Sending Money back to the USA

birdbrain02 wrote:

Has anyone sent back money to their US bank ? are there limits ? I recently sold a small piece of property that I've owned for 20 years, an unimproved lot. Will the IRS want their pound of flesh ? Most US accountants I've talked to don't really know the answer.

I am not aware of any requirement that a foreign bank withhold taxes for the IRS.  Certainly, the local country would have a bit to say about that!  But, believe me, the U.S. will have knowledge of the wire transfer.  Your U.S. bank will likely file either a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) or a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) for a large wire from Panama.  Even without a bank report, the Fed wire is not secret.

A wire transfer of funds FROM the U.S. may be subject to the 30% withholding under FATCA depending on where the money is being wired.  Wire transfers to a country that has not signed an IGA (Inter-Governmental Agreement) with the U.S. or in some instances if the foreign bank has not registered as a foreign financial institution (FFI) may trigger your U.S. bank withholding 30%.  Remember, this is not a tax, just a withholding that you report on your tax return for refund.  Of course, your transfer may raise some curious agent's attention on the transaction and any gain on the underlying transaction is subject to income tax - nothing new there.

I'm planning the same thing - from Banistmo in Panama to Chase Bank in the U.S.  Let me know how yours goes.