Need to sell ETFs in US broker -> Transfer cash to EMI / Bank -> Transfer cash to Crypto Exchange. Best EMIs/Banks?

[DavidS]

EU citizen

Situation:
- ETFs in US stock broker. They have to be sold and money has to be transferred to EMI / Bank. Preferably non-CRS reporting.
- Now sum has to be transferred to crypto exchange.
- Crypto is bought.

Preferably non-CRS reporting entities.

6-7 digits.

Origin: 100% clean crypto gains that were transferred into stock, now stock has risen and will be sold and more crypto will be bought with this sum.

Need to find the EMI / Bank for middle step. Please advise.
Can prove source of money, all the documents are ready.

Why this hassle of removing all ETFs? CRS obviously. Brokers started reporting.
ETFs can be frozen, crypto cannot.

 

[Martin Everson]

Just open a Wealth Management account with Bank of Georgia in Georgia. Ask for their Wealth Management Section and specifically a "Golden Lion" account if they still offer this. Hopefully they have not started collecting tax info as my info is from late 2019 sadly 🙁. When completing their Source of Funds form there is a section under Annex 1 for crypto currency as source of funds where they require:

"A receipt from the service you bought the bit
coins from (for example, an exchange) and a
screenshot from your wallet that shows the
transaction from that service to you"

Then send the money from ETF's to them. You can link your BoG account to mycoins.ge (switch site to English at bottom of page) and buy crypto.

Georgia has committed to join CRS but will not exchange information until 2024 so there is still time. If everything is closed down before end of 2022 then no issues as you got 2 years after that before CRS kicks in if they choose to report previous tax year in 2024.

P.S Otherwise just open an account with a Puerto Rico bank and transfer funds there and then onwards to an exchange. Don't bother trying to bring such funds into an EU EMI especially some shady Eastern European setup as crypto reporting in EU is gonna be a problem area going forward.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
Just open a Wealth Management account with Bank of Georgia in Georgia. Ask for their Wealth Management Section and specifically a "Golden Lion" account if they still offer this. Hopefully they have not started collecting tax info as my info is from late 2019 sadly 🙁. When completing their Source of Funds form there is a section under Annex 1 for crypto currency as source of funds where they require:

"A receipt from the service you bought the bit
coins from (for example, an exchange) and a
screenshot from your wallet that shows the
transaction from that service to you"

Then send the money from ETF's to them. You can link your BoG account to mycoins.ge (switch site to English at bottom of page) and buy crypto.

Georgia has committed to join CRS but will not exchange information until 2024 so there is still time. If everything is closed down before end of 2022 then no issues as you got 2 years after that before CRS kicks in if they choose to report previous tax year in 2024.

P.S Otherwise just open an account with a Puerto Rico bank and transfer funds there and then onwards to an exchange. Don't bother trying to bring such funds into an EU EMI especially some shady Eastern European setup as crypto reporting in EU is gonna be a problem area going forward.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot.

bankfogeorgia.ge is officially address?
And can you later buy crypto with this money in normal, popular sites like coinbase.com and similar?

And which Puerto Rico bank do you recommend?

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
bankfogeorgia.ge is officially address?
Click to expand...

Yes

DavidS said:
And can you later buy crypto with this money in normal, popular sites like coinbase.com and similar?
Click to expand...

You need to ask them directly. I have never used coinbase with them.

DavidS said:
And which Puerto Rico bank do you recommend?
Click to expand...

I don't recommend any of them personally. You would need to ask some of the following directly about their latest stance on crypto as its a moving target:

Elite International Bank
Strategic Bank | 100% Safe & Digital Private Bank
Euro Exchange Bank - Euro Exchange International Bank
ItalBank International | Un banco americano para latinoamericanos
GKBANK
FV Bank

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
Yes



You need to ask them directly. I have never used coinbase with them.



I don't recommend any of them personally. You would need to ask some of the following directly about their latest stance on crypto as its a moving target:

Elite International Bank
Strategic Bank | 100% Safe & Digital Private Bank
Euro Exchange Bank - Euro Exchange International Bank
ItalBank International | Un banco americano para latinoamericanos
GKBANK
FV Bank
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for all the info!

What ways can you open an account in Bank of Georgia without meeting them in person?

Hard to travel with covid and all.

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
What ways can you open an account in Bank of Georgia without meeting them in person?
Click to expand...

You do not need to meet them in person to open an Wealth Management account which starts from 250,000 GEL minimum deposit. You can email the wealth management department and they will send you all forms to complete. Then you just need to certify passport and proof of address in your home country and send it all back to them.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
You do not need to meet them in person to open an Wealth Management account which starts from 250,000 GEL minimum deposit. You can email the wealth management department and they will send you all forms to complete. Then you just need to certify passport and proof of address in your home country and send it all back to them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but it seems only a year worth of using the bank, since CRS will come in 2023, right?

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
Thanks, but it seems only a year worth of using the bank, since CRS will come in 2023, right?
Click to expand...

Yes for the financial year 2023 your account will be reported in 2024. Sadly we are in a very fast moving regulatory landscape 😕.

Ultimately you may want to just immigrate before taking any action in the end. Sounds crazy but it is very easy to move abroad these days especially with remote work residency programs.

P.S Whatever you do DO NOT use an EMI in the EU as the information is easily accessed by other EU states outside of CRS.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
Yes for the financial year 2023 your account will be reported in 2024. Sadly we are in a very fast moving regulatory landscape 😕.

Ultimately you may want to just immigrate before taking any action in the end. Sounds crazy but it is very easy to move abroad these days especially with remote work residency programs.

P.S Whatever you do DO NOT use an EMI in the EU as the information is easily accessed by other EU states outside of CRS.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. But before this is done, everything has to be "cleared" and back into crypto. Then go to good jurisdiction, get a new passport and legally cash out crypto with low tax and then you can do anything with it. Does that make sense?

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
Sounds good. But before this is done, everything has to be "cleared" and back into crypto. Then go to good jurisdiction, get a new passport and legally cash out crypto with low tax and then you can do anything with it. Does that make sense?
Click to expand...

You ideally want to save yourself the hassle and just move to a tax free country and be done with all this.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
You ideally want to save yourself the hassle and just move to a tax free country and be done with all this.
Click to expand...

Looks like that is what will have to be done.

One more thing: with bank of georgia, you said to transfer money to a Georgian crypto exchange.

Why Georgian? Will Bank of Georgia forbid to work with western crypto exchanges?

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
Why Georgian? Will Bank of Georgia forbid to work with western crypto exchanges?
Click to expand...

No just for ease as BoG is available as a source/destination on exchange in Georgia. You can use western ones but western ones do report outside CRS. Just like how Coinbase reported to HMRC.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[DavidS]

Martin Everson said:
No just for ease as BoG is available as a source/destination on exchange in Georgia. You can use western ones but western ones do report outside CRS. Just like how Coinbase reported to HMRC.
Click to expand...

Western crypto exchanges report per CRS?

First time hearing. I thought CRS changes were not implemented yet that subject crypto exchanges to CRS reporting.

Have I missed something?

 

[Martin Everson]

DavidS said:
First time hearing. I thought CRS changes were not implemented yet that subject crypto exchanges to CRS reporting.

Have I missed something?
Click to expand...

Did you see link I posted? I post it below again.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2...sers-its-handing-their-details-to-the-taxman/
Western governments can gather data from exchanges and credit card companies etc the same way they can ask Ebay to provide sales data etc. CRS not needed. If anyone thinks that exchanges are not handing over data outside CRS then I don't know what to say.

Toggle signature
Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.