Off-shore Banking, Or The Best Method Of Getting Money Into The Country!!!!! Problem!

dancingdandare

HELLO



i am going to be paid out of a saudi company in $, can i be paid into my uk bank account? if so what are the charges i will incurr, could someone please explain how it works.

ON the other hand if i get a off-shore bank account what are the charges i incur there and how does this process work.

Basically i want the simplest way to get the money into the uk without paying loads of fees. I want all my money in pounds. How best to do this is a difficult one, i hope someone can help, many thanks

Cheers

Dan

richt71

dancingdandare wrote: »

HELLO



i am going to be paid out of a saudi company in $, can i be paid into my uk bank account? if so what are the charges i will incurr, could someone please explain how it works.

ON the other hand if i get a off-shore bank account what are the charges i incur there and how does this process work.

Basically i want the simplest way to get the money into the uk without paying loads of fees. I want all my money in pounds. How best to do this is a difficult one, i hope someone can help, many thanks

Cheers

Dan

Don't see any major problems apart from it taking a few days to hit your UK bank account and accepting the rate the bank exchanges at. I'd be very careful using any form of offshore bank as the government are cracking down on these for tax evasion so I'd only do it with proper professional help.

Petmidget

Not really a tax question but a banking one.

You can have US$ paid into a sterling account however you will suffer a handling charge for each deposit this is typically around £25. You will also be buying £ at the banks rate which will not be the best available.

There isnt really any easy way to convert that I know of. Perhaps you obtain a USD credit card (where from in UK no idea but will be available no doubt) to make expenses on then pay that using your USD thereby avoiding currency exchange but you will suffer exchange on the credit card.

No simple answer to this really. But if only 1 salary payment then a single charge of £25 isnt too bad.

cheerfulcat

dancingdandare wrote: »

i am going to be paid out of a saudi company in $, can i be paid into my uk bank account? if so what are the charges i will incurr, could someone please explain how it works.

There shouldn't be a problem getting dollars paid into a UK bank; though there may be fees/commission levied and they may take the mickey with exchange rates, if this is to be a one-off or an infrequent transaction it's easier to use your own bank than opening a new account. If it is to be a regular transaction, you could look at a dollar account like citibank's ( LINK ), which allows you to keep the money in dollars. If you have a citibank sterling account as well, you can switch between currencies. Depending on the amount involved this may not be worth the hassle.

joeh14

Sorry if this is wrong place to post. I have a similiar question as I have started working for a Belgian company who pay me in Euro directly into my UK account. However they do not take any tax from my earnings, does this mean I am classed as self-employed and must arrange my own tax or do I need to ask my company to alter my earnings for tax? Forgive my ignorance on this subject I am useless with money!:o

cash99

joeh14 wrote: »

Sorry if this is wrong place to post. I have a similiar question as I have started working for a Belgian company who pay me in Euro directly into my UK account. However they do not take any tax from my earnings, does this mean I am classed as self-employed and must arrange my own tax or do I need to ask my company to alter my earnings for tax? Forgive my ignorance on this subject I am useless with money!:o

If you are based in the UK then they and would be classed as an employee then you employer should registed for PAYE in the UK and make appropriate deductions. Its a pain for them ( I have had to arrange the reverse situation in the past, with an employee in Belgium), but legally they are responsible.

If you are employed in the UK then you should also expect to be paid in £, and not take any currency risk on being paid in €.

joeh14

cheers for that, i'll take it up with them.:beer:

inmypocketnottheirs

Another option would be to open an account with Citibank where you can also have a $ account.

Chongqing_Steve

I have a similar problem, but a little more complicated.
I live and work in China, and I am paid by the companies I work for which are based in UK, USA, and Africa. All pay me in US dollars. I have no problem having money paid into my Bank of China accounts, and get a good rate when converting to Chinese Yuan.
The problem lies in getting my money when I am in other countries or if I have to return to UK permanently.
Although the BOC has branches in UK, they deal only with accounts opened in UK. They consider the BOC in China to be a different Bank to BOC in China, Hong Kong etc and will not allow me to withdraw or deposit money in London.
I also want to have at least part of my earnings kept out of China in case of upheaval of any financial or political nature.
I have a BOC credit card in US dollars which I had to fight three years to get (I am a foreigner!)
The offshore accounts I have looked into mostly want 10,000 USD minimum deposit which I can do but would rather not.
The Lloyds International account seems to be the best option, but there seems to be a lot of charges lurking in the small print. If anybody has used the Lloyds account, could you please let me know if the charges are exorbitant or realistic.

Chongqing, China

gazhawkins

Why not open a US Dollar bank account in Saudi, preferably with a multinational bank you can trust such as HSBC, Standered Chartered etc. Have your US$ salary paid in to that.

Then, when you have built up sufficient funds in US$ - have this transferred to your UK bank account: which could be in Sterling or US$.

A Nationwide UK Bank account might be a good idea - because you could use their VISA debit and credit cards fee/commission free in Saudi should you need to do so. The card would also be useable in other Mid. East states such as Dubai.

NOTE: If you plan to transfer large sums of money - there are firms that specialise in this area - bringing transfer fees/commissions down. These are the kind of institutions people use for buying property overseas.