How to deal with banks auditing your status as an Nonresident Alien after opening a foreign account.

By ftsig-admin | March 6, 2025

1. Introduction

Those who previously and successfully opened a bank account as a nonresident alien by using a W-8 rather than a W-9 may subsequently and sometimes repetitively be contacted by the bank because they their status looks suspicious or out of the norm from other account holders, who are almost universally “U.S. persons” who supply a W-9.

When the bank contacts you, they often will do so via telephone to avoid producing written evidence that might eventually be used to prove that they are engaging in banking discrimination of “debanking”.

This scenario occurs mainly because of Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act (AML/BSA) compliance measures in place by most American banks. For a description of those procedures, see:

Money Laundering Enforcement Scam, Form #)5.041
https://sedm.org/Forms/05-MemLaw/MoneyLaunderingScam.pdf

The red flags in their AML/BSA software usually surround the following information associated with the account:

The foreign status of the account.
The lack of an SSN/TIN associated with the account.
The country associated with your citizenship. Bank software often does not accommodate a private and foreign country of origin and PRESUMES “United States” means that associated with the “U.S> person” status, which is the LEGAL/CORPORATE “United States”.

The above problems and barriers to opening a nonresident alien unenumerated bank account are described in the FAQs within the following form:

W-8SUB, Form #04.231
https://sedm.org/Forms/04-Tax/2-Withholding/W-8SUB.pdf

When opening an account, if you are unwilling to provide an SSN and invoke 26 C.F.R. §301.6109-1(b) in doing so, you will have a 1000x more difficult climb because then you have to convince them what the United States means in in that context.

This scenario is common and is a product essentially of banking discrimination. There are no laws in place to prevent this scenario at this time, unfortunately. Suing a bank for this kind of discrimination involves compelled association by the bank constituting religious discrimination that is best litigated under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and not as a First Amendment violation. For more information on banking discrimination, see:

Money, Banking, and Credit Page, Family Guardian Fellowship, Section 8.7: Banking Discrimination
https://famguardian.org/Subjects/MoneyBanking/MoneyBanking.htm#Banking_Discrimination

2. Sample Response to send to bank

Below is a sample response to such a AML/BSA security inquiry:

Dear sir,

Thank you for contacting me about your concerns regarding the bank account number __________________ I maintain at your institution. I am happy to cooperate with you on this subject and have taken great care in both reading and following the laws regarding this matter.

To address your concerns directly and immediately:

I was born in the United States of America and my political status is that described in 8 U.S.C. §1401(a).

26 C.F.R. §301.6109-1(b) provides that nonresident aliens not engaged in a “trade or business” defined in 26 U.S.C. §7701(a)(26) as “the functions of a public office” such as myself are not required to have or use a Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number.

26 C.F.R. §301.6109-1(g)(1)(i) provides that ANYONE using an identifying number in connection with satisfying their tax obligations may associate either a DOMESTIC or a FOREIGN status with said number. I implemented these procedures in my own case with the IRS.

I have been filing 1040-NR tax returns for years and I would be happy to provide you with samples proving that the IRS recognizes my right to pursue a foreign status as someone born in the United States as a country.

I am a citizen of the United States under 26 C.F.R. §1.1-1(c), but

I am not the citizen of the United States contemplated in 26 U.S.C. §7701(a)(30)(A), 26 C.F.R. §1.1-1(b), and 26 C.F.R. §1.1-1(a). These are domestic civil subsets of ALL political citizens under 26 C.F.R. §1.1-1(c) and the Internal Revenue Code reveals this.

I am willing and eager to come in and discuss this matter with you if you are unfamiliar with any of the information above.

If you have further questions about the validity of pursuing a foreign status by those who are American nationals such as myself born in the United States of America, you may read answers to most of those questions in:

W-8SUB, Form #04.231
https://sedm.org/Forms/04-Tax/2-Withholding/W-8SUB.pdf

Thank you for your kind and disciplined attention to this legal matter.

John Doe