kitkirk

I had an account with Lloyds tsb before moving to Spain and I transferred my address to that of my daughter who lived nearby in England. My daughter is about to move to Switzerland and I wondered if I could keep the account but change my address to my Spanish one. It would be convenient to keep the account as my company pension is paid into it. Will there be problems and is it legal?

lyric030250

We have NatWest and HSBC accounts with Spanish addresses, credit and debit cards too so I would think so.

Lynn R

I kept my UK current account with First Direct when I moved to Spain, and get all my correspondence sent to my Spanish address. I also kept a UK credit card with a separate provider, no problems at all. In fact I think it is sensible as if you didn't keep it you would have problems trying to open another one whilst resident in Spain or if you moved back to the UK and needed proof of residence before you could open another account.

spainrico

100% legal I have had a Lloyds TSB UK account for the 12 years I have lived here registered with my Spanish address.

I would strongly recommend people do not close their UK accounts as re-opening is very difficult (impossible?) and you may need it for pension payments etc. if you are relocating to Spain.

cricketman

Yep, although....

The HMRC often use the existance of the UK current account as proof that you should be paying taxes in the UK

So OK if you already pay taxes in the UK or are under the threshold, but not good otherwise

spainrico

If you go through the FD9 process and qualify then not paying taxes in the UK is no problem.

anonimouse

Just tell them your Spanish address, no problems and you can get a form Think its 85b or summat and claim ya tax back

Fred James

Absolute rubbish!

Domino

how many thousands will you need to have to wake up HMRC ??
they only take an interest when you receive interest payments on your squillions as they want their cut - but many banks actually take the tax off before paying you.

Domino

the BH has a Spanish Santander and a UK HSBC - the latter registered on our Spain address. She phoned them up, asked if it was possible and started receiving monthly statements.

Do you remember how hard it is to open an account = it has got worse because of terrorists under the bed, so keep the account open, but be honest with the bank. Should be no problem.

HBG

When I banked with Abbey, they wouldn't let me use a Spanish address. When Santander took them over, they did; well, they could hardly refuse, could they?

I still consider it an English account and I'm happy to keep it.

snikpoh

Firstly, I also have UK bank accounts.


BUT, just remember that it is one more piece of information to show that you are still domiciled in UK and may, therefore, have to pay IHT when the time comes.


If you really want to try and avoid the dreaded IHT, do NOT have UK accounts.

britishbull

From a UK non-residence point of view it is much better to have the address in your country of residence rather than the UK for UK bank.

Rotor

Why?

snikpoh

... exactly, why? Make no difference to domicility or IHT.