Large cash sum

karl54

I need some advice please. Several years ago being fed up with low interest in the bank I closed my account and withdrew all the money. Most of it was given to me in £20’s and £50’s. I spent a fair bit but the rest went into a friends safe. Now the new plastic notes have arrived and I have very many old paper ones but I assume I can’t just arrive at the bank with several thousand pounds worth of £50’s to deposit without an alert to someone? Tax man? Money laundering? I don’t want to pay tax on money that’s already had tax paid on it of course. I have the original bank statement showing I closed it and withdrew the cash would that be all I need to prove it’s legitimate cash? Thanks in advance 

tacpot12

Yes, what you have should be sufficient. Ideally, it would show your withdrawal as being paid in cash, but even without this, your explanation should be sufficient. You might expect to be asked a question about the source of the money, but you have your answer ready and some evidence so I doubt you will have any trouble.  

eskbanker

You might face some questions but if you can demonstrate a previous large withdrawal that ought to suffice, although the bank staff could challenge the obviously nonsensical position that you withdrew and stored cash because of low interest rates!  No tax implications though....

MoJoeGo

You were fed up with low interest so you took it all out, thereby ensuring you got.... no interest at all? Noses and faces come to mind here, but I get we all act irrationally from time to time.

In any case, it's your money and you have the audit trail of its source so you should be able to take it back to a bank and pay it in if that's what you now want. You may get questions, but you have the answers and documentation. How much are we actually talking about here anyway? The amount may well shape the amount of questions you will get!

grumiofoundation

As above the bank may well query your illogical explanation (in many ways would hope they do). 

You can see that withdrawing money from a X% savings account to a 0% ‘friends safe’ because the savings account pays “no” interest could seem ‘dodgy’ (is it?).

Why are you worried about tax ? 
Was the friend paying you interest? 

karl54

Not very helpful. No why would he give me interest?? At the time it was easier to have cash on hand as I got some good cash buying deals on cars and holidays it’s suited me fine but now cash seems to be a dirty word and they are giving a time limit of spending old notes it would make sense to put it back in the bank that’s all nothing dodgy about it lol 

karl54

Thanks to most of you who were quick to answer and give good advice. Yes probably wasn’t a wise idea at the time but ten years ago it seemed a good thing to have my cash on hand to spend as and when I wanted and as I said back then you could get something e great deals for cash payments but not now because of money laundering suspicion. Probably will have a chat to the bank manager see what she says. Evidently I’ve got 16 months before the paper money won’t be accepted. Thanks again 

RG2015

I thought that cash deals don't mean paying in banknotes, but means paying by cheque or debit card rather than credit card or some other credit arrangement.

As to the original question, there should be no problems as long as there is evidence of the source of the cash. Clearly the amount is relevant, as £50,000 will raise more questions than £10,000.

eskbanker

karl54 said:

Thanks to most of you who were quick to answer and give good advice. Yes probably wasn’t a wise idea at the time but ten years ago it seemed a good thing to have my cash on hand to spend as and when I wanted and as I said back then you could get something e great deals for cash payments but not now because of money laundering suspicion. Probably will have a chat to the bank manager see what she says. Evidently I’ve got 16 months before the paper money won’t be accepted. Thanks again 

Obviously it's less of an issue when having a conversation supported by documentary evidence, but it'll certainly be a good idea to have your story straight when discussing this with your bank!  I'm not suggesting that you were deliberately trying to mislead but you originally talked about withdrawing cash "Several years ago being fed up with low interest in the bank", whereas you've since stated ten years ago, when interest rates were actually pretty good, certainly compared with today.  Similarly your primary reason subsequently seems to have been to secure advantageous cash-only terms when making major purchases, rather than because of low interest rates as such - I'm not saying this to nit-pick but just to highlight that any anomalies in what you tell the bank will increase your risk of difficulties....

SouthCoastBoy

IMO Interest rates weren't pretty good ten years ago, base rate dipped below 1% in 2009 and has stayed below that since. I know accts may have paid slightly more than that, but definitely IMO not pretty good.https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/Bank-Rate.asp

LittleVoice

I understand "cash" can mean "cash" when negotiating with some trades - or buying cars from private buyers.