Halifax International Regular Saver 10%

shazkhan111

i looked at this savings account on the forum for rsa.

Can anyone tell me as a resident and taxpayer in the uk and a holder of a normal halifax regular saving account am a eligible for this account and if so what are the tax implications ??

jdavtz

You are eligible.

You can choose to either
- have 15% 'retention' tax taken off by Halifax, no info is passed to the inland revenue, and you should declare the extra 5 or 25% that legally you have to pay, in a tax return form at the end of the year
or
- have no tax taken off by Halifax but they tell the inland revenue how much you have received tax-free. You should then declare this on a tax return form and pay the required 20% or 40% tax (otherwise I presume they will chase you and fine you as they have your details)

shazkhan111

so can i have this in addition to the regular saver that i already have?

so this seems a good deal, why is this not the top selling reg saver and being advertised and talked about?

YorkshireBoy

shazkhan111 wrote: »

so can i have this in addition to the regular saver that i already have?

See the first 3 words of jdavtz's reply.

so this seems a good deal, why is this not the top selling reg saver and being advertised and talked about?

I don't think the account qualifies for (full?) FSCS protection.

You might find further information at...

http://www.halifax-international.com/

shazkhan111

halifax are hardly going to go bankrupt in the next 12 months.

YorkshireBoy

shazkhan111 wrote: »

halifax are hardly going to go bankrupt in the next 12 months.

You may be right. Do you feel the same way about...

Bank of Scotland
Bank of Scotland International Ltd
Halifax International Limited
The Jersey Financial Services Commission
The Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission
Jersey 'politics'
Isle of Man 'politics'

...bearing in mind much of the safeguard is based on 'letters of comfort' and 'moral obligations'?

Cook_County

jdavtz wrote: »

You are eligible.

You can choose to either
- have 15% 'retention' tax taken off by Halifax, no info is passed to the inland revenue, and you should declare the extra 5 or 25% that legally you have to pay, in a tax return form at the end of the year
or
- have no tax taken off by Halifax but they tell the inland revenue how much you have received tax-free. You should then declare this on a tax return form and pay the required 20% or 40% tax (otherwise I presume they will chase you and fine you as they have your details)

[incidentally, the retention tax is not 15% and the inland revenue does not exist!].

The interest is entirely taxable here in the UK. The 20% retention tax is creditable on your UK return.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer you will owe more; if a non-taxpayer you will get it refunded.

Watch for investor protection, because you are increasing your risk by investing outside of an FSA regulated environment so you will need to be paid more to encourage you to take that risk.

paul5046

I got a leaflet yesterday from the Halifax. If you open a regular saver at 7% and your designated account has at least 10k in, they will increase the rate to 10%. Offer for new regular savers only until 10.08.2008.

jdavtz

Cook_County wrote: »

[incidentally, the retention tax is not 15% and the inland revenue does not exist!].

Oops - well it was 15% until July this year.

For the OP (and anyone else interested) - the full details of the tax implications of the Halifax offshore accounts (presumably applicable to offshore accounts with other banks too) are online at http://www.halifax-international.com/Download/Halifax-Int-EUSTD-factsheet.pdf

jdavtz

paul5046 wrote: »

I got a leaflet yesterday from the Halifax. If you open a regular saver at 7% and your designated account has at least 10k in, they will increase the rate to 10%. Offer for new regular savers only until 10.08.2008.

That doesn't sound as good as a 10% regular saver where you don't have to keep any balance in another Halifax account.