I am an American citizen living and working in Canada for the past 20 years and have never opened an IRA account for myself. LAst year my mother died and I inherited half of her IRA account with Smith Barney. Because I am not an American resident, Smith Barney will not keep me as a client so I have to roll my share into a Beneficiary IRA with another firm. However, I have been told that, according to the Patriot Act of 2003, non-residents cannot open a new IRA account. If this is true, then my only option is to take out my entire half of my mother’s IRA and pay taxes on the entire amount, which is something I would very much like to avoid.
I would like to know if there is any way I can open a new IRA. The two institutions I talked to would not do so once they found out my address is in Canada.