UK Bank accounts

I actually took evething to the tax office for her to fill in for my first declaration, and only moved definitively in december, when i started work. So she did not ask for any of my other bank accounts. I went armed wtih everythingi thought i needed, and she told me this was for next year … So I’m properly confused now. I just completed a zero declaration form for last year. But have now made my first URSAFF cotisations payments online, so assume my true tax account in france kicks off next year … I was not given an opportunity to declare any other banks yet.

A quick question for the Wise users.
If you transfer Sterling from your Wise account to a UK bank account, is there a fee for doing so?

Yes, but it’s minimal. I tested the system when I first opened my borderless accounts and sent £20 and they charged me 6p.

Ah ok. Presumably because UK no longer part of SEPA .

Unless I’ve misunderstood what you’re trying to do, which is possible as I’ve not had enough coffee yet this morning, It used to be very expensive as there’s a fee to do just about everything . The only way to avoid fees at every turn was to load money in then spend using the card, but they have been reducing fees, probably because people like me stopped using them in favour of other options, and I think the gbp to gbp sending fee is back down to about 30p now. Not much if you’re doing it once a month, but regularly and it soon adds up.

But as I say I may have misunderstood and there are people who use “Wise (Formerly Transferwise)” as they still insist on calling it every chance they get suggesting they’ve royally ballsed up their rebranding much more than I do and will know if I’m talking nonsense.

No kirstea makes perfect sense.
I was curious about the change of name too. Excuse the pun but a word to the wise… In business say what you do… TW was a decent enough name.
Just now have to rearrange my finances to keep GBP in a UK based account since being an old skinflint I don’t like shelling out to the fincons even if it is only 30p. Sodding Brexshit!!
Is it the same the other way round? Sending money to Wise from a UK GBP account in GBP or is that fee free?

No. It’s the same, £20 from UK a/c into £ wallet cost 6p

Humm interesting… I last transferred funds from the Halifax to Revolut in GBP and there was no fee…

Laast time I transferred £ from UK to the Wise account there was no fee at that stage either. There was a fee of a few pence to send euros to a French bank account from w Wise euro account and also to send £ from a £ wise account to a UK bank account. This may had changed in the past few months but that was certainly the case then for me.

With Revolut, I think the UK dropped out of SEPA sometime late April 2021 which sems to have been the trigger for transfer fees.

That makes sense, Graham! Lately, I’ve only been using Wise for direct conversions from £ to euros rather than using funds in the account I hold there so I wouldn’t have seen the change. I shall look out for it when I next move money into Wise…

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If you are a resident of France, every bank-account you have anywhere and the income from that account (if any) that you obtain must be declared. Which is all combined to determine your Income Tax in France. (Ditto life-insurance policies.)

That’s the law, and if the authorities somehow find an account that belongs to you that you do not declare, then you are open to penalties. DO NOT MESS-ABOUT WITH THE FRENCH TAX AUTHORITIES.

You’ll only regret it …

PS: If anyone is wondering why the southeast of France has emptied itself of American billionaires, there’s the reason. They now come in on a yacht and park it off the coast for whatever time they want wherever they want - after which they bring the yacht back (typically berthed in Italy).

UK is not in SEPA? I am sure I remember it being said we would stay in SEPA even after Brexit. After all, why undo something that works?

Yes, UK remains in SEPA

@KarenLot you’re right of course… UK remains a member of SEPA but there still remains the issue of sending GBP to a SEPA member which attracts a fee whereas, before Brexit, it didn’t.

So what causes this conundrum?
Here’s a handy little utility from Wise to find an IBAN from your Bank sort code and Account number…

It says Halifax but works for other banks as well.

good lord, what a difference in ideas of ‘modest fee’ and ‘a few euros’ from one person to another! That amount would mean not feeding the kids this month! Bloody French wages!

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To be fair, do your tax return badly enough and the kids may not be able to be fed for quite some years… :rofl:

Seriously though, I was expecting less than 100€ which is more than double what my lady charges me for an appointment in which i just ask her any questions I have when it comes to doing my own, and a glance at them before I submit just to make sure I haven’t done anything idiotic, so I nearly swallowed my own tongue in shock at 370€! But if they’re done right I guess it’s worth it!

I would say to counter that John in the modern scheme of things, a paper return will be numbers punched into a bot by section and box number without a concern for who was involved in the completion and similarly for the online form.

We all live our lives in different ways.
As a Yorkshireman I look after the pennies/cents and the pounds/euros look after themselves. Having 4 children made it a necessity.
We all have our opinions on how to manage our hard earned income and in the 49 years I have been self employed life has been good, if you dont put in then you dont get a return.
In the grand scheme of my life I consider the cost of my accountant to be modest, others may not, I didn’t ask to be judged.

In the UK, if my accountant didn’t earn his fee from at least the savings made by proper scrutiny and submission of our accounts then something was amiss :wink: