Transferring 20,000+ to US

shiyongseng · Post by **shiyongseng** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:00 am

I am an American that has been overseas for about 7 years my wife is Chinese-Indonesian. We are going to the States very soon, but worry about the money we have to take to the U.S. because we don't want it taxed. Some of the money belongs to my wife, which was made from working in the family shop. In the transfer of an excess of 10,000 it is subject to taxation, but how can I avoid this? Is there something on the tax papers that shows not all of the money belongs to me? Can I do multiple small transfers to one account from Custom House and it won't show? We had thought about taking it with us in travelers checks on the flight over, but we would still have to fill out tax information.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:23 am

Money transfers are not subject to taxation, as this is not income.

All your *income* is taxable in US, regardless of where it is earned, or where it is kept.

Transfers done thru banks do not need any special reporting by the individual.

shiyongseng · Post by **shiyongseng** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:43 am

But I thought that if more than 10,000 is deposited at one time in the bank they notify the IRS, which may then require proof of where it came. I made more than 10,000 of the money over 7 years ago and I don't have the pay stubs after all of that time. We don't have any proof where it came from, actually. Some of it is income from working in Indonesia on a very low salary- a little over 1,000 USD a month, but the cost of living here is low so it's easy to save. I heard that an income so low overseas isn't taxable, but that's just what I heard.

The main thing is I'd like to get it from Indonesia to home easily, no hassle. I need to start a life in America with my new family.

tsanaha · Post by **tsanaha** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:56 am

bank does alert the treasury on huge amount money transfer. i think over 10k will cause bank to alert the treasury. it has nothing to do with IRS.

now it may be the problem if you have never filed FBAR (for over 10K) as an american citizen for your offshore assets (even the fact you live offshore), file FBAR is also to the treasury not IRS.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 9:56 am

No, there is no such request for 'proof'.

Income earned overseas, may or may not be taxable, but it must be reported.

And any foreign accounts you have need to be reported to Treasury every year.

I won't be answering anymore questions on this thread, as it is not related to US-Canada taxation.