Personal Finance & Money Asked by GetsBetter on June 18, 2021
I have shares of stock with US Etrade, but I no longer live in the US and no longer have a US bank account. I want to cash out those shares and use that cash to invest in cryptocurrency and possibly other stocks. I will then be investing from the country I currently live in (which is where my bank account is) and whatever taxes I would pay from future earnings would be in my current country’s currency.
I believe that since the stock was bought through US Etrade it must be cashed out in USD into a US bank account. Please correct me if I’m wrong, because if I could just be taxed in my current country it would make things easier. I’m guessing it doesn’t work that way.
To get the cashed out sum I am considering transferring ownership of the shares to someone in the US I trust (which I think is possible), having that person cash out the shares and keep enough to cover what they will owe in taxes as a result of cashing out, and have them either wire that money to me or buy crypto and then send it to my crypto wallet (which I assume would incur lower fees than wire transfer). That is, if this person is willing to help in this way.
Before asking this person to do this, I want to ask here: are there any better ways to get my money to myself? I would rather be taxed in my current country than the US since I no longer live there. I also wondered if it’s possible to go straight from stocks to crypto without cashing out, trading one type of property for another and avoid turning it into capital gains, but I haven’t heard of this being possible. Again, please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.
There are many possible misconceptions in your question, that could all greatly impact a good answer.
Firstly, it seems you may still be a US citizen, and therefore still required to file and pay taxes as a US resident [with the exception that some types of income will be taxed primarily in your country of residence {especially employment income, and most likely capital gains}, and that you can use those foreign taxes to offset your US taxes otherwise owing in most cases].
Second, you seem to think that cryptocurrencies are... magic tax-free tools? No. In any country where this has ever come up, crypto has been confirmed to be regularly taxable.
You also seem to suggest that you would want to 'transfer' [what does this mean, legally?] shares to another person, who would then convert to cash and then pay you back with crypto. Apart from the crypto step not saving you anything, acting as an unlicensed financial intermediary is typically illegal to avoid money laundering type activity. So good luck getting someone to do this for you without themselves trying to defraud you.
You also seem to think that you have the ability to choose where to pay taxes. Which... well you do, if you choose to renounce your US citizenship [will require you to recognize gains on all your assets first, anyway].
I highly recommend you hire a professional before you do something drastic that puts you in severe hot water.
Answered by Grade 'Eh' Bacon on June 18, 2021
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