I tried opening a savings account to receive payments from abroad and they told me I need to present a Certificate of Employment. I’m not even employed. I just have clients from different countries. They said that if it was a family member, then I can open an account.
In: Other
a remittance is a transfer.
You are getting money from clients you have overseas………that’s income. The bank doesn’t want to be complicit in your tax fraud. That’s why they require you to provide them a certificate of employment.
[removed]
Your statement contradicts itself – you’re “not employed” but you have “clients”. It sounds like you are *self employed* and are getting paid by people overseas.
This is actually not an “easy” problem in the sense of “they can just mail me checks” or send payment “to my bank account”. This becomes a big international taxation issue before you even get into things like legal compliance “is this money funding terrorism” type stuff.
My advice is either to find a professional advisor in taxation or international banking and get them to guide you through it. I assume you’ll need to formalize your employment status (create an LLC or something similar)
OR
you can probably find companies on the intergoogle that offer 3rd party money routing arrangements from overseas to your bank account and can help you with the taxation and legal stuff, as a % of each payment.
man getting money from abroad sounds cool but banks make it complicated rite. they just wanna know where the money’s coming from like a kind of safety net. maybe try asking about a different type of account or a money transfer service. they sometimes are more chill about that stuff
A savings account to receive international payments? You mean a regular bank account? Don’t know in which country you are but if you already have a normal bank account you will be able to receive international payments. You just need the IBAN and BIC (SEPA / Europe) or the ACH and SWIFT code for the US. Other countries have similar things.
There’s always Revolut and Wise to open a bank account with or use Paypal.
You say you have clients so I assume you have a registered business and can open a business bank account. For taxes it’s your regular VAT / sales tax and corporate income tax or personal income tax that applies. If your revenue is large enough you need to worry about cross border taxes you have the income to hire an accountant.
bro that sounds kinda rough. banks can be so picky sometimes. remittances are just money sent home by people working abroad. if your clients are overseas maybe consider a different payment method like PayPal or something. makes life easier.
Latest Answers