusion of resident aliens and certain groups of citizens (e.g. OFW's) from worldwide taxation.

The difficulty here: Quite a lot of Filipinos have dual citizenship. Once retired some of them return to the Philippines and settle there for their Golden Years. At first a logical decision since living costs are very low. However, very often the decision proofs to be costly since they are taxesd on their worldwide income because of not being considered a "resident alien". That means a tax rate of up to 35%. Not exactly cheap!

Thanks for all this information. Very helpful to me. If I had a retirement visa or married a Filipino and became a resident, and had a bank/brokerage account in Singapore or Hong Kong would this info be shared with the Philippine tax department? Assuming I opened these accounts without giving my home (western) country TIN? Philippines is not part of CRS.

 

[backpacker]

Thanks for all this information. Very helpful to me. If I had a retirement visa or married a Filipino and became a resident, and had a bank/brokerage account in Singapore or Hong Kong would this info be shared with the Philippine tax department? Assuming I opened these accounts without giving my home (western) country TIN? Philippines is not part of CRS.

No, nothing will be shared.

 

[mythoffshore]

The best choice in Asia, Singapore or Hong Kong. Unfortunately, both are CRS members.

 

[Mike Forman]

The best choice in Asia, Singapore or Hong Kong. Unfortunately, both are CRS members.

So in that case it's best to open an account there with residence in a non crs country as Philippines,or residence in a country that doesn't care you have funds outside.

Hong Kong and Singapore are indeed the best choice, hard to open an account though. It took me several months in Hong Kong. Singapore I still need to try.

 

[mythoffshore]

So in that case it's best to open an account there with residence in a non crs country as Philippines,or residence in a country that doesn't care you have funds outside.

Hong Kong and Singapore are indeed the best choice, hard to open an account though. It took me several months in Hong Kong. Singapore I still need to try.

Hong Kong just walk into a bank and you can open an account. Singapore requires some money to be prepared. : (

 

[Mike Forman]

Hong Kong just walk into a bank and you can open an account. Singapore requires some money to be prepared. : (

Hong Kong just walk into a bank? Maybe 5 years ago but now definitely not anymore.

They ask for address proof in Hong Kong as well a good reason. If you don't have any ties with Hong Kong or China I don't believe you can still open and account. Most local banks require temp/permanent HK residence card or won't even open one. Citi bank, SC, bochk and probably HSBC are possible but with a local address or large deposit. SC also tries you to sell some life insurance or investment which woudo increases the chance of opening the account (which was my experience)

Which bank now can still walk in and open easily a bank account in Hong Kong?

 

[mythoffshore]

Hong Kong just walk into a bank? Maybe 5 years ago but now definitely not anymore.

They ask for address proof in Hong Kong as well a good reason. If you don't have any ties with Hong Kong or China I don't believe you can still open and account. Most local banks require temp/permanent HK residence card or won't even open one. Citi bank, SC, bochk and probably HSBC are possible but with a local address or large deposit. SC also tries you to sell some life insurance or investment which woudo increases the chance of opening the account (which was my experience)

Which bank now can still walk in and open easily a bank account in Hong Kong?

Perhaps my experience is aimed at the Chinese. My friend with a Chinese passport walked straight into a bank, deposited about $2,000 and successfully opened a personal bank account.

 

[erni]

Perhaps my experience is aimed at the Chinese. My friend with a Chinese passport walked straight into a bank, deposited about $2,000 and successfully opened a personal bank account.

Your friend, and from my experience here on the forum and looking at how you started to post on your new profile, My friend tells me that you are up for something and trolling at the moment

 

[mythoffshore]

Your friend, and from my experience here on the forum and looking at how you started to post on your new profile, My friend tells me that you are up for something and trolling at the moment

Sorry, I'm not teasing. But for residents of East and South Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are still good options. And the backpacker's reply on the fifth floor also mentions Asian solutions. It is now very difficult for mainland Chinese to go to Hong Kong due to the epidemic control. (This is difficult to explain) So for people from mainland China, Taiwan, opening an account in Hong Kong is as simple as walking into a bank. I'm sorry I don't have the experience for people from other regions. What I replied to in the other thread was also tested by me, except that he may not apply to everyone. If you really suspect I am phishing, I can private message you with the relevant information to verify the authenticity.

 

[Forester]

@Mike Forman and @mythoffshore: Friends, you are not in contradiction.

Hong Kong just walk into a bank? Maybe 5 years ago but now definitely not anymore.

They ask for address proof in Hong Kong as well a good reason. If you don't have any ties with Hong Kong or China I don't believe you can still open and account.

Perhaps my experience is aimed at the Chinese. My friend with a Chinese passport walked straight into a bank, deposited about $2,000 and successfully opened a personal bank account.

That's the core. People with a Chinese passport are treated differently in HK than the others; and this is not surprising.
From that what I have heard, the UK passport is still slightly advantageous in HK, too; but a) just very slightly, anyway you must show some local ties, b) I have no personal experience with that.