Leaving the UK - keep UK bank account (ISA and others)?

settembrini

Hi,

I have received a long-term job offer in Luxemburg and will leave the UK soon (and probably not return).
The only bank account I would like to keep untouched in the UK is my ISA Natwest account, however, the question is whether that is even possible (and recommendable, given that I will probably not be able to pay any more money into it)?
Regarding my other UK savings/current accounts, I was thinking about transferring at least part of the money to a bank account in Luxemburg or Germany (my workplace is close to the border of Germany). How can I prevent losses from the pound/Euro conversion and should I keep my long-term savings in the UK or move to a Euro-account (I was thinking about a Santander 3-year fixed-term deposit in Germany, which pays 4% interest rate for deposits up to 100,000 Euro)?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

jonesMUFCforever

If you are not a tax resident of the UK then the tax free status of your ISA becomes invalid.

glider3560

When you stop being a resident of the UK for tax purposes, you can retain your ISAs but can no longer subscribe to it/a new one. This is dependent on the agreement of your ISA manager (i.e. bank).

See here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/isa/faqs.htm#14

The ISA interest will need to be declared in your new country and will probably be taxed as foreign income in the country you are a resident of.

If you don't ever expect to come back to the UK, I can't see what point there is keeping an ISA. A savings account might be more beneficial?

settembrini

ok, so I will definitely close the ISA account. And regarding the savings account, should I keep most of my money in the UK or is anybody familiar with better options in Germany/Luxemburg?