Renie

Can I exchange money over from Australia to UK after I have returned back to UK or do I need to sort it beforehand, and if I transfer it at a later date say two to three months after, are there any taxes to be paid, say if the exchange rate went in my favour.

Also when back in UK do I exchange with foreign exchange company in UK or Aus.

Any information would be most helpful.

quoll

Theoretically you could keep it in an account here and do an internet transfer when the time was right but the tax implications - not sure, I think it all depends on what your status as a tax payer is - if it is an interest bearing account. You could ask the bank before you leave. If you have told the tax office that you will no longer be submitting an income tax form and if you provide the bank with a UK address, I dont think you would be up for tax but you would definitely want to check that out - you may have to declare it as income for UK tax purposes.

Kathryn V

Hi Renie

In February 2008 we sold our house, car etc in Australia and made a couple of transfers whilst still there, via international electronic transfer to our UK bank account. We were also able to transfer the last of the money once we had arrived back in the UK. It cost us $28.00 for each transfer, so you are best to keep them to a minimum. However it is not easy closing an Australian bank account from the UK and we had to make special arrangements with the bank before we left.

The bank did the transfers for me whilst in Australia, as one of the amounts was too large for me to do online and I was too nervous to do the other one online! It cost the same whether the I did the transfer myself online or the bank did it. The transfer I did online from the UK, through the internet banking site, went through fine. All the transfers went through very quickly and so you can capitalise on good exchange rates.

I assume that you will have to include any interest you earn on the money, whilst it sits in the Australian bank, on your final tax return. As far as I know, but I have not received anything from the ATO, I have to complete a tax return for 2007/2008, because I lived and worked in Australia for part of that tax year.

Hope some of this helps.

Kathryn

Elvira

XE Trade is free!

(and usually much better exchange rates than the banks...)

razbolch

Don't feed the bank any more money as their exchange rates are generally crap and you have to pay for the service!
We used HIFX who are excellent and don't charge a thing - they actually refund you if you do get charged a reveiving fee. They also use near market rates of exchange and are based in UK and Sydney Australia www.hifx.co.uk, You can also forward contract if you like a rate you can fix it up to 2 years with a 10% deposit of the capital you want to transfer

Renie

Thanks for your replies,

I have done my tax return for June 2008 and everything is upto date, besides interest I am getting from this date onwards, I intend to use hifx or ozforex, but was thinking of moving money over whilst in UK. But was wondering if the exchange rates went up in my favour after moving back if I would have to pay tax on this, was hoping there would of been a 3 month leway.