Ex-pat with savings looking to keep them safe & tax free!

staceymprescott

I'm British and work in Dubai currently. I have around 30k GB saved and plan on saving substantially more over the next couple of years but do not know where I should keep this money - I do not want to keep it in my UAE bank, but transferring thousands back into my UK account might attract attention & I don't pay tax on it here...I don't need quick access to the money so happy to commit to a long term savings plan, so where do people recommend I save this? Ideally I'd like online access to top up month to month as I please, but no withdrawels are required really and most importantly I do not want to find when I return to the UK I have to pay tax on the amount. Thanks for your advice!

innovate

You will have difficulties opening any sort of bank account with a a UK onshore bank if you are not a resident. You could try offshore accounts but they don't have any FSCS protection.

If you managed to open a UK onshore account, you couldn't open an ISA since you need to be a UK resident for an ISA, and have an NI number. On other accounts, banks withhold an automatic 20% interest.

TBH, if you are not paying tax in the UK, you shouldn't expect to get tax relief in the UK but at the same time get benefits that are only available to tax payers and residents.

RetiredInThailand

No problem with saving money in the UK if you are officially non-resident; you have nothing to hide. You get the full deposit protection up to GBP100K per bank or bank group.

It certainly is possible to open accounts with onshore UK banks without a UK address, though not all will do it. Have a good look at the T&Cs on their websites. The Indian banks are a good place to start, but there are several others as well. Rates are currently crap but luckily I got in with some 5 year bonds when they were still paying around 5%.

As a non-resident Brit you will still benefit from the normal UK personal allowance and can reclaim withholding tax on interest paid up to that limit (assuming that you have no other taxable UK income like rent or pensions or salary etc.).

Otherwise you also have the option of completing form R105 and getting the interest paid gross, though not all banks will do this. Again, study the T&Cs. Most of the banks that accept non-resident accounts also accept form R105.

RetiredInThailand

Sorry, should have said protection up to GBP85K (EUR100K), of course.