British Expatriate Network

Hi guys

I am moving to the US in a matter of weeks after 5 years of trying, but wondered whether to leave a UK bank account open. It would be good for some things, but is it a pain when it comes to filling in those terrible US tax forms?

Sorry for the broing thread, but this is what's eating me today.

Cheers
GN

I went as far as transerring my account to offshore thinking it would be useful but I've hardly used it in the 3 years I've been here. SO...unless you plan to be writing UK cheques and making transfers regularly, there's probably no point.

As far as declaring on your taxes, it's not going to be an issue if it's under $10,000 or something like that but you technically need to declare it.....I did last year (on an account with less than 10 pounds in.....I needed to file a seperate form to a seperate place and they still wrote back saying I'd not completed it correctly....wish I'd not bothered now.

I left my UK bank account open and it's proved incredibly useful, but that's because some pounds now do go into it. I've found it useful for UK subscriptions, money as birthday presents for nieces and nephew, mail order or when I want to send money to a mate or family member there fast. Or if someone owes you money there they can just deposit a cheque in your account.

Many of the offshore accounts in places like Jersey and the Isle of Man do not offer chequing or card facilities, or if they do it's with a catch like hefty maintenance fees or a minimum amount of at least 5 thousand pounds. I'd keep your UK one open, you never know when you might need it.

Also, if you close your UK account it's very hard to open another one if you're not a UK resident, so there's no going back if you shut it down unless you move back there. As the previous poster says unless there's a huge amount of money in there I wouldn't worry about tax authorities.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by Lee on 2003-06-11 1038 ]</font>

I ditto Lee. We have kept ours open and use it regularly for birthday present money and other things.

The grandparents put the children's money into our account and then we just use our debit card to get what the children want. It means we don't have transfer fees or exchange fees to worry about.

Definitely keep it. You can always close it in a few years time if you don't use it. smile

Yep, before I left the UK I made my Mum co-signator (or whatever they call it!) on my account so that she can use it to deposit stuff and make any withdrawals that might be necessary for me. It's been very useful for me to have the money in the UK because if I need anything sending over from there (like CD's, DVD's, Walkers Crisps etc.) I can just tell my Mum to take the money out of my account to pay for it. I'd recommend it.

_________________

"Bababooey"

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by RChappo on 2003-06-11 1057 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by RChappo on 2003-06-11 1057 ]</font>

A UK bank account isn't a big deal tax-wise. You just declare it on your 1040 (bank, account no., balance range) - you don't have to actually pay any US taxes, except on the interest.

Probably easier to have it than not.

With internet banking, there's almost no hassle at all.

I had to fill in something other than the 1040 for me UK account even though I had less than 10 quid in it....and had to send it to a totally different place....they still sent it back for corrections. Now I'll probably have to keep filing this same form or if I don't their computer will warn them that I'm hiding information from them.

That's right - we send our declaration off to a place in Michigan, whereas the 1040 goes to Memphis. Still not a big deal though.

I don't know how the U.S tax system works but do you really have to even mention it if you've only got a few hundred quid in it?

It's one of the joys of living in a "free" country.

probably a question that answers itself, but...

"did you change your mailing address for your UK bank account to your US address?"

... or did you leave it in your parent's address?

Just thinking of the usual internet CC purchase where "goods can only be sent to the CC billing address"

When I talked to my bank, they said it would be best to leave an account open. If you ever returned to the UK for any reason, you could show you had a bank account in good standing. If not, you'd be starting from scratch - just like you will when you come to the US.

Keep the bank account, even if there's a minimum amount in it. I joined the Llody's Bank in Derby in the 1970's when I was a kid, tranferred it to Sheffield when I moved there in 1989 and it's been there ever since. I get a statement every 3 months with 5p interest and 1p tax :)

I also have a credit card and 'Cashpoint' card so I can get travller's cheques before I leave and deposit them into my account when I get to the UK. I have all the ease of using the debit card without having to deal with the traveller's cheques and all that. I also know I have cash if I'm in a real bind.

Regards
Nigel



Regards
Nigel

Keep the bank account.

Nigel, you can tell your bank not to deduct tax -you're neing robbed! lol

Adrian, we changed our address for the bank account to our US one and haven't had any problems with it. CC is a different matter but when we had a UK credit card we still told them to change it to our US address and never had a problem with internet purchases etc. But then the majority of our purchases were for the US and not the UK. If you are going to make many CC purchases over the internet for the UK, then you could change the address on your CC to your parents address and see how it goes. There is nothing to stop you doing this, except if you ever default on paying your CC - then it would affect your parents as it is the address of the CC (I believe) that creates a bad credit record. Sometimes the CC companies put a bad credit history on a house when they can't get hold of the person who holds the CC. As long as you don't do this to your mum and dad there shouldn't be a problem )

What about transferring money from the UK to the USA on a regular basis?

Has anyone opened an "international bank account (in US$)" with a bank in the UK?

If so, does this make it easier to do transfers from your existing Sterling account?