Transferring House Sale funds (GBP) to Australia

[Plentymech]

We've started the process of selling our UK home and want to get prepared for the money transfer to Australia. I've searched through a number of older similar posts and there's the mention of the popular choices such as Moneycorp and XE which I've used both for years now but given this is a much larger than normal transfer, does anyone have any good or bad experiences with dealing with banks etc.?

I understand as long as whoever handles the transfer are legitimate then it's down to fees (if any) and of course the rate but for some reason I can't explain, I've always thought of MC and XE when moving smaller amounts and been very happy with them so if they are a good go to for house sale fees then more than happy to use them and will be calling them anyway for a chat.

Thanks all.

 

 

[Marisawright]

The fact that it’s a big amount is even more reason to use Wise or Moneycorp. You’ll lose a fortune in fees and/or exchange rates with most banks.

[Wanderer Returns]

I've recently moved £250,000 over with Wise (formerly TransferWise) in dribs and drabs, and it was a fraction of the cost of using a bank. My last transaction was £15,000 and the charge was £52.50 pounds, so they charge 0.35% commission.

[Craig Colas]

Do the banks or anyone for that matter, question large amounts of money being transferred into your Australian Bank? Guess what I am asking is when I transfer say £100,000 from a house sale back in the UK is there any further tax implications on it after I have declared the sale in the UK etc. Has anyone done the full process? Thanks!

[Marisawright]

11 hours ago, Craig Colas said:

Do the banks or anyone for that matter, question large amounts of money being transferred into your Australian Bank? Guess what I am asking is when I transfer say £100,000 from a house sale back in the UK is there any further tax implications on it after I have declared the sale in the UK etc. Has anyone done the full process? Thanks!

No tax implications.  

[DukeNinja]

I second MoneyCorp.

[Cup Final 1973]

I’ve moved money the other way having sold our house and emptied the superannuation fund in Australia.  I used Sendfx based in Queensland and found them to be excellent.  There are no fees and the exchange rate was better than XE and Torfx. I typically sent $100,000 at a time.  You can use them from the UK to Australia.

[Cup Final 1973]

I was worried about such a large sum arriving in our UK bank account so informed HSBC of our circumstances but just got a rather snotty reply that any deposits would be subject to their usual checks!  

[rammygirl]

I wouldn’t worry about the bank they may well report to ATO but you will have evidence of where the funds came from.  Many migrants move large sums of money so hardly rare.

On the other hand when I sold property in Greece the Greek bank would not release the funds until I produced all the paperwork of the sale and info from accountant in person to the bank!  Fortunately they accepted this from our Greek Lawyer who had power of attorney for the sale.  Mind he charged a pretty euro for the short stroll to the bank!

[Plentymech]

Thanks all for sharing your experiences, exactly what I was hoping to hear!

[Parley]

On 04/05/2021 at 21:16, Craig Colas said:

Do the banks or anyone for that matter, question large amounts of money being transferred into your Australian Bank? Guess what I am asking is when I transfer say £100,000 from a house sale back in the UK is there any further tax implications on it after I have declared the sale in the UK etc. Has anyone done the full process? Thanks!

About 15 years ago i received an inheritance after my Dad died in the UK. Quite a lot of money. Transferred using the Bank to Bank (SWIFT).

I kept wondering whether i would be queried about what the money was but no one cared. 

Cash gets reported but i don't think a transfer of funds electronically gets any attention

[Craig Colas]

On 06/05/2021 at 05:21, Parley said:

About 15 years ago i received an inheritance after my Dad died in the UK. Quite a lot of money. Transferred using the Bank to Bank (SWIFT).

I kept wondering whether i would be queried about what the money was but no one cared. 

Cash gets reported but i don't think a transfer of funds electronically gets any attention

Thanks Parley, I thought that would be the case. In the grand scheme of things its not a huge amount of money compared to some. But being quite young I have never had to transfer such an amount and our budget is based on it etc. so didn't want any unforeseen bills.

[Jbaker]

On 04/05/2021 at 02:43, Plentymech said:

We've started the process of selling our UK home and want to get prepared for the money transfer to Australia. I've searched through a number of older similar posts and there's the mention of the popular choices such as Moneycorp and XE which I've used both for years now but given this is a much larger than normal transfer, does anyone have any good or bad experiences with dealing with banks etc.?

I understand as long as whoever handles the transfer are legitimate then it's down to fees (if any) and of course the rate but for some reason I can't explain, I've always thought of MC and XE when moving smaller amounts and been very happy with them so if they are a good go to for house sale fees then more than happy to use them and will be calling them anyway for a chat.

Thanks all.

 

 

I am nearly at the end of a similar process.  I set up an AUD account with HSBC in the UK and have been transferring the cash over in tranches on and off for the last few months whenever the real rate I can get is over 1.8 using fx payment services companies.

I set up accounts with several of them so I could easily compare rates in close to real time and transfer using whichever was quoting the best rate on the day - CurrenciesDirect usually seems to be the best and moneycorp often seems to be the worst of the lot (eg. moneycorp currently quoting me 1.7604 and CurrenciesDirect 1.7747 although it is the weekend and the gap isn’t usually that wide on weekdays).

Max you can do online is £25k with CD.  If you’re going to transfer the lot in one go or in a few large tranches, I expect you can get them to quote slightly better rates if you phone them up and play them off against each other.

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Jbaker

[Alan Collett]

Remember the need to report the sale to HMRC within 30 days of the sale completing.

Best regards.

[Ken]

On 05/05/2021 at 08:40, Marisawright said:

No tax implications.  

Not from the transfer of the funds, but there can be CGT on the sale of the property to account for (but the primary residence exemption may well apply and all foreign income is exempt for temporary residents).

[Cots]

We’re using Xe.com, the rate offered today is 1.809  

Edited May 13, 2021 by Cots

[rammygirl]

I got 1.82 yesterday with Wise.

[le petit roi]

On 04/05/2021 at 17:48, Wanderer Returns said:

I've recently moved £250,000 over with Wise (formerly TransferWise) in dribs and drabs, and it was a fraction of the cost of using a bank. My last transaction was £15,000 and the charge was £52.50 pounds, so they charge 0.35% commission.

I used TransferWise/Wise in December and of the ones I investigated, they were the best for rate and fees hence my choice. They also had a very good helpdesk because transferring large sums isn't straight-forward. Be prepared to undergo money laundering checks and able to provide the appropriate evidence. You should also check with your UK bank on transferring large sums - banks have a daily maximum limit and you may find it easier transferring to the FX company in a single transaction. That may incur a fee (to my surprise, RBS charged only 20GBP but needed a request faxed from Australia during the Christmas holiday period) The RBS request put me under pressure to get money to Australia for settlement on a property in January but Officeworks have a fax facility that to my relief, came to my aid.

[Cots]

The rate with Wise is higher but then they charge you for the transfer whereas someone like XE doesn’t charge but has a slightly lower rate. It seems to balance out around same - if my calculations are correct  

[rammygirl]

2 hours ago, Cots said:

The rate with Wise is higher but then they charge you for the transfer whereas someone like XE doesn’t charge but has a slightly lower rate. It seems to balance out around same - if my calculations are correct  

You can usually compare the final amount you would get in either case.  I often get more by paying a fee, but it will depend on the amount you are transferring. 

[Cots]

We’re transferring 100k at a time so it’s a decent figure.

[rammygirl]

100k at 1.809 with no fee is $180,900

100k at 1.82 with no fee is $182,000

Im betting the fee will not be $1,100 .

 

[plato]

Hi,

Has anyone transferred funds from a house sale in the uk to Australia recently? ie 2023.
We have an accountant and solicitor firm lined up to deal with the sale of an uk property and fund transfer. We are not sure as yet how the funds will be transferred to Australia (by our solicitor we presume).  We will be back in Australia when the property is sold.

We know the uk Bank  has a daily withdrawal cap and to override this, the bank says we need to be in the uk and present ourselves in person to arrange. (!#%). But, we will be back in Australia when the house is sold and settled so we have a real estate agent to sell the property with the solicitor handling the finalisation of the sale. We have an accountant to deal with the HMRC. 

We have used XE exchange previously by transferring small amounts from the uk bank into XE and onto Australia where we reside. But, with several hundred GBP,  we don’t know how to have the funds paid by  into XE as a lump sum. We css as nt imagine anyone transferring funds from a house sale in small amounts to XE over 20 bank transfers. How do u transfer the lump sum from the house sale into XE or similar? 

Anyone with recent lived experience or knowledge on this subject to share?

[Barbara b]

Hi Plato

first ever post replying to you. I sold my house in Uk when I moved to aus in June. I was over in aus when house completed, I used halo for xterms and they were great. I locked in exchange rates when good at £100k a time and then moved £25k a day over 4 days from my uk bank over to them, when they had received the amount locked in to them they moved the bulk into my named aus account . bit tedious but moved £450k this way, I had set up a good account with high interest over in aus to receive monies. I then could pay cash for property over in aus so all worked well. Good luck but really recommend halo. No fees for transfer 

[rammygirl]

Go back and talk to the bank and see if possible to arrange in advance. Don’t ask the tellers ask to see someone who deals with transfers or overseas customers. You might be able to sort that way. Otherwise you can use an fx firm that will allow you to transfer money over several days. Most do. We always use Wise now they do charge a fee but it works out better than the fee free fx companies I am registered with. The all take a while to register so do this now with a couple so you can compare. The high street banks are usually poorer rates. Do not let the solicitor sort it, they will charge you for the privilege and not bother much about the rates. 
Do make sure you report the sake to HMRC within the time limits.