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You are here: Experts > Real Estate > Banking: U.S. > Using Banks and Bank Accounts > US Citizens who have safe-deposit boxes located on swiss soil
Expert: Alexander J. Hay
Date: 9/20/2008
Subject: US Citizens who have safe-deposit boxes located on swiss soil
Question
Are, United States citizens required to report to the Internal Revenue Service, any bank safe-deposit boxes they have, in Switzerland? I do not mean Swiss bank accounts.
Is the most secure way for individuals to invest there assets, is to have it transferred in to one troy ounce gold bars, store in a safe-deposit boxes located in Swiss banks vaults, located on Swiss soil. Will this prevent anybody including the Internal Revenue Service, ex-wife, bankruptcy court, and creditors from locating it?
Is this a crime under US Federal/State Law?
Answer
This is not a crime, and I do not believe there are any reporting requirements. But it is not the safest way to protect your assets. Now I am not saying that having a little bolt hole with some gold and a few rounds of ammo is the worst thing in the world, but that is not how you would want to protect your assets. First of all it is a myth that Swiss banks are secret. They are perhaps the least secret place in the world. Plus I believe it is a bad strategy to pursue. There are better, easier, and less expensive ways to hide away a little bit of money for a rainy day, and there are certainly better more legal ways of protecting your assets. Ultimately, when you do this you are relying on secrecy and not the law to protect you. And secrets are seldom ever safe. What if you want to gain access to the assets? You will be risking the secrecy every time you do.
There are legal ways of protecting your assets. You might want to go to:
http://www.squireorg.com/
and I would suggest you start with the Wealth Preservation Fortress for some ideas.
Please feel free to contact me with questions.
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