Sending Money out of the Philippines

[insite]

I have noted on many postings that the general consensus about sending money out of the Philippines is that if you can substantiate that you brought it in you have a reasonable chance to remit it out again.

Money is brought in for many reasons such as day to day living , holidays , medical and investments of various kinds to name but a few.

Should it be the case money has been brought in for say a property investment , as a for instance but not limited to this , which shows considerable growth on a sale , what if any are the difficulties or restrictions in sending the original capital and gain out again assuming all liabilities / taxes have been paid ?

 

[Tommy T.]

8 hours ago, insite said:

I have noted on many postings that the general consensus about sending money out of the Philippines is that if you can substantiate that you brought it in you have a reasonable chance to remit it out again.

Money is brought in for many reasons such as day to day living , holidays , medical and investments of various kinds to name but a few.

Should it be the case money has been brought in for say a property investment , as a for instance but not limited to this , which shows considerable growth on a sale , what if any are the difficulties or restrictions in sending the original capital and gain out again assuming all liabilities / taxes have been paid ?

 

I sold my yacht a couple of years ago for a large sum. It was paid for using wire transfer from outside Philippines into my savings account here.

Shortly after receiving that, I wire transferred most of the payment to an investment account in USA. There was no problem at all. If I recall correctly, my local bank (PNB) did want to see a bill of sale, which was easy to provide.

I am not sure if this info is salient to your post, but perhaps it will help?

[hk blues]

15 hours ago, insite said:

I have noted on many postings that the general consensus about sending money out of the Philippines is that if you can substantiate that you brought it in you have a reasonable chance to remit it out again.

Money is brought in for many reasons such as day to day living , holidays , medical and investments of various kinds to name but a few.

Should it be the case money has been brought in for say a property investment , as a for instance but not limited to this , which shows considerable growth on a sale , what if any are the difficulties or restrictions in sending the original capital and gain out again assuming all liabilities / taxes have been paid ?

 

I'm not sure it's as scientific as that - I may be wrong though.  

[insite]

My question refers to any locally accrued gain and ones ability to remit this as opposed to the original capital brought here.

[hk blues]

29 minutes ago, insite said:

My question refers to any locally accrued gain and ones ability to remit this as opposed to the original capital brought here.

I know - I just wonder how sophisticated the "policy" is - is it actually a policy at all or just a general concept.  I'm not sure how well a bank would be able to evaluate a capital gain as being reasonable on a property.  

I have transferred money out, 10,000 USD, but there was no investigation of the source of the money etc etc which makes me wonder how formal it is. Anyway, maybe Tom can enlighten us as he's done it already as per his post above. 

[Tommy T.]

18 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I know - I just wonder how sophisticated the "policy" is - is it actually a policy at all or just a general concept.  I'm not sure how well a bank would be able to evaluate a capital gain as being reasonable on a property.  

I have transferred money out, 10,000 USD, but there was no investigation of the source of the money etc etc which makes me wonder how formal it is. Anyway, maybe Tom can enlighten us as he's done it already as per his post above. 

Hmmm... I cannot really help, I believe. All I can do is relate that I transferred a lot more than your quoted amount out to USA and with minimal hassle... just a request to see a bill of sale.

Meanwhile - I know this is not really part of this conversation - I have transferred lots of money back into the Philippines using my same bank account here (PNB) with no questions at all. It has actually surprised me that there have been no questions or issues...

But I think the OP's real question is whether there is any hassle for sending locally earned or obtained funds can be sent overseas to another country... For that, I have no information or experience... Maybe JGF might know since he has been here a long time and earns money here?

Edited September 16, 2020 by Tommy T.

[hk blues]

14 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Hmmm... I cannot really help, I believe. All I can do is relate that I transferred a lot more than your quoted amount out to USA and with minimal hassle... just a request to see a bill of sale.

Meanwhile - I know this is not really part of this conversation - I have transferred lots of money back into the Philippines using my same bank account here (PNB) with no questions at all. It has actually surprised me that there have been no questions or issues...

But I think the OP's real question is whether there is any hassle for sending locally earned or obtained funds can be sent overseas to another country... For that, I have no information or experience... Maybe JGF might know since he has been here a long time and earns money here?

Same here - I have regularly transferred money into the Philippines with no questions asked.  

Definitely "locally earned or obtained funds" can be sent overseas - I've done it.  The question is, how much I suppose and how easily. I'd imagine in many other countries the answer would be evident - I'm still not convinced it is here.  

Anyway, I've deliberately not moved more here than I need to as I'm sure getting it out will not be a straightforward task - my relatively small transfer was NOT simple in any sense of the word! 

Edit - I just did a quick Google and it says  up to 10,000 usd can come in/out with no issue.  Above 10,000 USD requires documentation but doable.  I don't think this is actually the actual practice though based on experience.  

Edited September 16, 2020 by hk blues

[intrepid]

I see several questions here;

1) Is there a restriction/law or formal document/procedure to send earned money from the Philippines to another country?

2) Is there a limit on the amount that can be transferred?

3) Does the receiving country have authority over the incoming transfer. Ie; tax?

Maybe 7~ years ago I talked to a person who moved to the Philippines and built a large house in Negros.  They were here about 8 years and sold the house and moved back to the states.  I vaguely remember him telling me since they had proof of sending those building funds to the Philippines they did not have to pay tax on the returned money.  However, he left me with the impression without the proof the money originated in the US he would have had to pay tax.  The subject did not concern me too much at the time so that is all I remember and since I am a few years older now,….maybe I got the whole story wrong.

[intrepid]

9 minutes ago, hk blues said:

dit - I just did a quick Google and it says  up to 10,000 usd can come in/out with no issue.  Above 10,000 USD requires documentation but doable.  I don't think this is actually the actual practice though based on experience. 

I know this is for hand carry.  Over 10K is allowed as long as it is declared.  But may be for transfer also.  A question to our local bank manager may be able to answer some of these questions.

[hk blues]

10 minutes ago, intrepid said:

I know this is for hand carry.  Over 10K is allowed as long as it is declared.  But may be for transfer also.  A question to our local bank manager may be able to answer some of these questions.

According to the article I read, it's not relevant how the money is sent in/out - the same rules apply. 

I'd definitely ask your bank manager as things here tend to be done differently in different places regardless of the actual written policy.  I'll take a stab at your questions anyway -

1) There is a formal document required for transfers over 10K - I believe it has to be submitted to the central bank first for approval

2) There doesn't appear to be a limit from what I've read but...

3) I would imagine the receiving country has jurisdiction over incoming transfers as I doubt the Philippines would want to get involved in that