Lloyds Banking Group share offer

What a complete shambles.    Well we put the proceeds of our US house sale into NS&I since we value return OF investment above all else, so we're far, far above $50,000.

I will file the appropriate paperwork with next years tax returns as I have always done so I'm clearly not attempting to hide anything from either NS&I or from the IRS.   We'll see what happens beyond that, but hopefully if there comes a time for NS&I to question or close our account we will have used the money to buy a UK house or we will have moved back to the US and repatriated the money to US banks.

Could you move it out of the (theoretically reportable) Direct Saver into non-reportable NS&I accounts such as Direct ISA and Premium Bonds, until the position becomes clearer?  There should be no risk of a non-reportable account being summarily closed, given that they've already been informed of your citizenship.

I could ut I can't be bothered.   The only down side to a closing would be the money would be dumped into our BS account with the risk that if there's a financial collapse and BS goes bust we'd lose it.

Overall I feel it's a small risk a) of NSandI closing it in the near future, b) of our BS going bust (Nationwide) in the near future.

I've called and spoken to multiple NSandI reps, some of whom have put me on hold to clarify with their managers the situation about UK resident US citizens: every single one has told us that what we are doing is perfectly OK.

By Christmas we'll either be house hunting in the UK, or planning the move back to the US, at which point I'll wire the whole lot back to our US accounts which have unlimited deposit insurance.

Just to get back to the Lloyds share sale. From a US/UK tax perspective there's no nasty things hiding in the shadows. There's just the usual US foreign reporting if you are over the thresholds and your responsibility to pay the right amount of tax to the UK and the US on dividends and capital gains.

As a US citizen you should not own collective foreign investment funds, but shares in individual companies or individual bonds are ok. I have no idea how difficult it is now for US citizens to open UK brokerage accounts.

From a purely investing stand point I don't like individual shares, I much prefer mutual funds and ETFs. So what is the US citizen living in the UK to do? The trick is to have thought about this before you moved to the UK and opened an account with a company like Vanguard. Then you can buy US based funds that are also UK reporting and avoid the draconian tax rules of both HMRC and IRS while investing sensibly in low cost funds......job done!

If I ever move back to the UK I will leave most of my money in the US and I'll just have a UK cash bank account.

We do not yet know who the custodian will be; and if that custodian will refuse money from US persons...

On the strength of recent postings in this thread I've applied to (re)open a Direct Saver (which is both UK-taxable and US-taxable).  We'll see what arrives in the post - a Welcome pack or a W8-BEN.

Welcome pack.

Welcome pack.

It says on page 7 here that a US citizen cannot open an NS&I Direct Saver account at all: https://www.nsandi.com/files/published_files/asset/pdf/direct-saver-brochure.pdf

It says on page 7 here that a US citizen cannot open an NS&I Direct Saver account at all: https://www.nsandi.com/files/published_files/asset/pdf/direct-saver-brochure.pdf

I don't think any conclusions can be drawn about NS&I post-FATCA practice from my experience, given that I'm a pre-existing accountholder.  My application probably went through automatically as soon as the deposit cleared.  A W8-BEN would have been more informative.

I did notice there's a paragraph in the t&c telling me my data may be sent outside the EEA (but only in conformance with UK Data Protection Law).  I don't know if it was there before.  Also, nationality is now listed among the items for which a change should be notified to NS&I, so I will do that, and see what documentation they ask for.

I don't think any conclusions can be drawn about NS&I post-FATCA practice from my experience, given that I'm a pre-existing accountholder.  My application probably went through automatically as soon as the deposit cleared.  A W8-BEN would have been more informative.

I did notice there's a paragraph in the t&c telling me my data may be sent outside the EEA (but only in conformance with UK Data Protection Law).  I don't know if it was there before.  Also, nationality is now listed among the items for which a change should be notified to NS&I, so I will do that, and see what documentation they ask for.

Obviously, you will complete the application with your current status: UK citizen only and not a US person.

The EEA requirement has been in place due to the EU Savings Directive, but applicants from outside the EU (but not the US) may be allowed (I don't know).

It will be interesting to see if your National Insurance number has a clinging caveat denoting US personhood within the NS&I records. That receipt for $2,350 from Amsterdam is your most valuable asset until a CLN is issued.

Of course, the US Dept. of State has claimed in the past that you are still a US person until the CLN is issued, although that may be for immigration purposes in the US only. Who knows? 

Obviously, you will complete the application with your current status: UK citizen only and not a US person.

I applied online.  No questions were asked, as they already have my details.  I noticed the new requirement to report any changes in nationality when I skimmed through the t&c leaflet in the welcome pack.  I'll just write to them, when I've got time, to tell them I formerly had dual citizenship (which very likely isn't even on their records) but I'm now UK only. I see no need to even mention what country I'm no longer a citizen of.

That receipt for $2,350 from Amsterdam is your most valuable asset until a CLN is issued.

Carefully preserved, both hard copy and electronic. 

Of course, the US Dept. of State has claimed in the past that you are still a US person until the CLN is issued, although that may be for immigration purposes in the US only. Who knows?

Isn't it because that's the only way they can force people to obtain a CLN?  Dumps the burden of proof ( of non-US-ness ) on the accused.

  I'll just write to them, when I've got time, to tell them I formerly had dual citizenship (which very likely isn't even on their records) but I'm now UK only. I see no need to even mention what country I'm no longer a citizen of.

I wonder how many "ex-Yankees" (sorry people born outside the Northern States) we have on here and if we'll be getting more?