Best Residency for Wise outside of the EU

[yngmind]

Bump on this.

If I change my EU Wise address to a Thai address, will they require proof of residency in Thailand?

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[blastah]

yngmind said:
Bump on this.

If I change my EU Wise address to a Thai address, will they require proof of residency in Thailand?
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Yes. But the problem is that for Thai residents, you don't have the option to have an a physical card.

 

[yngmind]

theblast3r said:
Yes. But the problem is that for Thai residents, you don't have the option to have an a physical card.
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I do have a Thai driving license, will it work?

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[yngmind]

DTV Thai Visa seems like an option

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[blastah]

yngmind said:
I do have a Thai driving license, will it work?
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Yes, it works

 

[yngmind]

Update on this:
I just provided them with my Thai address (without any utility bills), and it was verified immediately. However, two days later, they requested additional documents, like tax returns (proof of income), and that was it.

They only requested these documents for a personal account, not corporate.

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[Cloudbanck]

Isnt it best to just keep the Wise account in the old EU/UK address? Not so difficult to keep a bank statement or bill in that address and have mail forwarding. Or if you own property (or can use friends/family address) then it's even easier. Anyway, Wise basically never asks to prove the address again if you opened the account in a high tax country.

 

[yngmind]

Cloudbanck said:
Isnt it best to just keep the Wise account in the old EU/UK address? Not so difficult to keep a bank statement or bill in that address and have mail forwarding. Or if you own property (or can use friends/family address) then it's even easier. Anyway, Wise basically never asks to prove the address again if you opened the account in a high tax country.
Click to expand...

I believe wise will report you to your home country if you keep the old address there.

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[daniels27]

yngmind said:
I believe wise will report you to your home country if you keep the old address there.
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I think that's what many people do. If you open a bank account elsewhere, there are also good chances that the bank will ask for the tax id of your citizenship country and report there too.

Because of that, many do not really worry about these CRS reports being sent. Trust me, countries are discarding a lot of those reports on emigrants each year.

 

[Cloudbanck]

yngmind said:
I believe wise will report you to your home country if you keep the old address there.
Click to expand...

Ok, so say you are a Belgian citizen and opened a UK Wise account while you were a resident in the UK.

You keep the Wise account in your old UK address, but you have lived in Thailand/UAE/Philippines/Congo/Mexico the last decade.

So the UK authorities could of course get data from Wise, if they wanted. And maybe Wise even does reporting to your passport country Belgium. But if Belgium receives such a report, they'll just go, this guy doesn't live here, not our problem, discard.

Last edited: Jan 26, 2025

 

[yngmind]

Cloudbanck said:
Ok, so say you are a Belgian citizen and opened a UK Wise account while you were a resident in the UK.

You keep the Wise account in your old UK address, but you have lived in Thailand/UAE/Philippines/Congo/Mexico the last decade.

So the UK authorities could of course get data from Wise, if they wanted. And maybe Wise even does reporting to your passport country Belgium. But if Belgium receives such a report, they'll just go, this guy doesn't live here, not our problem, discard.
Click to expand...

It just adds layers of hassle. The tax authority can contact you, request an explanation for the transactions, and require you to prove that you are not liable for taxes.

Why would you need it if you can avoid it?

Those EMIs do report you to the tax authorities, which is why they ask for your tax number.

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[daniels27]

Cloudbanck said:
Ok, so say you are a Belgian citizen and opened a UK Wise account while you were a resident in the UK.

You keep the Wise account in your old UK address, but you have lived in Thailand/UAE/Philippines/Congo/Mexico the last decade.

So the UK authorities could of course get data from Wise, if they wanted. And maybe Wise even does reporting to your passport country Belgium. But if Belgium receives such a report, they'll just go, this guy doesn't live here, not our problem, discard.
Click to expand...

In case it is UK, we recently had a discussion with @Martin Everson. You may want to make sure HMRC has a foreign address of you on file where you can receive mail. They may send things as I've learned from Martin.
[IMG alt="Martin Everson"]http://localhost/data/avatars/s/8/8698.jpg?1727588489[/IMG]

Post in thread 'Revolut 2024 auto CRS-'​

Jan 1, 2025

daniels27 said:
@Martin Everson thank you for your report. How did the HMRC contact you when you were no longer at that address?
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My old landlord decided it was a good idea to ask how I was doing over a year later and dropped into conversation that I had a letters from HMRC that arrived half a year ago and should he forward it. That's when drama started 😕. Just wish he told me earlier. This is why they say you should give HMRC a forwarding address after you leave to avoid this type of issue.

daniels27 said:
What is you experience on this?
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I have had banks insist I complete a W8-BEN even when I...

• Martin Everson

 

[Cloudbanck]

yngmind said:
It just adds layers of hassle. The tax authority can contact you, request an explanation for the transactions, and require you to prove that you are not liable for taxes.
Click to expand...

Which tax authority?

The UK one in the example above? Yes, you should have a mail forwarding service set up from the UK address you are using, but you are clearly not a UK tax resident in the example given, so I think it is quite unusual that UK tax authorities would contact you.
Would need to see the details of the Martin Everson case.

The Belgian one? They'll just discard it.

yngmind said:
Why would you need it if you can avoid it?
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Because you get great EMI/bank accounts while living in countries where you cant have good EMI/Bank accounts using a local address. I have been doing this for over a decade with accounts in multiple countries, while having West Africa as main home base. Has been zero hassle, zero enquiries from tax authorities.
And good luck trying to open a bank account with an address in West Africa! Basically all western expats/foreigners here keep bank accounts in western countries, and often using the old address.

yngmind said:
Those EMIs do report you to the tax authorities, which is why they ask for your tax number.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they only report to places where you are not a resident, so it gets discarded.

And ideally where you actually reside, there is no such thing as a tax number.

Last edited: Jan 26, 2025

 

[Cloudbanck]

Cloudbanck said:
Which tax authority?

The UK one in the example above? Yes, you should have a mail forwarding service set up from the UK address you are using, but you are clearly not a UK tax resident in the example given, so I think it is quite unusual that UK tax authorities would contact you.
Would need to see the details of the Martin Everson case.

The Belgian one? They'll just discard it.


Because you get great EMI/bank accounts while living in countries where you cant have good EMI/Bank accounts using a local address. I have been doing this for over a decade with accounts in multiple countries, while having West Africa as main home base. Has been zero hassle, zero enquiries from tax authorities.
And good luck trying to open a bank account with an address in West Africa! Basically all western expats/foreigners here keep bank accounts in western countries, and often using the old address.


Yeah, but they only report to places where you are not a resident, so it gets discarded.

And ideally where you actually reside, there is no such thing as a tax number.
Click to expand...

Additionally some traditional banks or niche banks allow you to keep your account even if you move to an odd country / tax haven country. So here you can use your actual address. Say it is in the UAE, so the UAE will get info of your western bank account, and not do anything with it. Or say you (like me) live in a more disorganised country in West Africa or somewhere, then reporting isnt set up, so they will not receive anything.

Last edited: Jan 26, 2025

 

[cer955]

pieceofmind said:
Ya my Wise account was completely crippled when I had a residency in the UAE. Royalty owns banks and communication and are important pressure points for controlling a people.
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Is it only for personal account?
What if a UAE resident opens a corporate Wise account for a US LLC (or any company in a allowed country)?

 

[Monchip]

yngmind said:
I believe wise will report you to your home country if you keep the old address there.
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I don't know if wise really reports to tax authorities yet. If they would they would ask for a utility bill or tax id and they don't or at least they didn't a couple of years ago.

 

[daniels27]

Monchip said:
I don't know if wise really reports to tax authorities yet. If they would they would ask for a utility bill or tax id and they don't or at least they didn't a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

A couple of years ago, you could walk into a bank with a totally fake passport and walk out with a bank account booklet.

 

[Cloudbanck]

cer955 said:
Is it only for personal account?
What if a UAE resident opens a corporate Wise account for a US LLC (or any company in a allowed country)?
Click to expand...

I think Wise will care about where the owner of the US LLC is a resident, and not allow countries where Wise does not operate.
On the other hand, if you already have a personal Wise bank account, you can open an account for your US LLC with practically one click.

 

[sknomad]

Wise has a banking license in Belgium. They report.
Wise report to the country of tax residency + to all countries where any kind of the ties is found by them. Their system detects ties by:
IP address used for log in is used more than onece in a longer time period.
Phone number

 

[JackAlabama]

sknomad said:
Wise has a banking license in Belgium. They report.
Wise report to the country of tax residency + to all countries where any kind of the ties is found by them. Their system detects ties by:
IP address used for log in is used more than onece in a longer time period.
Phone number
Click to expand...

good to know. Im gonna lowkey troll them like that 😉