RetireJapan

Thanks for the reply, everyone. Here's a brief update: I called Schwab and they said I could just fill out a form to change my account to an "international" account. Sounds good. I filled it out and sent it back. Now they've sent me a notice stating that due to living abroad my current acc...

Hey there Retire Japan. Sorry if this is the not place to post this- I was not sure if it goes here or in "Banking." I have Charles Schwab Investor Checking, and I am a US citizen living full-time in Japan. Investor Checking does not support international addresses, but when I called Custo...

Hey there Retire Japan. Thanks always for the help. Just wondering- do any of you have a US checking account with your Japanese address on it? I would like to keep a US checking account, but my current bank does not support foreign addresses, so I am thinking of switching banks. I would prefer one w...

Thanks very much to both of you for your responses, and apologies for my late reply. This is really helpful! It sounds like I won't need to declare anything because I'm just selling junk and I'm positive I won't make more than 200,000 yen (I'd be surprised to make 1 mon!), but I will also keep track...

Hey there Retire Japan. I am thinking about selling some stuff on eBay (even with the current mail delays). Right now my account is a US account, and actually you can't change countries with PayPal. I found this out when I tried to update my address. You need to close your account entirely and make ...

Hello Retire Japan. Question for you. I know US citizens cannot both take the foreign earned income exclusion and contribute to an IRA. I already have a rIRA funded from wages while working in the US. Of course I'm not contributing to it now that I live in Japan. Once I am old enough to make withdra...

I am pretty sure a US citizen could open an account with Vanguard without living in the US, because the tax identification paperwork they request would cover what they need. They also allow foreign mailing addresses and didn't have a problem when I explained my situation on the phone. Anyone interes...

Hello TokyoWart and RetireJapan. Thanks very much for your help. My US investments are less than the thresholds TokyoWart mentioned, and they are really simple, just one index fund from one investment firm (it's a target-date fund). So the 1099 should be pretty straightforward. It sounds like I will...

TokyoWart, thanks again for this detailed response. So in the beginning you were just taking your info to city hall, but they audited you based on the documents they prepared? That's crazy. "Getting audited" sounds really scary, but I assume all you really do is provide a bunch of official...

Sorry for my late reply. I don't recall what employer info, if any, I provided upon registration. I don't think they've asked for any updates since then, and I assume if they needed updates, they would have asked for it when they sent me the IRS form I mentioned above. If you're concerned, you could...