The dreaded 90 day closure letter

[LuckyLuke]

Is Merrill Lynch the only game in town? Have you considered transferring your IRA assets to another provider that doesn't ask for utility bills?

And you overrate the VPN issue. They can still see that you're coming from a VPN provider, even if your IP address resolves to the US.


FATCA does not apply to money stored in the U.S.

It would help to know who those providers are...they aren't published anywhere that I know of. It's a good point about the VPN. It's hard to tell what is being shared too. Claiming foreign income exclusions on a tax return is sure to be a red flag too.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Good news, after some digging...I reached out to Schwab International and they allow expats residing in Argentina to transfer any IRA. I simply have to select Argentina as the country of residence on the online application.

 

[Stantucker]

We use Fidelity Investments, and our financial advisor, of course, knows where we live. We've never had any sort of problem in terms of what kind of investments we could have. We do use a US address. We were with Wells Fargo Investments before, with the same advisor, and didn't have any problems there either. Before Wells though we were with TIAA and they severely restricted what kind of future new investments we could have once they learned we were moving abroad.

 

[LuckyLuke]

We use Fidelity Investments, and our financial advisor, of course, knows where we live. We've never had any sort of problem in terms of what kind of investments we could have. We do use a US address. We were with Wells Fargo Investments before, with the same advisor, and didn't have any problems there either. Before Wells though we were with TIAA and they severely restricted what kind of future new investments we could have once they learned we were moving abroad.

Fidelity website says they'll grandfather existing account holders who moved but they aren't accepting any new accounts for those residing abroad.

 

[QuilmesSlo]

Good news, after some digging...I reached out to Schwab International and they allow expats residing in Argentina to transfer any IRA. I simply have to select Argentina as the country of residence on the online application.

Personally, I would be reluctant to go this route; I would be concerned that Schwab shares data that I didn't want to be shared. I would put a utility bill in my name before going this route, but of course, YMMV.

 

[SinPulgas]

yes I know. The article I posted only states the complications for the Fund managers to be compliant. Regardless of what the FATCA rules are, they are complicated enough that the managers make this type of general restriction that the OP is experiencing.

The helpful FAQ from Fidelity that @Lisandra attached also highlights Mutual Funds as an issue without explaining why.
As of August 1, 2014 customers residing outside the United States will not be allowed to purchase shares of mutual funds

My Charles Schwab brokerage account has the same restriction.

 

[LuckyLuke]

My Charles Schwab brokerage account has the same restriction.

Is this an "international" account? Is the restriction because they know you reside in Argentina? Did they ask for your DNI to report anything to AFIP?

 

[cayayine]

Howdy folks,

I recently received an email from Merrill Lynch advising me that I had 90 days to show my proof of US residency or they will close my IRA account. Some googling shows this is apparently a common occurrence of major US banks since 2021 when they began closing accounts with foreign addresses.

Thing is I never changed my TX residence address, because I still maintain a house that I rent out in the US, but their system detected that I was continually accessing my account from an Argentina IP address which flagged it for closure. For those of you not using a VPN, let my carelessness be your warning.

The email says "you can provide two forms of address verification such as: a driver's license, utility bill, or rental agreement.". No problem, I sent them my Texas drivers license and my recent mortgage statement. Done....right? Nope, they are still asking for utility bills, which are all in the name of my tenant.

Has anyone else run into this? I've heard of Argentine banks giving US citizens a hard time, but I haven't seen any expats being treated this way by their US Banks.

Are you still filing taxes in America?

 

[LuckyLuke]

Are you still filing taxes in America?

Yes I will file a full return for 2023, I won't qualify for FEIE until Tax year 2024.

 

[SinPulgas]

Is this an "international" account? Is the restriction because they know you reside in Argentina? Did they ask for your DNI to report anything to AFIP?

It is an international account and they know that I live outside of the US. I did not have to provide my DNI. Only my SS number. I did have to provide copies of two utility bills to prove that I live where I said I lived.