Residence in AUS but paying tax in UK - saving options

WhiskyCol

Hi. My son is on secondment in Australia for 2 years and is looking for a savings mechanism for a few thousand pounds that is better than a banks easy access. He has a UK bank account and all his wages are paid into it. What type of accounts can he move him money into as most say he must be resident in UK?

PRAISETHESUN

I'm in the reverse situation - living in UK with savings back in Aus. My experience from reading about others on here who have moved abroad from the UK is that some* banks will be happy to let you keep your accounts as they are when you leave the UK, but won't let you open new ones. If he wants to shuffle savings around then it's best to do so before he leaves. There's also the option of just not telling the banks he's moving abroad and nominate a safe address for his correspondence (eg. trusted friend or family) - strictly this isn't the correct thing to do, but it's unlikely the banks will ever really find out.

If he is working in Aus and being paid AUD then he should also look into opening a AUD account - ideally from one of the local banks - in order to not get ripped off by foreign exchange fees/rates by having it remitted to his UK current account. Even if that's not the case, he'd probably want to look into a specialist currency conversion services, such as Wise, to facilitate GBP/AUD conversion at much better rates and for day to day spending.

Also with respect to ISAs (since this is posted in the ISA board), my experience is that they are not recognised by a lot of foreign tax authorities, Aus included. If your son finds himself liable to pay tax in Aus then he could find that any ISA savings need to be declared and could be taxable by the ATO, even if they are not taxable by HMRC.