How do I bring money from abroad after selling my property

Neoandmisha

Hi
We are about to sell a house in Spain and would like to know what is the best way of transferring the money from a bank there into a uk account. Is this transaction going to trigger a money laundering alert and bank may stop the transaction?
We will be paying heavy taxes over there from the sale although we are selling for less then we bough the property for so we have no gains at all. We were told that you are only liable to pay tax in either of the country.
HOW DOES THIS WORK

Cook_County

You may still have a capital gain in sterling even if there is a loss in Euros. You file tax returns in both countries.

FTBFun

As Cook_County says, you may have a £ capital gain. I assume you are a UK resident and domciled, therefore your worldwide income is taxable in the UK.

You need to work out the UK gain by working out the £ cost when you bought the property and the £ proceeds when you sold up.

Any tax you pay to the Spanish authorities should be creditable against a possible UK capital gain - although I'm curious why you are paying Spanish tax on the loss? Have they just set off a % against the proceeds? You may need to hunt down a Spanish accountant if that is the case.

chrismac1

I would also Google "foreign currency broker" and choose a well regulated and reliable one. UK banks will rip you off for 150 pips (1.5 cents) on the rate plus commission - when you consider they pay only 3 pips to convert the currency that is a hefty mark-up!