1

I want to wire $22,000 from my Bank of America account in the states to my checking account in Jamaica to purchase a vehicle.

  • Is there a limit on how much I can transfer?

  • Do I have to report it to the IRS or other US government agency, or will the bank take care of it?

  • Do I have to pay taxes on this money leaving the states?

Rupert Morrish
  • 7,576
  • 4
  • 27
  • 41
Bonnie
  • 11
  • 1

2 Answers2

2

I have lived in Germany for over a decade and seen several colleagues transfer house down payments from the US without problems.

Bank of America might have their own transaction limit, but there is no legal limit. All transfers over $10,000 must be reported to the Treasury. Your bank should be able to help you with that. Where you could possibly get into trouble is splitting up the amount to keep each transfer under $10k to avoid reporting. As long as you're honest, there's no problem; if you do need to split the transactions because of a limit from your bank, make sure they report them all to the US Treasury.

If you've already paid income/capital gains tax on the money, the US will not assess any further taxes. No idea what Jamaica might assess.

Amanda Debler
  • 436
  • 3
  • 5
0

You can freely transfer any amount between your own accounts, and you do not have to worry about reporting requirements; the bank will handle whatever might be needed. No taxes are to be paid either.
That is true if the money is legally acquired, and previously reported as the IRS requires.

  • if asked, you have to be able to proof that the money was legally acquired. 'Legally' here means legally according to US laws. If you cannot show where it came from, they might impound it.
  • The IRS requires you to report annually any amount of money over 10,000 that you own or have control over in foreign countries (FBAR). if you did do so, you're fine. If you did not do that in previous years, you will probably get in trouble as this is considered potential tax evasion; they might give you a fine, impound the money, - or do nothing. You can voluntarily post-report it for previous years, I'd recommend you read up on how to do that.

Some of these consequences might sound really harsh, but they are laws to catch druglords washing their dirty money and such, not to bother normal people transferring inheritances, savings, or proceeds from home sales. If your money is clean, and you follow the rules, you have nothing to worry about.

Aganju
  • 38,107
  • 8
  • 59
  • 121