Don't understand bank notification! Help please!

Hannah7 said:
Hi,

I'm gc holder and opened student bank account at BoA in September. That time I didn't have my plastic GC, so I showed my passport and SSN as a proof of permanent residence. That process was very smooth, I got my debit card and internet banking.

I have left United States temporarily. My friend sent me to Europe mail I got in my U.S. address.

I don't understand the content of the letter!

I don't know what they want and whether it applies to me. Can you check that letter please? :

http://arschenegger.nazory.cz/strange_letter.jpg
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It looks like that bank opened your account as foreigner. You should call your branch and explains to them.
 
This is for tax of your interest generated by your money. You originally might be on foreign status. Now you are a GC holder and not on foreign status anymore. If you are going to keep your GC, you should claim as a US PR, not a foreigner. This letter is triggered by your claim of foreign status (form W-8BEN), I guess. GC holder is not on foreign status.

If you don’t want to keep you GC, change to foreign address. If you don’t do anything, they just simply take you not on foreign status and withhold tax for your interest. Unless you have huge amount of money and yearly income, the interest tax should be small. Anyway, you will file tax, wont you? You need to keep the same status for bank and tax return.
 
nobody2006 said:
This is for tax of your interest generated by your money. You originally might be on foreign status. Now you are a GC holder and not on foreign status anymore. If you are going to keep your GC, you should claim as a US PR, not a foreigner. This letter is triggered by your claim of foreign status (form W-8BEN), I guess. GC holder is not on foreign status.
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Thank you! Of course I want to keep my bank account as resident.

nobody2006 said:
If you don’t want to keep you GC, change to foreign address. If you don’t do anything, they just simply take you not on foreign status and withhold tax for your interest. Unless you have huge amount of money and yearly income, the interest tax should be small. Anyway, you will file tax, wont you? You need to keep the same status for bank and tax return.
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I guess I should file tax return in spite of the fact, that I have $0 income, right? What will I have to do? Is it difficult?

I'm finishing my studies in Europe so I really have no income and my U.S. bank account has like $100 on it. But I dont wanna problems with immigration, so I should make a photocopy of my green card??
 
They think you are a foreigner who gave them a US mailing address. You need to tell them that you are a US resident
 
Hannah7 said:
That time I didn't have my plastic GC, so I showed my passport and SSN as a proof of permanent residence.
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Seems like you didn't specifically point out the permanent resident stamp in your passport, and they didn't notice it, so they think you are a non-US resident.
 
Jackolantern said:
Seems like you didn't specifically point out the permanent resident stamp in your passport, and they didn't notice it, so they think you are a non-US resident.
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They were completely wrong, because I showed them the stamp. The employee who was opening account for me was Chinese ... so maybe didn't understand English well.

BUT

Now I am out of the country until (April) next year. And it seems to be impossible to change the status of my account via email, phone or online banking.

Do I face a real problem? Can I just let it be and make it up next year when I get back?
 
The person probably didn't understand the significance of the passport stamp.

Did they take a copy of the passport stamp? If yes, you may be able to correct it via the phone or writing a letter, pointing out that you supplied evidence of being a permanent resident and the evidence is in their own records.

Because they think you are a nonresident, they will withhold a 30% tax on the interest you make. If it is a non-interest account, or if it is just $100 in the account, that tax won't make a difference to you. Unless they show nonresident on the statements, you should be able to clear this up when you return. And when you file US taxes, you can claim it back.

However, if you plan to use the bank account to show ties to the US, $100 might be too small. If you are a US resident, they will expect that a significant portion of your money (preferably most of your money) is stored in the US, and they're not going to believe that $100 is the bulk of your finances if you're traveling to and from Europe.
 
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Doing nothing does not hurt, I guess. If you want, contact the band and tell them you are a PR. Simple.

I guess all these were from this "form W-8BEN".
 
Thank you both!

Jackolantern: because the dollar is so weak these days I decided to move my savings to Switzerland. I hope it doesn't matter where my savings are ... Many people , including Americans, have their money around the world, haven't they?

But I understand you, that it seems better for immigration purposes to have money in America.
 
The dollar has actually made significant gains in the last few weeks against most currencies, almost wiping out the declines of the last 2-3 years
 
I don't get why people do not want to move money to the US when US$ is weak.
It's a good investment opportunity for long run.
 
Hannah7 said:
Thank you both!

Jackolantern: because the dollar is so weak these days I decided to move my savings to Switzerland. I hope it doesn't matter where my savings are ... Many people , including Americans, have their money around the world, haven't they?
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But even those Americans who live in America but have overseas accounts will have substantial amounts of money in the US in order to pay their bills and run their lives.

It is not so much that having a US bank account proves you live in the US; rather, it is that NOT having a US bank account (or having one with only trivial money in it) is an indicator that you don't really live in the US ... because when people live in a country, it is the usual thing to have a significant portion of their money in a bank in the same country. French residents have bank accounts in France, Australian residents have bank accounts in Australia, and Brazilian residents have bank accounts in Brazil, even if they also have money elsewhere. Now there are some people who lived in the US all their life and don't have a US bank account at all, but those are people who don't have a bank account anywhere in the world, either because they are too poor for it to be worth it, or they simply don't trust banks. But you can't make a credible case to be either, if you are doing trans-Atlantic traveling and have accounts in Europe.
 
I agree with you :) however ...

I just hope that after 9 months away won't be stripped of my gc ... I think I have another good reasons like finishing studies commenced years ago before even registering for lottery. Plus I have credit card, pemanent address and dr.license ...

fortunately I'll be without problem regardless ignoring the 6 months rule. I dont wanna be citizen ...

That's it ;-)
 
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