I moved to Romania two months ago. Even if I rent an apartment here and have a temporary residence permit, all the banks have asked for another address in my home country. Even if I told them, I don't even live there, they just said it didn't matter. Even when the lawyer firm formed the company for me, they still asked for any other address than my Romanian one. This was the first time I've left my home country and I wonder, do every other bank in the EU ask for this? Why isn't my Romanian ID enough, the address to the apartment that I rent is right there. What's the point of showing them an address I don't even live at? And what they are going to do with this address anyway?
Why do Romanian banks ask for an address?
- Thread starter thedirtyteller
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They ask it because regulations told them so. They must identify where you pay taxes.
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But I will be paying taxes here in Romania and not in my home country, so that doesn't make any sense.
Find another bank outside Romania.
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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.
From what I understand it's very difficult to open a bank without being a resident or without any connections to that country. Otherwise, I wouldn't have minded driving down to either Bulgaria or Hungary if that was the case.
If your on EU resident its actually fairly easy to open a bank account at many EU banks while sat in your bedroom.
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And will this work if I show them my temporary resident permit from Romania?
Then they won't open it. I have tried with three different banks, in addition to the law firm that needed that info when forming the company. I believe it's some sort of stupid regulation they have.
I many Eastern European countries/former Soviet Republics the concept of "legal address" vs. "de facto address" is still alive.
Legal address = where you were born, are registered to vote ...., i.e. your roots.
De facto address = the place where you can be contacted.
There is no way around this.
However, why not give the Romanian bank an address in your passport country as "legal address"?
Last edited: Sep 17, 2022
Yes
Whatever Romanian banks have going on is not reflective of behavior of other banks in EU. If you need a local Romanian account details specifically then just use Wise.
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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.
How would this work taxation-wise?
Thanks for this info. I have never heard of this before. What about Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia and Hungary, do you know if they also have the same regulations? Or where can I find this out by myself, if possible? I haven't had much luck in emailing banks here in Romania.
I forgot to add, do you know what they do with this address? I gave them my old address, and I told them I didn't live there, but they didn't care. I also asked if they would send anything there, but they apparently didn't know. They just said it's for the system and then shrugged their shoulders. Not the best customer service, but that's expected.
Last edited: Sep 17, 2022
Just give them any address if they don't ask for any proof, its just to fill the form on their computer for legal reason and all the KYC bulls**t all the banks in the world have to comply with ...
My guess is if you happen to be suspected of money laundering or terrorist activity then they will hand this information to the authority and they will have some leads for the investigation.
You gave them your passport so just write down the address on your passport and that's it ... its all just bs regulation crap from the eurogoulag you are in really ...
Btw, there are many hurdle in opening bank accounts and overall doing business outside your home country, this kind of little detail is not one of them ... If you start to do business abroad like this and you stop at this you are going to have a very hard time.
Last edited: Sep 18, 2022
My guess is if you happen to be suspected of money laundering or terrorist activity then they will hand this information to the authority and they will have some leads for the investigation.
You gave them your passport so just write down the address on your passport and that's it ... its all just bs regulation crap from the eurogoulag you are in really ...
Btw, there are many hurdle in opening bank accounts and overall doing business outside your home country, this kind of little detail is not one of them ... If you start to do business abroad like this and you stop at this you are going to have a very hard time.
Last edited: Sep 18, 2022
Estonia and Czech Republic do not use this system anymore.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan still use it. Some of them more strict (e.g. Uzbekistan), some less (e.g. Armenia).
At the end it does not matter because nobody is going to contact you at your legal address. Only the de facto address serves as the point of contact (if at all - postal delivery is not common in any of these countries).
Not sure what you mean here. But tax is tax and you pay it if you owe it.
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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.
Some jurisdictions and banks ask for your permanent residence. As you mentioned you only have a temporary residence permit.
I have encountered the same issue in different countries and different banks and there is no way around. They don't even care what address you indicate there as long as the country matches with your citizenship unless you can proof permanent residence (with a permanent residence card) in another country.
The bank will probably report your bank account by CRS to your home country. If you have nothing to hide and you really broke ties there by being there a limited time, have no more assets and indicated in the civil register your address abroad this should be no problem.
Still even you live abroad with all proof, some European countries still will try to tax you and then a good tax lawyer is required.
I have encountered the same issue in different countries and different banks and there is no way around. They don't even care what address you indicate there as long as the country matches with your citizenship unless you can proof permanent residence (with a permanent residence card) in another country.
The bank will probably report your bank account by CRS to your home country. If you have nothing to hide and you really broke ties there by being there a limited time, have no more assets and indicated in the civil register your address abroad this should be no problem.
Still even you live abroad with all proof, some European countries still will try to tax you and then a good tax lawyer is required.
Indeed, only very few countries do CRS reporting the right way. Countries with a system of legal address/de facto address are definitely not in this group of correct reporting.
You can buy a house in Hungary or Bulgaria for 1000-3000$.... so , what's the problem ?
As a tax consultancy firm based in Bucharest we know the inner workings of the local banks very well.
The banks work quite primitive and take any address that is stated in your document of identification.
In most passports there is no complete address of residence, but in many national IDs.
Once you can prove to the embassy of your origin in Bucharest, that you are resident in Bucharest they might issue a new document of identification with the new address in Romania.
If you present this new document to the bank, the changes will be made, accordingly. But you will need six months of records and some processing time with the embassy to get to this point.
It is the only practical way, that I am aware of, to change your address with the bank.
The banks work quite primitive and take any address that is stated in your document of identification.
In most passports there is no complete address of residence, but in many national IDs.
Once you can prove to the embassy of your origin in Bucharest, that you are resident in Bucharest they might issue a new document of identification with the new address in Romania.
If you present this new document to the bank, the changes will be made, accordingly. But you will need six months of records and some processing time with the embassy to get to this point.
It is the only practical way, that I am aware of, to change your address with the bank.
What you explain above would mean that Romania reports 99% of all foreigners systemically wrong. Only very few countries issue a national ID to a citizen who lives permanently abroad and even fewer write the full foreign address on a national ID.
How about showing the Romanian bank a Tax ID or permanent resident card of a third country as proof of address/proof of legal residency?
- Example: Potential customer of a Romanian bank is a Portugese citizen who intends to open a bank account by showing his Portugese passport + his permanent residence permit of Switzerland. The customer also has a temporary residence permit of Romania. He can only provide his permanent address in Switzerland and his temporary address in Romania to the bank since he has no address in Portugal (he left Portugal for good 20 years ago). Will the Romanian bank refuse this customer? Where will the Romanian bank report this customer for CRS purposes??
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