RetireJapan

I wonder how this has changed with the migration to IBSJ accounts, in terms of FBAR reporting... I just asked IBSJ about this and was told my account is reportable to the IRS as a foreign financial asset. So, US persons should be reporting IBSJ accounts on both the FBAR and Form 8938 (assuming thre...

... I have used the IB data for reporting, not my own spread sheets. ... Realized and Unrealized gains (you are only interested in the total of Realized gains/losses) ... Hi gaijin86, If you're using the gain/loss data provided in a US brokerage account, it doesn't sound like you're doing the neces...

Under the 1954 US Japan Estate Inheritance and Gift Tax Convention (https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/treaty/pdfs/A-S38(3)-256.pdf), your wife is treated no differently than a US citizen spouse. A good article on the matter is available here (google translate does a fair job with it)...https://ksla...

Another credit union to consider would be Navy Federal, if you're eligible. Excellent service and being resident overseas is a non-issue b/c they serve thousands of members in the same situation. They can handle the foreign address on the account and associated credit cards (note: changing the accou...

For my purposes, Wise would have been significantly more expensive. Transferring USD direct from my US bank to Sony Bank (and then exchanging with Sony) was the simplest and lowest cost option. Coffeespoon did the same with Mitsubishi. Wise is an unnecessary middleman that adds cost, complexity, and...

I realize this is an old post, but thought I could offer my opinion for future reference. And if you notice this post, tokyoal, maybe let us know what you decided to do? As you probably already found out, Fidelity isn't an option because they will not open a new account for anyone outside the US...e...

Thank you TokyoWart. Appreciate your input.
You're right...my returns wouldn't match with/without the conversion.
I'm just aiming to file correctly and be able to explain/justify differences if necessary.

Thanks for the link Teflon!

Thank you Teflon and captainspoke for your responses. My preferred theory is the same as yours Teflon. It is reasonable, logical, and to my benefit:)...but that may not be enough. The concern is exactly what captainspoke expressed... My US tax return is going to show more 'income' than my Japanese t...

I closed my Shinsei account when I opened the Sony account. So far so good. The English language site is not as robust as the Japanese site but sufficient for my purposes thus far. And I should clarify my statement about the Sony account not being insured... Any foreign currency balance you hold wit...