Dear All,

We are leaving Switzerland permanently and headed back to the States next week. We have a salary account at UBS and today I went down to change the address on the account. We need to keep the account opened because my husband will continue to get paid by his Swiss employer, and they need a Swiss salary account to deposit his pay in. We explained this to UBS and they told us that we had to close our account when we leave. We spoke to the person at the info desk, and not an account manager, so I don't know if this info is correct or not. Does anyone have any insight or suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

If it was me, I would just keep it until i had received last payment, transfer the money to an account in the next country, and then ask UBS to close the account.

But I can not answer your quesion, whether they must close it when you leave.

Doc.

Thanks Doctor! I thought about this, but my husband will continue to get paid for at least a year, so I don't know if this is plausible in the long-term...

Read the Wall Street Journal (or any newspaper, for that matter) about the settlement announced this week between the IRS and UBS. The Swiss banks have a "safe haven" from the IRS if and only if their only contact with Americans is on their home ground (i.e., in Switzerland). Once you become a US resident, you will find it increasingly difficult to keep a Swiss bank account. My suggestion is open an account with the Swiss post office, or a regional bank with no "external" (ex-Swiss) branches, but tell them in advance of your future residence address (US).