A Proven Way to Move Your IRA to Switzerland

Our first foray was the world of Swiss annuities back in the early 90s. At the time, they gave Americans a compliant way to build an offshore foothold with tax-deferred growth – somewhat like a standard retirement account.

Of course, the world changed, as it often does, and Swiss annuities went with those changes. But we’ve never stopped working in Switzerland.

Nowadays, most of our efforts involve helping US clients open Swiss bank and Swiss asset management accounts.

Oftentimes, we’re working with individual accounts, joint accounts, US trusts and US LLCs.

A Little-Known Swiss IRA Opportunity

But did you know it’s possible to move your IRA to Switzerland as well?

I was surprised to learn it some years ago. So are most people when I explain it.

But once I do, their eyes light up. Because:

• Moving an IRA to Switzerland does not create a tax bill (if done properly, of course).

• It doesn’t trigger any pesky foreign reporting requirements… no FATCA, no FBAR, or other paperwork that comes with holding foreign assets.

• Checkbook IRAs are a possibility too.

• It allows you the flexibility to hold multiple currencies, multiple asset types (including physical precious metals), and other opportunities not usually available in the US.

• It comes with a real Swiss bank account.

Of course, in the interest of balance, I should note that moving your IRA to Switzerland is more complex than opening a personal or joint account there; it needs to be done properly.

As well, most Swiss banks don’t support them, and most Swiss asset managers don’t yet either.

(The asset managers we work with do, even if, in two of those cases, we had to show them the ropes.)

New Report on How to Move Your IRA to Switzerland

If this sounds interesting to you, we just released a very detailed “SwissIRA™️” report to our Nestmann Inner Circle (NIC) members that explains almost everything you might want to know — how the process works, fees, timelines, and a long list of answers to questions that will likely pop up as you’re learning about this. If you’d like to review it, consider taking a risk-free trial of the NIC here.

And, of course, if you have a traditional IRA and/or Roth IRA (or even a 401(k) eligible for rollover), and are interested in seeing whether it makes sense to engage our services to help you move some of your retirement assets overseas, feel free to get in touch.