Opening a Bank Account Before We Arrive

[mthldy]

Hi all...
Can anyone tell me what sort of taxes we will have to pay if we open a bank account before we arrive in NZ? My OH is a NZ citizen with an IRD#. The money is from employment in the USA and we have already paid taxes on it here. Is there any tax to transfer the money to NZ?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[sks]

I paid no tax to transfer funds to a NZ account that I'd opened before arrival. My US bank charged a fee for the wire, and the exchange rate for the transaction wasn't the best, but the transaction itself wasn't taxed. You'll owe tax on the interest you earn in NZ.

[TJH]

We setup an account remotely before we had our PR with Kiwibank. Very easy process.

We then used xe.com to transfer the money over as they provided a much better exchange rate than simply going from our US bank account to the Kiwibank account. Depending on how you transfer the money to xe it can be free (ie you set up the account so they can debit your bank account rather than using a wire service). Kiwibank does not charge any fees for incoming funds transfers as well.

[mptopham]

As the others have stated there is no tax payable on funds transferred in to NZ. You will pay tax on any interest earned at the prevailing rate which will depend on whether you are resident yet and on your personal circumstances (earnings etc). If you are a resident you will pay resident withholding tax http://www.ird.govt.nz/rwt/receiving...est-dividends/ if you are not classed as a resident you will pay non-resident withholding tax.

[mthldy]

Thanks for all the helpful replies We will be opening an account this week since we will be there in just about 3 weeks...yay!