The Lemon Fool

Hi, first post.

I have a brokerage account in the UK where I hold some index funds (basically Vanguard Lifestrategy). Its not a huge amount and I know with ii there is a quarterly fee of about gbp22 (interactive investor).

I'm not UK tax resident and to maintain this account I would have to transfer GBP to my UK bank account.

Is there any upside in keeping this ii account, or should I just close it down?

I guess another upside is that in the future it might be harder for non UK tax residents to open UK brokerage accounts in the future.

bobjones wrote:Hi, first post.

I have a brokerage account in the UK where I hold some index funds (basically Vanguard Lifestrategy). Its not a huge amount and I know with ii there is a quarterly fee of about gbp22 (interactive investor).

I'm not UK tax resident and to maintain this account I would have to transfer GBP to my UK bank account.

Is there any upside in keeping this ii account, or should I just close it down?

I guess another upside is that in the future it might be harder for non UK tax residents to open UK brokerage accounts in the future.

As a general rule of thumb, I don't close anything down in the UK. It's becoming more difficult to open accounts (brokerage, banks) and you never know what the future holds.

torata

As a general rule of thumb, I don't close anything down in the UK. It's becoming more difficult to open accounts (brokerage, banks) and you never know what the future holds.

Having spent half my life working abroad, I totally agree with this. The days when I was a student and opened accounts with just my name and address have long since gone.

If you have a parent, sibling etc who will let you use their address for all correspondence, then do it. Stay 100% legal but never volunteer information.


Steve

stevensfo wrote:

As a general rule of thumb, I don't close anything down in the UK. It's becoming more difficult to open accounts (brokerage, banks) and you never know what the future holds.

Having spent half my life working abroad, I totally agree with this. The days when I was a student and opened accounts with just my name and address have long since gone.

If you have a parent, sibling etc who will let you use their address for all correspondence, then do it. Stay 100% legal but never volunteer information.

You can also use a local business centre or accommodation office. They will not only take in post for you, but will periodically forward it to you anywhere in the world. They can also receive faxes, have a voicemail for you or even answer the phone in your name.

Very useful for those who live abroad, or are just mobile and change addresses a lot. And has the added benefit of ensuring that those with whom you do business do not know where you live (which in almost every case, they have no genuine need to know).

torata wrote:

bobjones wrote:Hi, first post.

I have a brokerage account in the UK where I hold some index funds (basically Vanguard Lifestrategy). Its not a huge amount and I know with ii there is a quarterly fee of about gbp22 (interactive investor).

I'm not UK tax resident and to maintain this account I would have to transfer GBP to my UK bank account.

Is there any upside in keeping this ii account, or should I just close it down?

I guess another upside is that in the future it might be harder for non UK tax residents to open UK brokerage accounts in the future.

As a general rule of thumb, I don't close anything down in the UK. It's becoming more difficult to open accounts (brokerage, banks) and you never know what the future holds.

torata

Thanks for that. Thing is, I would be paying GBP88 in fees to ii and say my investment is only GBP5k and I am not sure if I will contribute any more to it. Still worth it for future protection?

As Torata has noted, it is very difficult to open a UK based bank account/brokerage account once you are non-resident and especially so if you don't have a UK correspondence address that you can use for this purpose.

So view the ii fee as an expense to keep your options open if you think that there is any future possibility that you will need such an account.

Having returned from a seven year stint in the Middle East last year, I strongly support those who are saying keep the account open (if you have even only the slightest chance of coming back to the UK). It's a real pain to open anything nowadays as an ordinary person if you're not resident, especially if you are outside the EU.

tieresias wrote: It's a real pain to open anything nowadays as an ordinary person if you're not resident, especially if you are outside the EU.

I'd go further:
- It's more than a real pain, it seems to be increasingly common that it is simply not realistically possible.
- These days it seems to not just be opening accounts from abroad that is a challenge, it's keeping them open. I have to routinely produce evidence (certified by the embassy, or notarised etc) just to keep the two UK a/cs I have open. It is a serious PITA that I'm going through again now with my UK high-street bank (expat customer for 10 years). They keep coming back asking for more and more certified documentation - it's been ongoing for four months this time, and still their threat (for which they indicated the precise future date) to close my a/c hangs in the balance.

DiamondEcho wrote:

tieresias wrote: It's a real pain to open anything nowadays as an ordinary person if you're not resident, especially if you are outside the EU.

I'd go further:
- It's more than a real pain, it seems to be increasingly common that it is simply not realistically possible.
- These days it seems to not just be opening accounts from abroad that is a challenge, it's keeping them open. I have to routinely produce evidence (certified by the embassy, or notarised etc) just to keep the two UK a/cs I have open. It is a serious PITA that I'm going through again now with my UK high-street bank (expat customer for 10 years). They keep coming back asking for more and more certified documentation - it's been ongoing for four months this time, and still their threat (for which they indicated the precise future date) to close my a/c hangs in the balance.

I've been lucky (and remain so, but may clearly change in the future) that I have been able to maintain two UK bank accounts and a credit card since I left the UK. I do have activity on them around once every three months at least.

However I'm trying to balance keeping a UK presence over potential domicile and IHT issues. Part of the problem is I'm not sure if I'll move back to the UK. At the moment its unlikely, but not 100% sure.

bobjones wrote: I'm trying to balance keeping a UK presence over potential domicile and IHT issues

Yes, in theory it is your domicile that determines your IHT liability rather than your residency.

But in practice someone who has technically retained UK domicile but who has lived overseas for a while, with their family and assets there, is not very likely to fall under IHT for the simple reason that it is unlikely that the UK authorities will even be notified of your death, let alone of the probate that will happen in your new home.

So I think it is residency that really drives IHT liability, except perhaps in very high profile cases. Although of course the topic here is UK assets and accounts, and they would be harder to shelter in that way. So at some point I believe that one should take an "all or nothing" approach to where you are, where your assets are, which jurisdiction your Will is drawn up in, and where your probate will happen.