Anticitizen

I was thinking, for ease, of using XE.com to move my money to my spouse's bank account around the time I move to the USA. I have used XE.com several times to move varying amounts and they have good rates (although I am happy to hear of any better if anyone knows any) and service.

I want to transfer a large sum to my spouse's account, and I wanted to know if this is going to cause any red flags in terms of taxation or fraud. The transfer itself will be expensive enough without having to pay additional tax upon the money arriving and, of course, fraud suspicion is something I want to avoid.

If this isn't going to be the best option then I think the only other way would be to open a US bank account, but is there any way to do that before I move?

Thanks,
Chris

MidAtlantic

All transactions over $10,000 are reported but that is routine.

I cannot imagine that transferring to a spouse would be any cause for concern at all. If a question was raised you (presumably) have a perfectly straightforward explanation regarding the origin of the funds and the reason for transfer.

Pulaski

And this is done by the bank without any action required by the customer. The process is entirely transparent to the customer.
The "problem" is that the bank has very little information to go on when a wire is received, and if the bank becomes suspicious they won't come asking the customer for an explanation, therefore I would strongly recommend that your wife go to her bank and tell them ahead of time that the wire is expected, and ask whoever she speaks to to note it in her file. She should tell the bank where the wire is coming from (UK, through xe.com), who the wire is coming from (you?), the source of the funds (sale of house, liquidation of investments, etc), what the wire is for (presumably transfer of assets at the time of immigration), and the approximate value of the funds, rounded up a little to reflect uncertainty in the exchange rate. It probably makes sense to have this information summarized on a sheet of paper to give to the bank, to minimize the risk of the information being misunderstood.

If she doesn't do this it will, in all probability, not be a big deal, but letting her bank know ahead is generally the preferred course of action.

petitefrancaise

if you are going to use the money for a mortgage at some point then you MUST keep all records of the transaction - from where the money came from in the first place (sale of house?= documents supporting that), transfer into your UK bank account and then transfer to US bank account.

Agree with Pulaski, warn wife's bank ahead of time and try to make sure you don't get any charges from them. If it's a large sum of money going into the account they can probably get the charges waived.

Pulaski

If it comes through xe.com and you select "credit by ACH" then there won't be a bank charge. It is only (true) wire credits that banks usually charge for.

doconthemove

I feel azimo is much better the rates are better only £1 fee for any amount transfer plus if you get the money to them in the money it will be in yr US account by the afternoon!

dont think xe or transferwise can compete with that tbh

MidAtlantic

There are plenty that can compete with that. Just search on here.

RRoBritColorado

I recently used transferwise. Charged me 9GBP to transfer 5000GBP at market rate.

Pulaski

Plus "commission" or whatever they call it of 0.5%, which would be £25. .... Unless you got some sort of introductory deal.

RRoBritColorado

Introductory deal..

LeavingLondon

I just transferred the money from the sale of our house from HSBC UK to Chase Us via xe trade.com. Didn't think to warn Chase (probably should have). No fee and the money was transferred with 4 hours of XE receiving it. Their rates were just as competitive as the others i called. Was really happy with xe.

Pulaski

If by "just" you mean "within the past few days" (upto 2-3 weeks) it isn't too late to let Chase know the background to the funds (see my advice above).

LeavingLondon

Ok. Will do. Did it last week so I'll call them now. Thanks for the advice.