Transferring Money

[chrissy63]

We are selling our house like many of you to finance the move. We will make a reasonable profit but looking at some of the threads not sure if its best to exchange all our money in one go or just to take enough to get by initially and leave rest here in high interest rate account and exchange when/if rates improve. Know have to pay tax on money exchanged but would you pay more this way than if you took the lot. Not very good with finiancial things

thanks

[The Broughtons]

What tax??? The only tax we paid on our money was the tax on the interest it was earning in the bank! We bought over most of the equity from our house and didn't have to pay any tax. We had a lengthy chat with a financial adviser regarding our pensions and she enquired about savings but there were no tax implications there.

Felicity

[calNgary]

I remember reading something about any money brought into the country after you have been here 12mth is taxable ,,how true this is im not sure .We have transferred a few small amounts from our uk to oz account via the internet and had no problems.With the rate so rubbish at the moment ,id be tempted to leave some in the uk if you dont need it straight away.
Cal x

[dwaldron]

Divide your house funds by six and do six transfers, one each month. That way you will smooth out exchange rate variations and if the rate goes up you win and if it goes down you win.

[jenny4nails]

Hi Chrissy, we will be using HiFX for our financial matter, just our opinion...but they seem really good, why not try contacting them for some advice thie UK tel no is: 01753 752 740 and their website is Foreign Exchange Specialists | HiFX plc

We met Shane Thomas, and agent from HiFX at a migration seminar and he was really helpful, and he did say that they didn't charge anything for transferring money for you?

Hope this helps.

Jenny

[sydneyshell]

We use Moneycorp. They have been great thus far, and even when we didn;t have the money in time for a transfer we had booked at a GREAT exchange rate (those were the days) they allowed us to delay it indefinitely. We transfer money quite alot as we have a mortgage in Oz, and have bought 2 properties over the past 5 years, and have found that you should only transfer when the exchange rate is good eg do just waht you need to get by. If the rates soar, then exchange loads, or at least book it in. We pay 10% deposit for the benefit of booking the exchange rate eg is sending £20 000, pay £2000 and the rest when sending.

Hope that helps

[swampo]

Originally Posted by calNgary

I remember reading something about any money brought into the country after you have been here 12mth is taxable ,,how true this is im not sure .We have transferred a few small amounts from our uk to oz account via the internet and had no problems.With the rate so rubbish at the moment ,id be tempted to leave some in the uk if you dont need it straight away.
Cal x

We are interested in that one also. I though I read somewhere that you had to get your money into Australia 6 months after you validate your visa otherwise you are taxed something like 40% an the money you transfer after that date. Please is there anyone out there who can tell us what the right information is???

Much apreciated.

[eddie&tina]

Hi Swampo
From what i can make out and i'm no money expert you have 12 months to get all of your money into oz before you are taxed. Do not take this as gospel, but from what i can work out it works the same as it does here. Whatever interest you make in the first 12 months, if the money is here you'll be liable to pay tax here, being England. After 12 months, if money is in oz you'll liable to pay tax on interest in oz.
The tax you pay is on interest earned only, not what money you have. If i am wrong would be happy for someone to put me right.
Eddie and Tina

[swampo]

Thanks for response Eddie and Tina, I hope that you are right as we have to make a validation visit in May and although we hope to be over in Oz by September we are still trying to sell the house in order for us to be able to go!

If anyone else has any other informatiion I am sure that we would all appreciate it.

Cheers

[BullcreekBob]

Originally Posted by swampo

Thanks for response Eddie and Tina, I hope that you are right as we have to make a validation visit in May and although we hope to be over in Oz by September we are still trying to sell the house in order for us to be able to go!

If anyone else has any other informatiion I am sure that we would all appreciate it.

Cheers

G'day

What Eddie and Tina said is largely right. There are some "minor adjustments" to that depending upon your visa type and when you become considered to be a "resident of Australia for tax purposes"

However, the general rules are

1) you pay no tax in Aust based on the transfer of assets from the UK to here.
2) you are not liable for Capital Gains Tax in Aust when you sell your property(s) in the UK to move here
3) when you move your money to Australia and you earn interest on it, that INTEREST will become part of your Aussie taxable income and you will be taxed accordingly.
4) if you leave money or assets in the UK after you come to Australia and have permanent residency and become a "resident of Australia for tax purposes" then you will be liable for Aussie tax on the interest, income or capital gains of those UK assets.

Of course, what I have said is just *my* opinion and is very general and does not apply to all situations and all people and I have NO idea if it applies to YOUR situation. If you want financial advice you can rely on, or sue someone if it is incorrect, you will need to seek paid professional advice.