Cup Final 1973

10 hours ago, Cal2 said:

Hi,

we're selling our house in QLD before returning to the UK - the agents have said that because its over $750k we need to complete an overseas resident form (yes, it sounds more complicated than it is and I totally understand why the form has to be completed), but the agents suggests seeking the advice of our tax agent or a solicitor. The form looks pretty straight forward though - can we just do it ourselves?

Secondly what tax implications are there when selling a house here and returning to the UK? We won't necessarily need to transfer the money straight away

 

TIA

 

Cal

 

 

Obviously different states have different rules.  We sold our property in Victoria in March and had to sign some form which the solicitor dealt with as part of the conveyancing.  The money from the sale went into our Australian bank account and we transferred it in stages to our UK account.  There was no tax involved.

Hi Lee,

Just avoid Palmers.  We were very disappointed with their service.  It’s worth asking whoever you choose for details of the actual shipping.  Will it be just one ship or like ours three different ones with the consequent delays involved.  You also need to check who the UK removal firm is and where they are based.  Despite telling Palmers we were moving to Yorkshire our UK firm was based in Croydon and took 5 weeks before delivering because they needed a load for the return journey!

 Good luck 

14 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

It’s a strange one because we hear this a lot.  I guess until you need it you’re not sure how good/bad it is.  Even throughout Covid, the few people I know that needed it got first class treatment.   My mum spent 9 days in hospital summer last year after one of her many delirium episodes, at a time we weren’t allowed to visit at all.  Throughout that I was spoken to daily on the phone by the doctors and I couldn’t have asked for more.  Earlier this year she was found unresponsive one morning by her care home staff and rushed to hospital by ambulance.  She had suffered a stroke that rendered her in a coma and end of life was the only option.  For the five days she was in hospital (at a time of no visiting unless something like end of life)  my brother, sister and I were all allowed in anytime day or night.  The care they gave her and us (I’ve never been offered so much tea and biscuits) was amazing.  Last month a close relative was very ill and his wife called an ambulance.  They arrived in 8 minutes and he was rushed to hospital.  He spent 10 days there and underwent every scan/test you can think of.  He was diagnosed with severe acute pancreatitis.  He is now home and on the mend.  He said he couldn’t imagine it possible to have had better care.  We all do hear the nhs horror stories but my family have a very different story to tell as in their time of need the nhs were outstanding.   

We arrived back in May and have been very impressed by how quickly our needs have been met on the NHS, including an endoscopy for my husband which had been postponed 3 times in Melbourne and hearing aids for myself.

Plus free NHS hearing aids - had mine fitted today and they are so neat.  Also went to make a will on Monday and learnt that inheritance tax on a couple only kicks in when you reach £1 million of assets.  That’s a lot more generous than I thought.

Just an update on our removal saga from Victoria to Yorkshire, which started on March 15th.  The container arrived in London on September 16th and was moved to PSS’s warehouse on October 5th after I’d paid the demurrage charges.  Since then, nothing.  We are still waiting for our goods to be delivered to Yorkshire and the earliest possible date is the week beginning November 8th. That hasn’t been confirmed but it doesn’t appear to be a shortage of lorry drivers rather waiting to find something for the return journey to London.  Meanwhile, we continue to camp in our new house.  The Australian side of our removal, Palmers, have been absolutely useless, not even replying to emails.  If you are returning to the UK make sure you ask about shipping routes (ours involved 3 ships and took over 12 weeks for the actual shipping),  who the English partners are and ask for guarantees about delivery.

I’m assuming you’re talking about your pension estimate Blue Flu but it seems incredibly generous if you have only 16 years NI contributions.

Are you old enough to turn your super into a self-managed super fund?  You can then transfer the money into your bank account.  As it’s not an income it’s not taxed.

I just assumed it was one of those taxes which had always applied but I wasn’t aware of it until it applied to me!  However, I googled it and it only started on April 1 2021 .  Apparently foreign buyers are the source of inflated house prices so the government thought a tax of an additional 2% would put some off.  Thankfully it is refundable once we’ve been here 6 months.

Her accent may even be an asset if the kids watch Neighbours and Home and Away!

We bought our house in the UK in June having returned from Oz at the beginning of May.  We had to pay a surcharge of 2% because we were classed as non residents and will be able to claim it back once we’ve lived here for 6 months. I wonder if there’s something similar for taking out equity.

I think too much is made of the UK « pub culture » as though that’s all young people do.  Of course they go to the pub, but they also play sport, watch sport, go to the cinema, play music, listen to music, cycle, run……

I suppose you should also factor in that OAPs in the UK pay nothing at all for any medication and also get free bus travel throughout the country.

Absolutely right Marisa.  Our belongings were packed up on March 15th but the shipping journey didn’t start until June 20th.

In addition to anything quoted be prepared for demurrage charges - containers are having to wait at ports and this charge is passed on to the client.  I’ve just paid £109 for our container and we were extremely lucky as we were one of 16 clients in the container.  If it had been sole occupancy we would have had to pay the whole amount.

Don’t believe what you read….

Every time I buy something I get a text from one of my daughters telling me to stop spending the inheritance 

We moved back in May and bought a house and car at the end of June.  We had no problem insuring house and contents without any proof of prior no claims but the car insurance was more problematic.  When you apply on the Internet the forms don’t allow you to explain your situation and we were quoted exorbitant rates.  A poster on PIO recommended NFU (National Farmers Union) and we contacted them by phone.  They accepted our Australian no claims and were very competitive.

Why did you have to pay $700 in addition to the English cost SusieRoo?

Having taught in both countries, I second what Marisa posted.

Hi Gerry, just another thought.  We moved back to the UK in May and I updated our details with Bank of Melbourne but they won’t accept my UK mobile on the account.  Perhaps you should check that Commbank will.  I use BPAY and have included SENDFX in my recipients so don’t need a code but if ever there’s a problem I have a phone number in Melbourne to ring.

We moved back to the UK at the beginning of May and were able to get almost 56p for most of our money.  I’ve left quite a bit in our Australian account hoping the rate will improve.  I used Send and was very impressed with the service. I had to open an account and send evidence of where the funds had come from but there was no commission and the money was always deposited into our English bank account the same day.  We had kept our UK HSBC bank account with our Australian address for over 10 years which made life a lot easier.  We’ve since opened two more accounts with different banks and had to jump through hoops to do so.  As Marisa said you need evidence of a UK address which is not easy when you have no household bills.  You can apply for a UK driving licence online by submitting your Australian one and paying a fee and that will give you one proof of address.  Banks are often very particular as to what evidence they will accept - for example car insurance with the AA in my husband’s name was refused.  So be prepared for an extended period where you’ll be reliant on your Australian bank.  Credit cards are also very difficult to access if you have no credit history in the UK.  I have a limit on one of £250!!!   I am using it every day and paying it off every other day to establish what a fine upstanding person I am.. If you have evidence of no claims on house insurance and car insurance some UK insurance will accept them.

Good luck.  It is worth the hassle!

Hi, just seen this thread.  We moved in the other direction with our belongings packed up on March 15th as a part load in Melbourne.  We were quoted 10  - 16 weeks.  We arrived back in the UK on May 1st.  Our container didn’t even leave Melbourne until June 21st and we have had several emails with estimated arrival dates.  The last one gave August 30th as estimated arrival into London.  Congested ports and lack of truck drivers have been given as reasons for the delay. 

Are you absolutely set on the south coast?  Prices are much more affordable elsewhere - Norfolk, Suffolk, Yorkshire….

In England remarks would often be prefaced by Listen… and we noticed the Australian version was Look when we migrated 15 years ago.  Now we’re back in the UK I haven’t heard the Listen…