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Expat life / Tax Complications of Opening US Investment & Bank Accounts While Living Abroad
« on: September 20, 2019, 09:54:40 AM »
I’m an American citizen who moved to Canada in 2011. While I should have done a lot more financial research, I was smart enough to keep my US bank accounts. Along with my bank accounts, I have a Vanguard investment account (only IRAs, no taxable account) and a US based credit card while using my parents' mailing address.
This is a topic that I don’t see discussed a lot on expat blogs, but what are the potential risks of using my parents' address with my current accounts or if I were to open up a taxable account with Vanguard or high interest savings account? They live in a state that collects income and capital gains taxes.
My current thought is that I should stick to buying US-domiciled ETFs through a Canadian-based online brokerage. Opening up any additional US financial based accounts could cause potential tax complications, like being seen by the IRS and the state tax authorities as a resident of state where I don’t actually live.
Am I missing something or am I on the right track? Why isn’t this topic more widely discussed online? Are people afraid of being tracked down because it’s kind of a gray area?
This is a topic that I don’t see discussed a lot on expat blogs, but what are the potential risks of using my parents' address with my current accounts or if I were to open up a taxable account with Vanguard or high interest savings account? They live in a state that collects income and capital gains taxes.
My current thought is that I should stick to buying US-domiciled ETFs through a Canadian-based online brokerage. Opening up any additional US financial based accounts could cause potential tax complications, like being seen by the IRS and the state tax authorities as a resident of state where I don’t actually live.
Am I missing something or am I on the right track? Why isn’t this topic more widely discussed online? Are people afraid of being tracked down because it’s kind of a gray area?