Blue Cat

see the other thread about this, Meow says you can send back just over 5 grand before you are taxed. I am of no help as we have no debts in the UK so not familiar with this sort of thing.

Meow

Transfer less than the persona allowance per tax year? Don't forget you & your wife each have an allowance. Or hope HMRC doesn't notice!

There are forms to complete to declare yourself non-resident. I have pdf copies somewhere,

nudda

interesting thread. i am quite far away from needing to make an account but the need will arise sooner or later i am sure.

I have also heard that making an offshore account in jersey or something is the way to go.

If you have any forms/information-leaflets meow, I would certainly like a view.

Cheers!

BettyCrocker

Very interesting and appropriate for my personal circumstances also. I have HSBC here in the UK but from August I will need to switch and get an offshore account. I'm talking to an IFA here next week about transferring my teacher pension scheme to an alternative pension, but I have an ISA with HSBC and one with the CIS....should I keep these going? Or transfer them to an offshore ISA with HSBC?

Old Lob

Betty - be very careful with your pension transfer - if it is a public sector one then it would be irresponsible to change it without at leat one second opinion.

I am not an advisor but do know the dangers of opting out of defined benefit!!

nudda

I have been advised from a friend in dubai to stay well away from HSBC as they are not very good in the middle east. I dont knowfor what reason but there you go ...

BettyCrocker

Interesting, thank you. I spoke to a woman who works for the 'teachers pension scheme' and she seemed to think that I should keep it if I was going to return to the UK in 5-10 years. But as I'm not planning on returning to the UK I'm not too sure (as a Canadian/Brit I think that I was to leave Dubai it would be to Canada rather than the UK).

Old Lob

Betty,

The issue is not where you are going to live but the value of the pension. On my assumption you have a defined benefit pension where the amount you get is certain. What is likely to be offered to you is an investment (I assume you will no longer be contributing to it because of leaving the country). So your pension depends on the performance of the investment and the interest rate on the day you chose to cash it in.

I quit!! But take a second opinion from an advisor please - esp if you have been in the scheme for a while.

arbroath_abroad

I have an international account with HSBC. No problems there so far

I also have a local account with HSBC. ON 2 occasions my company have paid me incorrectly and then realised they have made an administration error. They then asked HSBC to take out around 12K AED and pay them it back....

5 days after putting the money in my account, they debited my account and gave the money back to my employer.

All without even consulting me...Well when i went to meet the manager at JA to 'discuss' this, he assured me customer services had called but i never answered my phone

surely they should not debit any money paid into the account by a third party without receiving advice from the account holder? I mean, what if i was in dispute with my company and they wanted to take some money...

Old Lob

They can sort of.

If there is a mistake then the transaction is invalid and you can reverse it.

If someone put a million pounds in my account it would be a mistake and I would know to leave it for the bank to reverse the transaction rather than going on the piss with it.

As I'm sure you would too.

arbroath_abroad

of course i would, but i would expect some sort of communication from the bank.

Meow

DO NOT TRANSFER OUT OF THE TEACHERS SUPERANNUATION SCHEME!!!

It is a final salary scheme with government guarantees. Circumstances would have to be exceptional for it to be advantageous to transfer out. PLEASE be careful. This sort of advice was what cause the whole pension misselling issue of a few years back.

If you have ISAs you can leave them in a tax protected environment but will not be able to make any further contributions. There is no such thing as an offshore ISA.

Old Lob

Dear Mrs Abroath,

We have recently credited your account with a million pounds.

Can you please return it and not piss it up against the wall like you do with your salary,

Yours Faithfully

Barclay Coutts.

angelynv

thanks for this Meow - I may be making an appointment with you when I arrive in April!
My husband and I both have ISAs which are full, as of April 08 we will put in a further £200 each as the max has gone up. We will not touch this but just keep it as savings in the UK. our normal savings (kept in high interest online saver) we will probably be using the majority of once we arrive in Dubai - will go towards our initial set up costs. but obviously we will be saving while in Dubai and so we should set up an offshore account for this? Ok, so no interest, but what about charges?

Meow

Please do contacte me - as I have authorisation in both the UK & UAE I can advise on all aspects of your planning.

Yes, you should set up an offshore account, even if you only put in £50 to open it initially. It is usually easiest to set it up before you leave the UK and Lloyds TSB & HSBC are the best known, although HSBC is probably best for larger sums. You can probably do most of that online too.

You should not have any fees for running a simple savings account offshore, but the interest rate will depend on the balance and the currency in which you save.