Making a Filipina a Beneficiary

@Cyclone Ed

Welcome to the forum, Ed.

What you say is true. The option of using your brother as an intermediary is very good. In order to transfer to your selected people in the Phils, he will need their bank account info and the full name its registered under. By the way, I think the old outbound transfer limit of$10k / day has been limited to $5k now.

Regarding gifting to others, that's a personal decision, but make sure its very clearly stated in your will!

My wife got her ITIN by vising the Social Security office in the Manila embassy. Had the forms filled out, they inspected her passport & returned it. The ITIN notification was received by mail about a month later (pre-pandemic...).

My understanding from the law in the Philippines is that a property in the Philippines is shared in a marriage. So the title goes to the surviving partner. If not married the property title can be transferred to someone. This might be expensive. For properties out of the Philippines, the property can be sold if not needed. Thats what I did with my property in Austria.

@Skip Scott

Thank you so much.  I may need to plan some trips to Manila.

@Andy_1963

Thanks, Andy.  I don't have any property just yet.  Although I am considering purchasing a condo here in the Philippines as a convenient way to leave a financial legacy to someone.

@Cyclone Ed

You could also check with the consular office in cebu. I don't know if they have a social security office there.

@Cyclone Ed

You may want to check the consular office in cebu. They don't offer all services the Embassy does though.

@Cyclone Ed

If your talking about a monthly US benefit distribution and the beneficiary needing a ITIN, that is mostly true depending on the distribution agency etc.

I applied for my wife’s ITIN from here and yes it’s a little time consuming but not too difficult. Just follow the steps they have online.

I could be wrong but as far as I remember not just any filipino can get a ITIN. They need to qualify by Relationship as a spouse or child etc, or have a USA employer etc. You need to do some research on that…

Also, you can always choose who you want to be a beneficiary but Regardless there still is a pecking order by US law for your survivors, meaning any Relative, Spouse, child etc could always challenge a none relationship beneficiary.

Im no expert, so do some research but I know for my CALPERS thats the way it is, or at least the way I understand it.

If you have no spouse or children then no issue’s but the ITIN will be a issue for a non related filipino friend here.

Also just FYI, if your Filipina beneficiary did happen to have a ITIN, by federal law the Payer is mandated to withhold 30% of the monthly benefit to the payee as long as they are a NonResident Alien. That would mean they would need to file a yearly US Federal return using thier ITIN to get whatever of that 30% remained in the form of a Refund.

This in return would probably mean that they will need a US bank account for depositing or a US Address for check mailing.