Paying tax on savings

[Elora & Rob 15]

By the time I move i will have a decent sum of money saved up from selling house, car and everything else plus just saving in general. I want enough money to support myself and fiance if I struggle to find work for the first year.

My question is how does it work paying tax on this money in the US. Whats the best way to do it to save the most amount of cash and pay the least amount of tax?

[Robert&Karen 264]

That is money that you have saved on your own and already paid taxes on. It is your property. You have to declare amounts over $10,000 that you bring into the USA but I do not see how you can be taxed on it.

[Sunny123 44]

That is money that you have saved on your own and already paid taxes on. It is your property. You have to declare amounts over $10,000 that you bring into the USA but I do not see how you can be taxed on it.

my s/o had the same issue when he first arrived here in the US he brought all cash (cray I know) . But he just had to declare it and he did not have to pay any taxes. Question could you maybe have your spouse/ soon to be set up a bank account for you here and you just wire if over from your country?

[Elora & Rob 15]

nice one.

what i am planning to do is set up a joint account with my fiance. every month pay myself a wage from another account uk or us depending on exchange rates.

so I won't have to be any tax on this correct??

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

nice one.

what i am planning to do is set up a joint account with my fiance. every month pay myself a wage from another account uk or us depending on exchange rates.

so I won't have to be any tax on this correct??

You are not understanding what people have told you. There is no US income tax or import tax or customs charge on your UK money. You can bring it in cash in your suitcase on the plane, transfer it all at once by wire, or transfer it in little bits over time. No difference. NO TAX.

Your only requrement is that the US government wants to be informed of any amounts exceeding $10,000. It's not so they can tax it. It is part of the banking laws of the Patriot Act passed after 9/11. They only want a paper trail of large sums of money coming into the country because of money laundering and terrorist funding. It helps them when they have known terrorists they are investigating to know where they are getting their money and what they are doing with it. . . a paper trail to help them figure it out. If you bring it in cash, you report it to the customs guy. If you transfer it, the receiving bank is required by law to report it if it exceeds $10K. If you later change banks and transfer it to a new bank, it gets reported by the banks.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Nich-Nick

[scotinmass 588]

I transferred a lot of money via XE.com. When I arrived here the exchange rate was terrible so I left it in a bank account in the UK until it improved. I transferred $9,900 at a time until it was all over here. That way I didn't have to declare it and didn't have to fill out any forms. Even if I had moved it all at once and declared it I wouldn't have had to pay tax on it. You only have to prove the money came from a legitimate source and as it was earned outside the US and was already taxed Uncle Sam keeps his hands off!

I wish he's keep his hands off the money I'm earning here!