Question about tranferring money into the US?

Question

I have a sum of money I want to transfer from Russia into the US. I want to pay minimal, and no tax. I am thinking that if I buy american stock in Russia, and sell it here, I would be able to get the money. Will this method work? Is there anything else I could do?

Answer 1

Just transfer it in. There won't be any tax on the transfer, and if it's legit money, there shouldn't be any problem.

Answer 2

1. You can transfer money from Russia to the U.S. There won't be any tax liability, even when it is you money or a gift. Check if Russia will allow you to transfer the money.

2. A U.S. citizen or resident must report if at any time in a year he had more than $10,000 in foreign bank and security accounts. For this you file Form TD F 90-22.1.

3. If the money you receive is a gift from someone in foreign country, then you don't have pay any gift tax. But you must file Form 3520, if the amount is over $13,258 in 2007. (This is to make you declare that the amount is a gift).

Answer 3

If you are a US person (either citizen, green card holder or resident alien) and you have more than $10,000 in accounts in Russia(or any other country), don't forget to file the form TD F 90-22.1 by June 30th of each year. And, as always, any interest income on that money was already taxable on the 1040 series of returns.

By filing the report each year, then when you bring large sums of money into the US, the IRS is less likely to think you have unreported income.

Answer 4

Merely transferring money won't attract any tax. You will have to file informational returns but if the money isn't a taxable distribution to you there won't be any tax.

Buying depository receipts in Russia and then trying to sell them here will drive you nuts. Generally you won't be able to sell them and will have to dispose of them in Russia through a Russian broker and then transfer the funds here. A complete waste of time and money.

Just arrange for your Russian bank to wire the funds to your US bank account. It's done every day. You'll have some fees to pay but if it's a non-taxable distribution there won't be any taxes due in the US.