Moving abroad but keeping bank a/c here?

pinzo78

Hi all,
I'm quite new to this forum so please be gentle!

I wanted to ask if anybody knows anything about leaving money in bank accounts here in England if you emigrate abroad.
I'm due to emigrate later in the year and I have saved a substantial amount of money over the last few years by living with my parents. I would like to know if I happened to leave say my ISA account and my ING savings account here would I be breaking any laws since I wouldn't be living/working in England?? I would get a better interest rate by leaving it here than taking it al with me, plus I'd like to leave some money here for when I come back anytime.

Advice anyone?

gt94sss2

You can keep your ISA account but you can't add any more money in it if you live abroad. You may also have to pay tax on any interest received (not in the UK but where you emigrate to as they wont recognise it as 'tax free')

As for other savings accounts, again you can keep them open but different financial institutions have different policies - some don't mind if you live abroad, others will ask you to close your account when you tell them - or you could just use your parents address as your own and they will never know..

Regards
Sunil

Cook_County

Generally speaking there is nothing untoward with holding money anywhere in the world, unless local law in the country you are moving prohibits it.

You would normally move savings offshore once you become non-UK resident.

You may however have to declare worldwide income in your new country, so you need to investigate the law in that place.

EdInvestor

Be sure to open any bank or brokerage accounts you need before you leave as you can't usually open them later.

Especially useful is a Nationwide account offering a credit card with no loading for use overseas.

Although there are some reasonable offshore savings accounts, the rates are usually better onshore, often by enough to cover the tax - and it's really easy to manage accounts online.Offshore banking doesn't offer the advantages it once did, unless you are very well off.

Cook_County

I disagree. The offshore rates would have to 22% or 40% worse than than the onshore rates to "cover the tax" difference, and they are not.

climbgirl

gt94sss2 wrote:

You can keep your ISA account but you can't add any more money in it if you live abroad.

Are you 100% sure about this? My friend recently left the UK and was told by his bank that he could no longer hold an ISA as he wasn't a resident of the UK anymore - even the old ones had to be closed, it wasn't a matter of simply not paying into it anymore.

He may of course been told the wrong thing.... :rolleyes:

Cook_County

Your friend was given incorrect advice by the bank. You have to be ordinarily resident in the UK to invest in an ISA, but there is no law requiring closure.

EdInvestor

Cook_County wrote:

I disagree. The offshore rates would have to 22% or 40% worse than than the onshore rates to "cover the tax" difference, and they are not.

Assuming there is no tax requirement/withholding arrangment in the new country.

For investing, If you compare charges and other costs for someone offshore at Internaxx, compared with say Selftrade, the latter is the winner, especially on the convenience front if you have a UK bank account and want to invest in UK onshore shares or unit trusts.

Cook_County

Ed is still off just off the point. Of course there may be tax in the new country, what you save is 22% or 40% UK tax on interest accrued up to the date of return in the year you return to the UK.

Whether onshore or offshore mutual funds are appropriate will depend on the tax rules in the country you move to.

seven-day-weekend

My husband and I both have ISAs and cannot contribute to them, but there was no requirement to close them.

Cook_County

seven-day-weekend wrote:

My husband and I both have ISAs and cannot contribute to them, but there was no requirement to close them.

This is correct. Of course for many expats ISAs will no longer be appropriate because most countries tax worldwide income - including money wrapped in ISAs and sometimes pension plans and onshore/offshore bonds once you move there.