High interest UK savings a/c not PFIC?

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bagpuss
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Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2014 3:40 pm

High interest UK savings a/c not PFIC?

Post by bagpuss »

Any pointers to UK based GBP savings account with reasonable interest rates, that is not considered a PFIC by the IRS. I am a UK passport holder, resident in the US (PA) with a green card. Thanks.
ClaycordJCA
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Re: High interest UK savings a/c not PFIC?

Post by ClaycordJCA »

This topic is now in the Non-US Investing forum.
tubaleiter
Posts: 247
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2021 11:58 am

Re: High interest UK savings a/c not PFIC?

Post by tubaleiter »

No savings account will be a PFIC - you're just looking for a bank account paying interest, there's no "corporation" that you own.

I suspect your bigger challenge will be finding a UK bank willing to open an account for somebody who a) is a US taxpayer and b) not resident in the UK. I expect some of the bigger, more international-friendly banks will do so, but probably not with great rates.

MoneySavingExpert is my go-to place to find the best rates: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savin ... -interest/ That said, most of the top payers are small, often app-only banks, unlikely to be interested in the complexity of international customers. I know for sure Zopa won't open accounts for US citizens, and presumably not US tax residents, can't speak to the others.

As a US citizen resident in the UK, I have most of my cash in Chase UK (who are probably worth checking into, since they're the UK arm of a giant US bank) and Premium Bonds (which are not allowed for people resident in the US due to US gaming laws).

Also worth noting that US savings interest rates are a bit higher than UK at the moment, so may be worthwhile just leaving cash in USD.

If nothing else, as usual Interactive Brokers is an option. 3.431% interest on holdings above £10,000 (or 4.070% above $10,000): https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/en ... -rates.php
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