Need to put cash in the Bank

SSno1

Hi all,

Not logged on for a very long time so i may have put this in the wrong section, anyways -

My mum and dad want to give me a large amount of money which they have been 'saving under the mattress' approx £20000. They have been withdrawing it out of the bank as they have been getting paid throughout the working lives so all taxes have been paid.
I don't want to keep it in the house and want to put bank.
Just wanted to know if i went into the bank to deposit the cash would they accept it? Would i be expected to pay further taxes on it?

Also I'm not expecting to use it anytime soon (5/10 years) so would i be better to invest or save?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

DairyQueen

How old are your parents? Are both in good health? Why are they drawing the cash out of the bank? Are they keeping cash in the house?

Plenty of warning signs are flashing.

- Keeping large sums of physical cash is an invite to thieves, and leaves the money vulnerable to physical risks like house fires.
- Inflation devalues cash.

Is there any possibility that inheritance tax will apply if either parent dies within 7 years? if so, then this gift may fall back into their estate for IHT purposes.

Check the 'deprivation of assets/capital' rules as they may apply if either parent needs residential care or needs to claim means-tested benefits.

Financial institutions must abide by money laundering rules so will wish to know the source of any physical cash. Any lawful source (such as a gift from parents) should be fine. However, walking into a bank with a large sum of cash will definitely put them on guard as it makes no sense for most people to hold that much physical cash unless there is something untoward happening.

Why don't your parents simply transfer the money to you bank-to-bank or write you a cheque?

Jonathan_Kelvin

A bank may be fine with this amount if you state it’s a gift from your parents. If it were me I’d take one of them along with me.

pip895

You have never had a bank account? How old are you?

I would open one with a few hundred initially then start adding to it over a few visits... You will need proof of ID probably something like a passport and a utility or council tax bill in your name.

greyteam1959

Anything around £5000 cash will flag up warning signs at the bank.

xylophone

I would suggest that you accompany your parents to their bank (with the cash - presumably some is in old notes?) so that they can explain that they have been saving it at home for may years.

From previous posts on this forum (and others), I gather that it is not unusual for people (especially the elderly) to stash money like this - rather sadly it often seems to come to light after a death when a house is being cleared.

It is likely therefore that the customer service assistant (or colleagues) will have come across this before.

Once the cash is in the bank, your parents might prefer to transfer sums to your bank on a gradual basis, perhaps as regular gifts of a couple of thousand over the next ten months - they could do this by SO.

EdGasketTheSecond

greyteam1959 wrote: »

Anything around £5000 cash will flag up warning signs at the bank.

Try 4 lots of £4999 and then the final £4

kinger101

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Try 4 lots of £4999 and then the final £4

I suspect that will look more suspicious to them than a single £20K deposit. The thing is, the bank won't tell you they've reported you for suspected money laundering.

EdGasketTheSecond

It was a joke mate, chill

kinger101

Thousands of dodgy tradesman have this problem every time a note is withdrawn from circulation.

The gift might be subject to IHT if parents die within 7 years of transfer.

I'd suggest getting some evidence of where the money came from. It smells like tax evasion.

archer123

I sold a car for cash, and took the guy with me into the Nationwide to pay in approx £20k.

I wanted them to check all the notes were good, no fakes, and they had absolutely no problem with this.