Hello,
I have received a letter from my UK bank saying that they need some information about my tax residency status, and include a form of their own with the letter. They call the form a 'Tax Residence Self-Certification for Individual' form and there is a heading that says CRS & FATCA INDIVIDUAL FORM on the form itself. I am here looking for some advice about what to do with it!
My background is that I was born in the US but moved to the UK in 1992 when I was 11, and have been a British citizen and lived in the UK since then. I have no intention of going back to the US.
After a quick look for information on the internet to see what the bank's request was about I mostly saw advice from ants, banks and the government suggesting that I should immediately start filing US tax returns... so I was very grateful to find this forum offering more reasonable (and welcome!) advice, so thanks very much for that.
I do have a question though about my best course of action with regards to the bank's letter, and would be grateful for some advice.
The letter says that the bank has to legally confirm my tax residency status, and that they have enclosed a form for me to fill in. It then says that if they do not hear from me "we'll have to on your information to the tax authorities based on our current records, which might be out of date". The form states my name and my current address, but the country of birth section is left blank. It then asks if I am a US person, and if so for my TIN.
I have seen some stories about people not getting back to their bank and having their bank s frozen, and a lot of advice that it is a bad idea to ignore this letter from my bank. But what I am wondering is if it is such a bad idea to ignore it. It seems like they are going to on my information in any case, and the letter is not actually threatening any other action. So is it a bad idea to just let them get on with ing on what they know about me already, and make the apparently reasonable assumption that I will never hear from the IRS? This would also have the benefit of not actually informing my bank that I am a US person, which seems to have negative effects for some. Or will it somehow effect my UK bank if I do not reply and am therefore seen as not complying with their request for information?
Anyway, my options seem to be to a) ignore the letter b) reply saying that I am a US person and provide them with my SSN (which I have managed to find) or c) lie on the form and say that I am not a US person. I am inclined to go with option a) but am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on this!
And thanks again to all the helpful people who reply to posts on this forum, it is much appreciated
I have received a letter from my UK bank saying that they need some information about my tax residency status, and include a form of their own with the letter. They call the form a 'Tax Residence Self-Certification for Individual' form and there is a heading that says CRS & FATCA INDIVIDUAL FORM on the form itself. I am here looking for some advice about what to do with it!
My background is that I was born in the US but moved to the UK in 1992 when I was 11, and have been a British citizen and lived in the UK since then. I have no intention of going back to the US.
After a quick look for information on the internet to see what the bank's request was about I mostly saw advice from ants, banks and the government suggesting that I should immediately start filing US tax returns... so I was very grateful to find this forum offering more reasonable (and welcome!) advice, so thanks very much for that.
I do have a question though about my best course of action with regards to the bank's letter, and would be grateful for some advice.
The letter says that the bank has to legally confirm my tax residency status, and that they have enclosed a form for me to fill in. It then says that if they do not hear from me "we'll have to on your information to the tax authorities based on our current records, which might be out of date". The form states my name and my current address, but the country of birth section is left blank. It then asks if I am a US person, and if so for my TIN.
I have seen some stories about people not getting back to their bank and having their bank s frozen, and a lot of advice that it is a bad idea to ignore this letter from my bank. But what I am wondering is if it is such a bad idea to ignore it. It seems like they are going to on my information in any case, and the letter is not actually threatening any other action. So is it a bad idea to just let them get on with ing on what they know about me already, and make the apparently reasonable assumption that I will never hear from the IRS? This would also have the benefit of not actually informing my bank that I am a US person, which seems to have negative effects for some. Or will it somehow effect my UK bank if I do not reply and am therefore seen as not complying with their request for information?
Anyway, my options seem to be to a) ignore the letter b) reply saying that I am a US person and provide them with my SSN (which I have managed to find) or c) lie on the form and say that I am not a US person. I am inclined to go with option a) but am wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on this!
And thanks again to all the helpful people who reply to posts on this forum, it is much appreciated