UK Inheritance but living in US

mickok

Hello,

I am a UK citizen living in the US (for the past 30 years). I am about to receive a UK inheritance (about 50k, not taxable) but I have no bank accounts in the UK. Since I am planning to move back to the UK within 2 years I would prefer to leave this money in the UK. I haven't found any easy solution for this, does anyone have any suggestions?

If I opened an off-shore (Isle of Man) account and moved the inheritance funds there, would the funds then become taxable if moved the back to the UK? Any concerns about that approach?

Thanks for any help!

chanz4

you may need to declare on your IRS forms

hermante

There's no tax on moving money between your own accounts. When was the last time you came to the UK, and do you have access to an address (relatives)? Do you have a UK driving licence or can you get one if you come back for a short holiday? You could then use that as proof of address along with passport to open a UK savings account rather than bothering with the IoM. You won't get taxed on UK interest as it's under the personal allowance which applies to all British citizens. However as has been mentioned, the IRS always likes to know about your foreign income. If you have become a US citizen, you will need to continue paying tax on your worldwide income even if you move back to the UK.

In case you didn't know, the deceased person pays inheritance tax, not the beneficiaries, so your 50K would not be taxable even if it was 500K (from a single person) as the tax would already have been taken before working out how much you get.