Moving money from Japan to England

PedroMotion

Hi,

I'm British but have been working in Japan for a while and have managed to save £70,000 (helped by a good exchange rate!). I'm now moving to New York with work for at least a few years so I want to move this money from my Japanese bank account back to the UK.

I've read about the double taxation agreement between Japan and the UK but I'm still not clear what I have to do tax wise (the amount is made up from only my salary as I presume that makes a difference).

I was going to use an exchange money broker to move it back but is there anything I should be aware of before I do? Any advice would be appreciated!

If this question is better placed in another forum then please let me know.

fengirl_2

Just moving a previously taxed salary from one country to the Uk does not necessarily trigger a tax liability.
Have you been resident in Japan, or have you been Uk resident and already paid tax on this money?

Cook_County

There may of course be a US liability and a Japanese one. There will of course be FBAR filing requiremnts next year.

property.advert

Why would you want to tell anyone ? Just have a JPY / USD / GBP Citibank multi currency account and it is all sorted, into whichever currency you want etc.

Why do you think you have to tell anyone ?

I would certainly not tell the USA as they have their citizens peeing in their pants about the $5.50 they spent on a coffee 7 years ago in France.

Just sent it to the UK, and bung it in a bank. No-one is going to ask you any questions.

PedroMotion

Thanks for the replies! I have a multi money citibank account now and have already transferred it into pounds but wasn't aware I could take the money out in the UK easily if I had an account there? If this is the case then maybe it makes my life a little easier? I'd never heard of an FBAR before so maybe switching it a UK savings will make me feel a little more comfortable once in NY!

PedroMotion

...and I've been a resident here in Japan (I only went back to the UK for a few weeks for a holiday every year.

John_Pierpoint

As it is over 50K you could put it into a banks "bond" account (ie a fixed rate deal for a year or more) and get gross interest paid on it, monthly by cheque if you want.
Now that all the little tax havens round Britain have signed up to reporting interest and/ or charging a with-holding tax; I guess the attractions of holding the money off shore no longer apply. (Unless you want to go somewhere more exotic - Singapore?)

I think a forum for "ex-pats" should be able to give you more detailed advice.

Cook_County

You'll have to look at what sort of 7701(b) elections you'd be making on your first US tax returns.

property.advert is a litlle crazy though. Intentionally not filing the FBAR is a felony likely to lead to Federal imprisonment. Not my favorite idea way for money saving!