Best account to receive payment in US dollars

Mart700

I have employee options in the company I work for. If I sell them they go trough my salary and are taxed as income. However as its a US company they are paid in dollars.

The problem is an UK bank will charge for doing the conversion to GBP. I'm currently with Natwest but they typically have an exchange rate 2-3% difference to the official rate.

I get taxed as though I've received the full amount.

For example if the 'sell' current exchange rate is 1.307 then Natwest has a sell of 1.2816 and a buy of 1.342.

If I end up receiving (after tax) $1000 of options the company will use the standard exchange rate and pay £765 pounds to me. It will appear on my tax as receiving this amount.

However Natwest will actually show I've received £745 because they use their exchange rate so I receive about 3% less. Technically my tax is correct because I've received the full amount, its just the bank has pocketed some of it for themselves.

I've visited most of the high street banks and asked them what sort of account would be better for me to use. Sadly not a single one of them had any idea. I guess this is kind of a edge case for banks and not something that is commonly done.

Anyone know of a way to reduce the banking costs or any place I can compare the `buy` exchange rate and find the best bank.

Many thanks for reading

colsten

If I understand correctly, you have 2 questions

1. what UK-based account can US dollars be paid into
2. what is the optimal way to exchange the dollars from above account into Pound Sterling

The answer to both questions could be a Transferwise Borderless account, provided that your employer can make payments in USD to your Transferwise account. If they can't, what method of payment would they offer you?

Mart700

That is the sort of thing I'm looking for. They should be able to pay into any account with an IBAN.

I'm looking for a bank account that has a better exchange rate. Natwest always seem to take around 2-3% and was looking for something that doesn't take as much. I know no bank will ever do t for free but any bank that is only 1% would be better than what I'm currently getting.

colsten

Mart700 wrote: »

I'm looking for a bank account that has a better exchange rate.

Forget it. No bank will do that. If you want to stick with a bank, you need to pay whatever they charge.

[Deleted User]

With TransferWise Borderless you get domestic US bank details plus a BIC code (no IBAN). Alternatively with Revolut you get a UK IBAN and BIC that can receive USD.

colsten

[Deleted User] wrote:

With TransferWise Borderless you get domestic US bank details plus a BIC code (no IBAN). Alternatively with Revolut you get a UK IBAN and BIC that can receive USD.

Revolut has ridiculously low limits unless you pay extra. Though we don't know how much money is involved, so that may not be an issue for the OP.

oli356

Will have to look at Transferwise, my ESPP program at work has the shares in a Charles Schwab account and are in USD. Always wondered how much Natwest charges on fees and what the exchange rate was when I sold the shares and had the money sent to me. Seems like Monzo (my main account) doesn't even accept international payments and suggests to use Transferwise also.