Expat Advice: Financial Issues in Tianjin, China

What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?

Tianjin

Which banks do you use? If you have a local account, which bank do you use? How do you like it? Do you also have an account in your home country? Which bank? Do they charge for ATM withdrawals? Do they charge a lot for international wire transfers? How has it been working with them from abroad? Do you use a special international wire transfer service? Do you use an online bank? If so, tell us about them.

No, we use the Boeing Credit Union but still have an account with Bank of America. My husband has his paycheck deposited in our savings account at Boeing. We can check on our accounts and transfer and such by online banking with Boeing. We have an ATM card for Boeing that we are able to use at SELECTED ATM'S in Tianjin and Beijing. Not all bank cards can be used at the ATM'S located in China.

GeoBlue
Get Quote

GeoBlue is a trusted leader in international health insurance. Wherever your destination, GeoBlue can keep you and your family covered with the right health insurance. Get a GeoBlue Quote Today!

GeoBlue

GeoBlue is a trusted leader in international health insurance. Wherever your destination, GeoBlue can keep you and your family covered with the right health insurance. Get a GeoBlue Quote Today!
Get Quote

What advice would you offer others about banking as an expat in your country? What do you wish you had known about banking when you first arrived?

Keep at least one bank account in the US functioning while you are on assignment. Make sure you have access to it by online means. Make sure you have the options of making transfers within that account to do online payments of any regular bills you might still have to have paid back home while you are on assignment. *** If you have college aged kids, or even adult kids on their own you might serious consider establishing a linking account for them to your account just in case of that, "Hey Mom an Dad, I need some help" situation arises then even from thousands of miles away you can simply transfer some funds from your primary bank account into theirs. This has been a life saver for our kids several times since we have been living on assignment. Make sure you have a bank in which your paycheck is deposited (if that is what you normally do) that you will be able to access from an ATM in the country that you are moving to. DO NOT ASSUME that there will be one there without checking first!! Try and pick a bank or credit union that with each time you use the ATM abroad you are not dinged with a high fee for doing so. Those little $$$ dings can add up very quickly. If there is a fee make sure you know up front just what it will be for every use. Check on what kind of financial situation you are getting into in the country you are moving to before you move. By that, I mean, are you moving to a country that does not use checks and credit cards for you to pay for things? Is it mostly a cash on the barrel society? Even in the 21st century there are still many third world countries that still do not have a clue about using checks or credit cards as currency to pay for goods. In those countries to quickly learn to accumulate the country's currency and your national currency (for a possible emergency) and keep it stashed in your safe. To not do so would be indeed foolish.

What advice was particularly helpful to you in managing your finances? What advice would you give? Any other thoughts?

See above box.

Do you do your own taxes, use a local firm, an expat-oriented firm or does your employer handle this for you (i.e. via an corporate tax firm)?

Your company should make arrangements with a good international tax attorney to handle your taxes while you are on your overseas assignment. The company should pick up the tab for this service. DO NOT TRY AND DO YOUR TAXES YOURSELF WHILE ON AN OVERSEAS ASSIGNMENT! The tax laws and requirements are just much too complicated. Let the experts handle this for you. What you do need to do to help them is take the last five years tax returns and info in separate, marked files with you and make sure that any tax info for the year you might have spent in the states before moving over comes to you for that first tax year you are on assignment. You will need all that info to help you fill out the forms you will be sent and online questionare that you will probably also receive. One other suggestion. Make sure you keep a good log of the day you left the US to go to your assignemnt and the date you entered that country and if you had entered the country before and went back to the states of that same year you will be asked those dates for tax purposes. These dates are crucial the first year you are on an overseas assigment for tax records.

What advice could you offer others about doing your taxes as an expat?

See above comments