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GloriousEuropa

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Alistair31

It is entirely legitimate to go to the bank and deposit it in your account. If questioned (unlikely) you simply say it’s a gift from a relative.

comeandgo

I've put over £5k cash into my bank account with no questions. My money came via deceased money hoarding elder too.

Zero_Sum

Do you have more than 1 bank account? If so could just split it up & put in different banks. Ive deposited about £1000 cash before (gift from grandmother) and had no questions

Keep_pedalling

She really should have put the money into her own account rather than risk having it stolen. As it seems she still has thousand of cash in the house, she is still at risk and that needs sorting. You would also be very silly to hold this in cash.

As for all these gifts she needs to document them as her executor will need to know about them if she dies within 7 years of making them.

Albermarle

Do I pay tax on it?

No tax to pay on the gift.

Malthusian

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

As for all these gifts she needs to document them as her executor will need to know about them if she dies within 7 years of making them.

Only if there is a reasonable chance of her being over the Inheritance Tax threshold (including any transferred from the grandfather). The OP refers to "other investments and all the money" but if she's got two nil rate bands and two residential nil rate bands available, her estate needs to be over £1 million (or close enough to worry about it) before there is any point in keeping a list of gifts. (£950k if she dies before April 2020.)

I agree it would be far better for the grandmother to get the cash deposited in her own bank account (dealing with any money laundering queries that arise) and then write cheques to her family members. For all we know the grandfather was doing a Breaking Bad to accumulate £38k in cash in shoeboxes. I'm sure there's no reason to think that, but if a query is raised later, parcelling it out to the family to deposit in small amounts doesn't look good.

If the money is clean then she's doing nothing wrong, it's just a question of minimising hassle. The best way to guarantee that is for the grandmother to tell her bank that she wants to deposit a large sum of cash and why, and then enlist the aid of a few family members to take it there (assuming there's not enough left to justify hiring a cash transit firm).

After that they no longer need to mess around with all the family members having to answer potential money laundering queries from their respective banks about why they are depositing thousands in cash.

jamei305

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

As for all these gifts she needs to document them as her executor will need to know about them if she dies within 7 years of making them.

There's no obligation on people to document gifts on the off-chance they might die. Any executors will need to do the best they are able with whatever information they can obtain.

Flobberchops

GloriousEuropa wrote: »

Grandmother wants to give me £5k

It's a trick. Refuse!


Just kidding. Depositing the money should be absolutely fine, and if you feel you might start acting irrationally guilty paying it in over a bank counter, see if your branch has a paying-in machine. The only circumstance I could see being more complex would be if Grandad's stash was in old-series notes. Your bank should still accept them (and in the slim chance they won't the Bank of England will), but they may ask why you have so many old notes. If they ask, I would recommend just being completely honest: cash gift from elderly relative, money was under the mattress. I guarantee you it won't be the most outlandish scenario the cashiers have heard.

aroominyork

This is a novel situation for you but it is an everyday issue for banks. But do be prepared for them to ask where the money comes from - they do this more frequently than in past years as they have increased responsibility for monitoring potential money laundering - but don't be concerned. What you are doing is 100% legitimate and if you are asked any questions just answer them truthfully.

Given this is an investment forum I'm surprised no-one has wondered how long the money has been there and how much it might have grown if invested (obviously in a low cost, multi-asset, diversified fund).

Alexland

Another option, should you wish to avoid creating an evidence trail for whatever reason, is to just spend the money over a period of time by paying for everyday expenses in mostly cash so enabling you to save a higher proportion of your regular income.