Tom Pratt

Hopefully, in about April, we will be permanent residents in Oz. We currently have money in the UK bank and some savings and will, of course, have the proceeds of the house sale.

We will be transferring this over to Oz via someone like OzForex to purchase a house in Oz.

Is there any danger of this being seen as taxable income (which it isn't in UK) by the Oz tax people?

JAJ

Why would a transfer of your own money be income?

IF you leave funds in the U.K. after you become tax resident, then transferring the funds to Australia later on may create a capital gain for tax purposes, or a capital loss, but that's a different issue.

spouse of scouse

Hi Tom - as an Oz resident for tax purposes you'd need to declare any interest derived from savings on your tax return , as the interest (not the principal) forms part of your taxable income. Good luck with your plans

Tom Pratt

Spouse of a scouse - so is my wife, and it's Perth we are gong to!

spouse of scouse

You'll be in good company then Tom, heaps of scousers in Perth My husband came out here in 1990, both he and his wife scousers (his wife sadly passed away quite some time ago).

He's married to an Aussie now (me!) and we're planning the reverse journey to you, going back to Liverpool to live in the next year or two. A lot of people come to Perth for the weather - scouse and I are looking forward to escaping it! Give me a bell if you think we can be of any help.

ps only if you're a Red. If you're a Blue, you're on your own ;-)

Tom Pratt

Get your point about the weather, were in The Vines three years ago for our youngest daughter's birthday, it was so hot I was dreaming of snow and rain (snowed in back in Skem were we now live although I was born in the Royal Infirmary). Having said that, I hope to acclimatise as, although I am super fit (Taekwondo), the cold damp here affects my arthritis and, I feel the cold nowadays.

spouse of scouse

You'll be fine, just make sure you have air conditioning Scouse is from Bootle, he tells everyone he's from 'the select part of Bootle'

Tom Pratt

Just spotted your comment - Yes, I am a red, been red all my life, I was an apprentice down commercial road and went to the matches at Anfield straight from work on Saturdays

My son-in-law who lives in The Vines is a blue so that makes his son a blue (although our daughter and grandaughters are reds in support of grandad!

My other daughter lives in Araluen and her husband is from London, so he doesn't count at all! :-)

We have six grandchildren in Oz so emigrating to join them is a no brainer

Jacqui

Before we emigrated, we went to the Commonwealth Bank branch in London and set up an account, using their migrant banking service. Our savings and proceeds from our house sale were paid into this account (in GBP). Upon arrival in Perth, we went to the branch in the CBD where this was all transferred to a new Aussie account, we were given debit cards as well as credit cards and were able to access money instantly via ATM etc and it was all done with minimum effort. So much easier than transferring via OzForex or something, and then having to try and get banking and credit cards organised when you get here, with no job, no Aussie income etc.

I expect nowadays it would be even easier if you can get the ball rolling online and don't even have to visit a branch. Anyway, would definitely recommend transferring money this route, makes it one less thing to worry about when you get here. More details at https://www.commbankuk.co.uk/

It was not treated as income, but of course once the Aussie tax year ended the following year, any interest earned on the account had to be declared, just the same as in in the UK. Make sure you advise the bank of your Tax File Number (TFN) as soon as you get it, so that you don't pay the higher rate of tax on your interest.

goldchoccycoin

It may be slightly easier to use a bank but you can lose thousands if the exchange rate is significantly worse than a broker like ozforex. Check the rates and fees and make your decision on that not a few minutes extra work online and the sake of an extra day or two for the transfer.

Best of luck.

Tom Pratt

Thanks for that.

Already have a Westpac account having visited OZ a few times in the last 6 years and, yes, transferring using OzForex does save a lot of money for a bit of effort.

Once we are there, it will have to be regular task to transfer lump sums to Oz as you need to be transferring sums in excess of £10,000 to get a "free" transfer.

Guess it's not completely free as their rate always seems to be 1% lower than the actual but 1% isn't bad at all.

Tom Pratt

I used to go out with a girl from Bootle (48yrs ago) who lived in Bedford Rd. Not sure if Bootle counts as Liverpool but close enough!

Yes, nice place Costa Del Bootle!