# Transferring money from US to UK as a greencard holder



## Stuartward20 (Jun 11, 2016)

Hello Expats. 

I'm a British citizen who recently became a greencard holder after living and working in the US for three years. I have quite a hefty amount of USD savings which I would like to transfer back to GBP while the dollar is so strong. I'm unsure whether there is some kind of tax I would have to pay on this. I've payed tax in the US on all the income already and I'm completely up to date with any tax owed in the UK. The sum is six figures so I don't want to transfer if I'm going to get hit with some weird type of tax. Could anyone help?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

There's no tax on money transfers, but be careful how you make the transfer as that can run up some hefty bank fees. You will have to declare the "purpose" of the transfer (due to international regulations meant to discourage money laundering), though the bank or exchange agency will handle the actual reporting of that for you.

And you probably already know this, but you'll be expected to file an FBAR report each year reporting the high balances for any and all overseas (i.e. non-US) accounts.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

In addition to FinCEN Form 114 you might also need to file some IRS forms depending on what that money is doing outside the United States and where it is held. Examples include: IRS Form 8938, IRS Form 3520, IRS Form 8621, and/or Schedule B. (Not an exhaustive list, but it's a pretty good list.)


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

By the way, there's no requirement to transfer funds to a financial institution in the United Kingdom if you merely want to convert U.S. dollars to British pounds. There are several banks in the U.S. that offer British pound deposit accounts, for example EverBank. Alternatively, or in addition, you can use U.S. dollars to buy other types of financial assets that are heavily correlated with the British pound. Examples include symbols FXB, EWU, DBUK, HEWU, QGBR, and EWUS, all traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As yet another option, you can use the currency futures/options markets in the U.S. if you want to hedge against currency risk.


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## ForeignBody (Oct 20, 2011)

Check out using a money transfer specialist like transferwise or torfx (there are many others). They are likely to be significantly cheaper when you take account of the overall cost of fees and exchange rates.


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## Stuartward20 (Jun 11, 2016)

Thanks for all your help. I have a forex company all set up. Just wanted to check if there was tax involved. Now I know there isn't, I'll go ahead with the transfer


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