keeping bank accounts and finance in the UK

[Katieb]

Thank you to those who furnished me with helpful replies regarding my post for tax Declarations. Perhaps i can ask for some more advise now..............?

We have several  (small) accounts in the UK with Banks and  Building Societies, we have not yet informed them of our permenant move to France - our post is still being redirected to a family member in the UK. Am i right in thinking that generally most banks won't mind that we are not UK residents, obviously we will need to send them confirmation and proof of our new french address or will some banks insist that the accounts are closed?

Also, what is the situation regarding cash ISA's / PEPS / premium bonds  /endowment policies / life assurance / savings bonds and personal pensions  -all of which we are still paying a small amount into each month from our UK bank accounts  -crumbs - it sound's like we are loaded!! if only!!!! I'd be grateful if anyone has any advise on these accounts or can point me in the right direction before i start reading all the small print and documentation.

Many thanks as always

Kate

[Ron Avery]

Kate

I can only relate my experiences, but I have accounts with Tesco Finance, HSBC and Nat West, all registered here, no problems, I think you only will have a problem if you try to open new accounts with UK banks from a foreign address.

As regards  PEPS/ISA's etc,  get advice from a  Financial Advisor, these things are only tax free in the UK they are not tax free in France, and I think from a previous posting that you cannot legally hold them if resident in France.  Premium Bonds can be held abroad, but winnings are taxable, there are of course ways round this which I could not recommend[:D].

Life assurance/Endowments,  best to tell your insurer that you have moved in case anything happens and your claim is invalidated, for these you will have ask your insurer, some will continue the policy, some will not.  You may also be subject to pay tax on endowment pay outs, ex-gratia does not apply to France, the rules are very different.

[hastobe]

You should notify your bank of the change in permanent address. 

Under the new EU saving directive, banks are required by law to notify

the tax authorities of accounts held by non UK residents.  Also,

certain accounts (where there is a tax free benefit for UK residents)

may not be available to you any longer if you are no longer UK

resident.  On the flip side, because you are no longer resident in

the UK, you should be able to receive your UK interest without

deduction of tax by completing a form R105.  You will, of course,

be taxed in France on the income.

Hastobe 

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="hastobe"]  On the flip side, because you are no longer resident in the UK, you should be able to receive your UK interest without deduction of tax by completing a form R105.  You will, of course, be taxed in France on the income.

Hastobe 
[/quote]

Katy

Many UK finance institutions will not  pay interest gross now, with or without an R85 or 105 , you get your interest net and have to claim it t back from the UK inland revenue.  have a look at http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/635743/ShowPost.aspx

Scroll down and you will see how to get your tax back the easy way.

[hastobe]

The tax free pay only reduces your UK tax liabilities so UK interest

would still be taxable in France.  If your bank will accept an

R105 then you

don't have to go through the whole process of filing a UK tax return

and claiming back your tax.  If you can't get your current bank to

accept an R105 my advice would be to change your bank - many UK banks /

building societies will pay gross - ours does.  The reason some

don't is that they can't be bothered with the paperwork / s17 returns

Hastobe

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

My wife and I have bank several accounts in England (and indeed Australia), some we've informed, others we couldn't be bothered with regards our overseas address. But Lloyds our main UK bank have no problems with us being here, but they are now refusing to send out new bank cards to us due to us being overseas. Well, it is Lloyds.

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="hastobe"]The tax free pay only reduces your UK tax liabilities so UK interest would still be taxable in France.  If your bank will accept an R105 then you don't have to go through the whole process of filing a UK tax return and claiming back your tax.  If you can't get your current bank to accept an R105 my advice would be to change your bank - many UK banks / building societies will pay gross - ours does.  The reason some don't is that they can't be bothered with the paperwork / s17 returns

Hastobe

[/quote]

You are right Hastobe, if there is an income in the UK of over the Freepay then doing a UK tax return only reduces the UK tax liability, ( although you may still have to do a SA anyway for a few years if you did one in the UK, they still send them to you here for a few years) , but  once you have  declared your income in France and got a double taxation indemnity in place, you do not have to declare your UK generated income again to the UK,.  Of course it is not possible to get back the tax paid if your UK interest exceeds your freepay, but it has got to be a tidy sum invested to give you over £5k a year in interest alone.

But, this is in danger of going round full circle, if her bank will not pay gross interest,  how can Katy just change her bank/ building society if she now lives in France?   Anyway why should she change banks? Her current bank(s) may just pay a better rate of interest etc.  The simplest thing to do, if  your tax liability is below your UK Freepay is to declare the interest on a SA on line to the UK  and back comes a cheque it really is that simple and officially approved process as well.[:D]

[chessfou]

You can maintain most bank accounts (and credit cards), except the Internet ones. ING, EGG, etc. will expect you to close such accounts.

Main-line bank accounts (e.g. Nationwide) should all be OK (NatWest & Nationwide definitely are). BUT you may well find that you may not set up internet access to such accounts AFTER leaving the UK (do it before you leave, at least before you "officially" leave).

PEPs & ISAs are fine - you can keep them. You may not add new funds while non UK resident. Also, they only act as tax wrappers within the UK, so you will need to declare everything to the French taxman, who will want his/her litre of blood. Otherwise, as Ron Avery mentioned, Premium Bonds and similar can also be kept (again subject to paying French tax - no idea whether a PB win is counted as income or capital gain).

Once you are certain that you are going to remain in France (and not return to the UK), then you may want to investigate cashing in your PEPs & ISAs and transferring the funds to a French tax wrapper (there are various different ones, of which the PEA - Plan d'Epargne en Actions - is especially good for my situation and the Assurance Vie offers attractions for most people, although not for me). If you have any spare funds that you would otherwise be adding to your ISAs then, as soon as French resident, consider putting that inside a French tax wrapper instead (there are advantages which accrue and/or disadvantages which disappear after having had such things in force for various numbers of years, so soonest started the better).

There is an interesting difference (among many) between UK & French tax wrappers: the UK ones generally restrict you severely on the way in but are lax on the way out while the French ones tend to operate the other way round (which is good for those of us leaving the UK bound for France).