Transferring Funds to UK

[John9]

Friend needs to transfer around 50K+pounds to UK but number of people advised him this will trigger tax authority enquiries check up or investigations etc. He is British national lives in Thailand but has  maintained bank accounts address in UK (using his relatives address).

He used to file UK tax return as he had buy to let property but he has sold that property. Does all inward telegraphic bank transferred monitored by tax authorities ? Does bank flag account on receipt of foreign transfers and if yes any limit when its flagged ? Does TransferWise or other transfer firms alert all information or is there limit to send back money to stay under radar ?

 

Any advice, help welcome. Obviously funds he has has from offshore investment.

[Brierley]

There are two issues, the first is the transfer of funds out of Thailand which the banks will have to agree to. He will need to provide his Thai bank with proof that the funds came into the country, from overseas, if he doesn't have that and if he doesn't have a work permit, the money isn't going anywhere.

 

The second issue is what the UK receiving bank will do when they receive the money. Yes of course the banks report inbound funds transfers and money laundering checks are in place. But if the funds are coming from his bank account in Thailand and going to his bank account in the UK, this shouldn't be an issue. And if he can prove the funds originated in the UK in the first place and there's a paper trail to prove that, there isn't a problem. 

 

The bigger part of the problem I can see is getting the Thai bank to ship the funds out, that isn't always easy and the bigger the amount, the harder it becomes.

 

In the UK there is no maximum limit although typically any inbound transfer over 20k is referred for approvals. The criteria is, any unusual and uncharacteristic behavior which varies from person to person.

[scubascuba3]

UK Anti money laundering checks are around £10k+, if he has nothing to hide then nothing to worry about

[John9]

Thank you Brierley and Scubascuba 3.

He has checked with Thai Bank as he had kept inward remittance receipts from Bank so they had agreed to transfer. Problem is originally he had transferred funds from UK to Australia in around 2005/06 and than when he left Australia he transferred funds to Singapore than transferred to Thailand.  He also transferred funds to his friends name in India for investment which he got back in Thailand. He does not have all transfer paper trails although he has some saved when it was in Australia. Funds in India were invested in his friends name and he got that back . Proving full paper trail of more than 15 years very difficult.

 

If he transfers say 10k to keep low profile under radar and does this different times to different banks in UK (he has three bank accounts in UK) will that go without raising eyebrows ?

[dabhand]

Have a look at the DeeMoney option to transfer funds from Thailand to UK. Note that Wise (Transferwise) do not transfer funds from Thailand.

 

I have used DeeMoney a few times for transferring small amounts (less than 50k baht) to my UK bank account. All done by app (both DM and local bank funding) and no requirement for any proof of funds or need for work permit. Always had next business day credit.

 

Of course more substantial amounts may trigger off additional requirements, plus there is likely to be a limit on transfer sums. Maybe contact DM to find out what may be needed.

 

Perhaps a two stage process is needed, with amounts backed by local banking paperwork sent via swift by local bank to UK and in chunks of Stg10k or less. Then any balance via DM once they advise this method is without hindrance, again in manageable chunks.