Anyone have any experience about sending a large amount of money back to the UK?

Business Money
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I have been here for seven years and spent a lot of it working hard but never sent any money home

. I have managed to save up 1.2 million NT but now I’m looking to leave Taiwan.

Does anyone have any experience of doing a large transfer into their uk account?
Would sending 30 grand in sterling all at once trigger money laundering alerts and troublesome paperwork in the UK?

Or maybe this is just chicken feed in the financial world and nobody bats an eyelid?

Would sending a smaller amount back be better and then using an ATM card to recoup the rest?

Has anyone left money in Taiwan and went on to other destinations?

2

I always kept it under ten grand. I remember someone at a Uk bank recommended that years back. No questions ever asked.

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I think 30k is nothing much for them for intl transfers (not saying it is chicken feed either) especially if same person’s name is on both accounts. Have a proof of legitimate funds ready and should be fine. Make a note that it is your own funds or savings or whatever.
Taiwanese banks are painful but shouldn’t be an issue. They are also costly. And check about exchange rates.

Now there is a little wisdom in doing it with a small amount first to test it but yeah, a bit costly.

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If you are sending from your own English name bank account to same own English name bank account, it should be no problem.
I’ve done so from both HK and Taiwan back to US in amount much greater than yours. No issue.

The authorities typically looking at X company or Y LLC into a personal account.

Anyway, just :2cents:

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I’ll add that mine was sometimes from my wife’s account to mine in the UK. The banks here will want you to fill in more forms if over a certain amount in nt. 500k I think.

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9 posts were split to a new topic: Transferring Money to Canada

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Chase Bank has a DAILY maximum of $25,000 US for international transfers and we brought that into my wife’s Taiwan Bank account with no trouble. I also opened a sterling account with Wise (used to be Transferwise). You can open multiple accounts in any of 50 currencies but not $NT unfortunately. I put 18,000 pounds into it, then when I changed my address to the UK they sent me an ATM/ debit card which I used there for shopping and withdrawals. That’s a good way if you don’t already have a UK account.

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This is good advice if you’re just sending money back now and again, but sending e.g. 30k as several chunks of less than 10k in succession will raise red flags. So don’t do that!

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We’ve transferred significantly more than £30k directly to UK accounts multiple times and never been asked anything. That’s with NatWest.

If you plan on using the money to buy property you will need to provide information regarding source of funds to comply with AMLR.

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Not at all. It is money you saved. You are sending money from yourself to yourself in another country. Never an issue. It’s chickenfeed in the scheme of things.

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I’ve send more than 10K from ,my HSBC HK account to another HSBC UK account never an issue. Immediate transfer. No questions asked.

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20

It is a fair concern, though. It’s very difficult to get any clear cut tax laws regarding this. I would like to send 100k pounds back. I’m pretty sure it will be without issue, but it’s understandably worrisome.

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21

I wouldn’t be worried in the least. With all the Saudi and Gulf money being wired in and out, they’d be worried from accounts in the same name? Especially if you are not a resident in the UK?

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I’m UK resident.

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23

I don’t know if they guys accept NTD but we used them a lot transferring money for our clients. And they have competitive rates and you can lock in a forward contract exchange rate for now in case. The pound has been volatile recently so might be a good idea to lock in a rate for when you’re ready to leave.

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Even so, with the double taxation arrangement in place 2002 UK-Taiwan Double Taxation Agreement, as amended in 2021 — in force - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), you are moving income declared in one jurisdiction to another covered by a double taxation arrangement…no worries at all.

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I think people are confusing taking money out of the country by hand with transferring it electronically. From the US, there is a $10,000 (per person) limit on cash that you can carry out in your suitcase without declaring it. Over that you have to declare and there is probably a similar limit from Taiwan. This limit doesn’t apply to bank transfers.

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No. It’s not. There are clear tax laws on this.

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There are limits for how much you can carry physically as that music professor learned recently at CKS airport where they confiscated a large chunk of his annual salary (covered in the news extensively).

You are right–no limits on wiring. However, anything over 9999 in Canada will be red flagged by Revenue Canada.

It’s similar for many other jurisdictions.

That being said, if there are double taxation arrangements or immigration type of allowances, even wiring or physically taking more is allowable. We took hundreds of thousands in C$ from Taiwan to Canada back in 2008 and stated it in my Taiwan family’s PR declaration.

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Kept mine under 10K when I sent it. Also sent some via transfers via another bank. That process was much easier than through my Taiwanese bank account, which asked many more questions and filled out more forms.
I would not recommend closing your Taiwan account, either. I would hedge a bet the process would be a PITA. Just leave a bit of cash in it.