Implications of Transferring Money from Greek to UK Bank

Sweetchuck

Hi guys. Hopefully someone can help me with a fairly straightforward query.

I have a Greek friend whose father wants to transfer a lump sum (about £10k, I believe) from his Greek account to her UK account. He was in the Greek army, and the money is the final lump sum payable at the end of a military trust fund for the children of Greek service personnel. He paid into this scheme from the time of her birth to her 18th birthday and he now intends to transfer the savings to her name.

She now lives in the UK and thinks that this can be done without any tax implications whatsoever, but I was of the opinion that this would be treated as unearned income by HMRC and that there may be tax implications from receiving a large lump sum.

Can anybody clarify for me what the exact ramifications of this kind of balance transfer would be, please? Many thanks in advance of any help given.

sabretoothtigger

Was it always registered in her name, just keep the paperwork just in case. Seems more like a capital gain then taxable income to me as parents give money to their children all the time without worrying about.
Ive only heard of it being a problem with regard to inheritance tax

AndyGuil

"Q2. I have received some money as an inheritance following the death of a relative who lived in Austria. Estate duty has been levied by the Austrian authorities on this inheritance. What taxes on this money would I be liable for in the UK? Orlando, Evesham
There are no taxes on bringing money into the UK - no accession taxes or inheritance tax. If you invest it and it generates income, that is of course liable to tax. And if you give the money away, that would be within the inheritance tax net.

If the inheritance was in other assets which you liquidated to provide cash to bring back to the UK there may well be a capital gains tax (CGT) issue."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10237355

There is no tax to pay if it is a cash transfer from abroad.

cheesedoffwithdebt

HI- there is no tax for the recipient of a gift-period. It would be good if there was some paperwork so she could prove the source of the money but cgt cannot apply for instance-that's the tax on the profit for tax purposes made when you sell an asset.
I would tactfully suggest you might have more problems with anti money laundering issues and SOCA. They would be more interested in such a sum being placed suddenly in a UK account without an audit trail.

sabretoothtigger

I remember some rule where transfers over 10k are reported to IRS, so split it up

Loughton_Monkey

Whether this guy has any Greek tax liability on the money is a totally different (and relevant) question. But that aside, he can give the money to his daughter quite legally with no UK tax libility whatsoever. She will obviously be potentially liable for ongoing tax on interest, but that's a different matter.

Sweetchuck

Thank you to everybody who took the time to reply - it's very much appreciated.

In terms of SOCA and money laundering, there surely wouldn't be anything to worry about. From what I understand, this is a 100% legitimate state trust fund (with a fully documented history) which is simply being cashed in, as it has reached full maturity.

Thanks again!