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ex-pat bank account


Keelstow
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One of my relations lives overseas, but not in F rance and says his existing bank account with Barclays has been frozen until he proves UK residence. Seems like he never made it clear he would be living overseas, without a UK residence, and in the climate of money laundering they were be obliged to act so. He has a decent enough pension he wants leaving in pounds sterling

Moving forwards what are his options? I believe he has about £70k to put into a new account and does spend some time in the UK each year, but barely more that 3 weeks. He could use my address as his UK residence but I need to make sure this is legally acceptable. He seems to think he needs to buy a UK property, but does spending time actually resident do more to satisfy account holding status rather simply property ownership.

I know this is not directly related to France but this post will be read by people who have had similar dilemma so any info greatly appreciated

martin
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I don't see that where you chose to live has anything to do with your bank in the UK or anywhere else.

We have vatious accounts with a UK bank and live in France and have done for 7 years with no problems.

Contact any bank on the Channel Islands and they will be only too glad to open an account for you in any currency.
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  • 2 weeks later...
It's not just that some a/c might be for UK residents only.

The banks - all of them - are checking up on those with foreign transactions on UK bank a/cs -

because they need to know you are paying tax in the country in which you reside.

Your French tax number, your UK national insurance number - is NOW an euTIN -

a european Tax Identification Number.

In other words live in France, even if you have UK bank accounts - prove you are paying tax in France.

Spens part of the year in France, with non-UK expenditure - prove you are resident and paying tax in the UK.

EUTIN - it's another way of checking up on us all.

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On Barclays website to open an account:

Your addresses for the past 3 years - your current address will need to be in the UK

and in their T&Cs:

Eligibility for an account

We can close an account (or stop providing a

service) if we find out that you are not eligible for it

(for example, through age, employment, residence

status, or credit status). We will try to tell you in

advance if this happens, but if we were breaking

any rules or laws by continuing to offer you the

account or service, we would have to close or stop

it immediately

so there we are, residency status, which I presume the bank has not been informed about, i.e. French resident - and the T&Cs do require the customer to notify it of any changes - closure.

As far as I am aware all UK banks for a normal current account require the holder to be UK resident.
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Lots of French residents have UK current/savings bank accounts-we do. Oo the simple fact of living abroad does not mean you cannot have a UK account. We have held our accounts for 30+ years- well before we moved here. The bank know we are here because they send all communication here. I think it is difficult now to open a new account with a UK bank if you live outside the UK.
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The banks now have to comply with an eu Diktat - in other words they have to 'know' the tax residency of their customers.   Yes, of course, it is possible to have a UK bank account(s) if you live abroad, particularly if your income derives from the UK ie pensions.

BUT - the difference now is that (like the USA) - all banks must know where you, as their customer, are paying tax - you will be asked, at some point, about tax residency.

Live in France - you will be asked for your French tax number.

Live in Spain - you will be asked for your Spanish tax number.

Your UK NI number is, as I pointed out earlier - now an eu Tax Identity Number.  

The banks must comply with the eu Diktat - and they pass information on to HMRC.

This is because the eu regards us all as not paying tax, being money launderers etc etc.

We are not trusted any more, in any way;  the people who have issued this Diktat, like Juncker, think we all behave in the way they do - and we can't have any freedoms !!!   Hate them all, I does........and not because of tax avoidance - but the sheer intrusion, all the time, into everything - we are NOT trusted.

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[quote user="chessie"]

We are not trusted any more, in any way;  the people who have issued this Diktat, like Juncker, think we all behave in the way they do - and we can't have any freedoms !!!   Hate them all, I does........and not because of tax avoidance - but the sheer intrusion, all the time, into everything - we are NOT trusted.

[/quote]

There is another side to your simple one of not being trusted.  If you have nothing to hide, then you shouldn't have any issues with being asked questions and being required to comply with international banking rules.

Just to give one small and insignificant example in the grand scheme of these things.  I bought some cloth from a German company trading from Germany and it was the first time that I'd ever bought from this company.

My bank stopped the payment and contacted me to establish whether that was a genuine transaction authorised by me.  For my money (as it were [:)]), I'd far rather they did that and put up with the inconvenience of not getting my goods until everything was verified than if the bank paid all and sundry from my account without checking if any fraud was being committed.

I'd much rather things were checked for fraud, money laundering, illegal tax avoidance etc than that anyone can open any sort of account without having their credentials checked.

If, as you say, it's all the fault of M. Juncker, then I can only applaud him and give him an electronic pat on his back[B]

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Well done your bank - but that is a completely, totally different situation.    Your bank took action because of trading protection - and to protect themselves to a certain extent - but it was absolutely nothing to do with your confidential tax matters.

Of course banks should carry out necessary credit checks etc;  but you are missing the point slightly.   The phrase 'nothing to hide' is one used by many people, over many ideas - but where do you draw the line.  

All I have done is point out that what the banks are now doing is complying with an eu Diktat.   We have no privacy about our tax affairs any more - it is not just between us and the tax authorities any more;  and banks pass on information don't they - doesn't anyone worry about this ?

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[quote user="chessie"]

All I have done is point out that what the banks are now doing is complying with an eu Diktat.   We have no privacy about our tax affairs any more - it is not just between us and the tax authorities any more;  and banks pass on information don't they - doesn't anyone worry about this ?

[/quote]

Er...............No!

AFAIK, banks have always passed information to the tax office and indeed to the police and fraud authorities in certain circumstances.

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[quote user="chessie"]

All I have done is point out that what the banks are now doing is complying with an eu Diktat.   We have no privacy about our tax affairs any more - it is not just between us and the tax authorities any more;  and banks pass on information don't they - doesn't anyone worry about this ?

[/quote]

I left the UK before the EC was even established, which was well before the UK joined it and began to accept all the subsequent enlargement and control.

I was surprised when I first revisited the UK, and continued to be surprised on later visits, at the general acceptance of EU intrusion into all aspects of life in the UK, which no-one really seemed to mind very much, and generally accepted after a bit of token grumbling.

I haven't stayed in the UK for almost ten years, but now, after it has been 43 years in this organisation I am quite surprised by your question and certainly at the outcome of the referendum, and would suggest that it's all a bit too late.

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One piece of advice from me would be to play an absolutely straight bat with all in authority . I make this suggestion because living here in France I have come across so many British people who are a bit "elastic" shall I say with their finances, tax, health and so on and if the authorities see through it all some day they will have more than sleepless nights ! Your relative will just have to spend a lot of time researching and maybe just have to accept what is available . What about NSandI - if he is a British citizen banking the 70L with them and then feeding it into a local account in whatever country he lives in ? Spending time searching all the expat forums and the Internet is just part of the fun of living abroad.
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Everybody has to be resident somewhere and if you are it should be a relatively trivial matter to prove it.

If on the other hand you're living under the radar then you shouldn't be surprised when financial institutions won't play with you.

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With regards to EU TIN numbers.

 

The UK does not issue TIN numbers. Whilst the structure of the NI number is compliant i.e. number of letters and digits it not of the correct syntax.

 

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/tin/pdf/en/TIN_-_country_sheet_UK_en.pdf

 

To test if you have a TIN number enter your NI number in the following EU website.

 

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/tin/

 

TIN's are not compulsory. No personal information is recorded other than the fact a person may have a TIN number. Not every EU Country issues TIN numbers.

 

For more in TIN's read.

 

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/tax_cooperation/mutual_assistance/tin/index_en.htm

 

Note it is not a compulsory system.

 

However the MEP's voted on an passed new EU legislation that makes it compulsory for all member states to record corporate tax payments. Perhaps this is where some confusion may lay with the above. This is aimed at the likes of Amazon, Google, Star Bucks etc. and to stop them avoiding tax payments by moving their accounts from one EU country to another or splitting them over several EU countries. As a result France has now raided Google offices twice in Paris since. It also seems the UK government may have shot their bolt by accepting £150M back taxes from Google as it may be they owe more than double that amount. Unfortunately because HMRC's deal was a "full and final payment" they will not be able to get any more back money from Google that they may well owe. I don't see anything wrong with the EU doing this as it is money owed to every EU citizen.

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