Wages into my Mum's account

amyellec

Hi, hope this is the right place, looking for some advice.

I currently live in Spain - have been here about a year. I have just taken a job for an English company who require an English account to pay my wages to. I no longer have one so my Mum has offered to let me have it paid to her or to even open a basic account in her name for now for me to have it paid to.

My question is, as my Mum is self employed and has to do a tax return each year, would the regular (it's not every month and will vary in amount) extra money effect her tax band or require her to declare it even if it is for me? It is a low wage or just 140GBP a week and not going to be regular (I only get paid when guests are here)... Any help would be great, thanks!

jonesMUFCforever

Two things - I doubt that your mum would be able to open a basic account without you being present and yes any income into her account may be taxed as hers.

Is there any reason why you cannot open a sterling account from Spain just as in UK you can open a Euro account?

amyellec

Thanks for your reply. The account would be in Mum's name so no links to me and thus would not make a difference if I was there or not...

With regards to a sterling account here, I'm not sure, I haven't heard of it being done. I think, also, considering the fact they charge you just have a bank account here that there would either be high charges for such an account or the company I'm going to work for may also incur charges when paying into the account...

I used to have an account with Alliance and Leicester (now Santander) and asked to change my mailing address to Spain while I'm out here, they did it and then a month later I got a letter saying the do not have the admin to support this (dispite being owned by the third largest bank in the world and a Spanish one at that) and closed my account!

I'll have a look at a sterling account over here but the banks aren't too helpful to be honest.... Thanks

glider3560

Try Lloyds Bank International (formerly known as Banco Halifax Hispania and Lloyds TSB Spain): http://www.lloydsbankinternational.es/en/RetailBanking/accounts/Sterlingaccount/

pvt

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

...and yes any income into her account may be taxed as hers.

On what possible basis?

I would suggest the answer to the original question was that it is absolutely fine for the OP's wages to be paid into their Mum's bank account.

pvt

jonesMUFCforever

pvt wrote: »

On what possible basis?

I would suggest the answer to the original question was that it is absolutely fine for the OP's wages to be paid into their Mum's bank account.

pvt

If you say so - doubt if HMRC will be so easily convinced.

dtsazza

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

If you say so - doubt if HMRC will be so easily convinced.

HMRC get a tax return stating what the taxpayer earnt. They do not go looking through bank statements seeing how much money was paid in, or anything of the sort.

The mother would not need to declare this on a tax return at all, as it is not income. Even on the unlikely chance that HMRC asked for records to dig deeper, it is not "income" to have someone else's money pass through your account. (I receive contributions from my housemates towards council tax and rent, which I pay in its entirety - this is a similar situation, and I'm not liable for tax on these mere cashflows.)

Degenerate

It's true that the mother will not incur a legal tax liability. OTOH, if HMRC were to investigate her tax affairs for any reason, they may look at her bank account and regard this as suspicious. It would be a hassle to explain it to them to their satisfaction. All things considered, I'd look at other options if at all possible.

mattcodes

If interest is paid on the account then Im pretty sure HMRC will get a summary from the bank on the account tax aspect due to tax paid. Not sure the disclosure but i woudnt take a brain doctor to work backwards based on advertised rates.

If the account has a credit aspect (i.e. overdraft) then it will probably be reported to Experian/Equifax each month.

These a both avenues they could in theory explore if you were big fish and an investigation started. If you really cant get an account and you must use your mums name then have her open a basic bank account and use that (i.e. no interest and no credit aspect) but can accept bacs etc..

CLAPTON

I paid for a holiday for 4 of my friends and thay have subsequently given me cheques for their share
I paid the subs for my son at a club we are both members of and he subsequently did a BACS transfer to my account
Daughter repaid me a largish sum that I had lent her last year too
I bought some stuf for my club and they repaid me with a cheque

Am I really to expect a full HMRC investigation because some brain surgeon has worked out that the interest paid on my current a/c is a fraction high than it otherwise would have been?

Foggster

If the money is paid into your Mum's account, how are you going to access the money from Spain?