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Saving/ Banking in Dubai

Saving/ Banking in Dubai

Old Jan 25th 2004, 8:32 pm
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Default Saving/ Banking in Dubai

Want to save as much money as possible whilst I'm there.
Recommendations for bank accounts? What about when you return back to the UK? As it is tax free out there dont want the UK government to get their hands on my hard-earned cash.......
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Old Jan 26th 2004, 3:20 am
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Default Re: Saving/ Banking in Dubai

If you are going to be out of UK for a full tax year (April to April) then you must make sure you fill out an income tax claim form when you leave.
Also, don't forget to fill out the forms at the bank in UK that notify them that you are moving abroad. As far as saving goes, I'd advise opening up offshore accounts in Uk.
However, bear in mind that I am in no way a financial advisor, I
m just speaking from my experience. The best advise i can give you is ask around at various banks and find out your options.
Robin.
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Old Jan 27th 2004, 6:06 am
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My personal recommendation is to get an offshore account with HSBC, and also a personal banking account. It's much cheaper to make money transfers between two HSBC accounts (and cheaper still if you do it via the internet). Having lived in the UK, Australia and the Middle East, HSBC really is the only bank with a decent international presence everywhere.

Your company may set you up a bank account with their existing bank - or encourage/help you to - nothing wrong in this. But DO get money out of local bank accounts and into international ones, to avoid having your account frozen. What happens very often when you change jobs, or leave your job, is the bank totally freezes your account. Even if you have no loans (one guy had to *prove* he didn't have a loan - how the hell do you do that?) and even if your funds are greater than your total loans, it can take weeks and months to unfreeze. I know of families nearly driven to bankruptcy because of this. Apparently joint accounts are safer - they can't freeze them so easily.

As well as the UK government not claiming tax while you're out here, you will probably be able to claim tax BACK for the last partial year you spent in the UK. Because if you didn't spend a full tax year there, you will be owed money back. It takes a while, but you will get it.
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