UK Bank account, italian address?

06/24/2010 - 06:55

Just a quick question, does anyone know if you are able to register your Italian address with your UK bank account. We have read that this is possible but have also heard differently. Ours is currently registered with c/o relatives who are just about to move and we wondered if we should just make the change. Thanks

Topic

Tax and Finance

Location

Marche

Comment

I have a UK bank account registered at my Italian address. It is what they call an "international" account so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Hi Penny........... MY UK & Offshore accounts have my Italian address as the contact address. We do not have an address at all in the UK, so...............I would LIKE to open other accounts with the UK but they won't let me open any new accounts (even with the banks that I am with!). European 'Union' eh ! grrr! S

If you are not resident in the UK you can not have a bank account unless it is one for expats. If you are resident in the UK and living in Italy I know that you can ask the bank to add a correspondance address on the account and have your statements sent out to you in Italy.

Umm interesting, when I told my bank (Barclays) that I was moving to Italy to live and no longer had a UK address there was no problem with my account, all statements sent to me in Italy, and the account runs as normal.

Have Barclays, Nationwide, Nat west all with the Italian address and no problem

Folks.......... BUT.............Does anyone know if we can OPEN a NEW account whilst living/resident here (with NO address in the UK) in Italy? I'm sure that I can do it via (in effect fraud!!) giving my sister/brother's UK address as 'my home', but I'm not aware of another way ? S

Thanks everyone for all your replies. We're with Nat West so will advise them now and see what happens. Will let you know how we get on... Thanks Jo

Sprostoni, my account was opened after I moved here but as I said it was an inetrnational account aimed at ex-pats so that might make a difference. That was with Lloyds TSB.

Thanks Penny, I also have an International account with LTSB in Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Luxembourg. The problem I have found is that you cannot open a NEW account 'on-shore' with any of the UK banks to my knowledge. HSBC will open another 'off-shore' account as well but not an 'on-shore'................grrr! S

My understanding (and I think it is correct) is that you can open a new account as an Offshore/Expat person, but due to EU money laundering rules, you can't open a stirling onshore account if you are no resident. As far as I'm aware my Bank (Lloyds both UK and Offshore) will allow me to open an additional account using my Italian Residency details, but no other Bank will for reasons mentioned before. Is it neccessary for you to do this, if so for what reason?

Thanks for the response(s)..............I would say that it is not actually NECESSARY for me to do it, but......... I received a 'flyer' at my Italian address from a UK bank offering a reasonably ok interest rate. (Certainly more than my LIBOR related accounts earn (.5%!!)!) So thinking that there may have been the possiblity of a punt on it...............I applied......they turned me down immediately due to my being 'resident' in Italy. I do not have an (official) UK address. Apparently (from my understanding), the UK banks don't have to turn you down for any legal reasons, they just do as they feel outside of the UK (even in the wonderful EU) is too risky for them (understandable?). Hey ho...................the exchange rate is improving though eh ??!!! Oh and the weather..........oh......and the wine is still disappearing fast! (Every time the exchange rate goes up a notch, I think that's equivalent to a free meal at our favourite restaurant !) S

Due to the EU regulation,The European Savings tax Directive 2005, you cannot no longer open a UK bank account in the UK if you are resident in another EU state and DO NOT have an address in the UK. If you had an address that you were registered at in the UK then you could always have an account set up at this address, but if you are not resident in the UK then strictly speaking you shouldn't do so. The EUSTD ( aptly named), is to prevent cross border money laundering. This means they are trying to prevent you from holding money in one EU state and not delcaring it in another. The interest you receive, theoretically speaking, should be taxed in your country of residence. In the past expats have signed the P85 form declaring non residence in the UK and then moved away keeping money in the UK bank account and reeciving gross interest, without declaring it in their EU country of residence. The new rules about bank account opening and address are designed to deter this practice. In addition on offshore bank accounts they have imposed the retention tax, going up to 35% on interest to prevent you from keeping money offshore and not paying tax aswell. So either way they will get you. You either bring it onshore, share information or pay tax or a mix of them all. If you are looking for a better interest rate on your savings then you might want to consider looking at a wrap platform which can access all the different banks and financial institutions in the UK and many from around the world to get you the best interest rate. A wrap does come at extra cost but if you are holding money in bank accounts medium to long term and trying to switch them around to find the best interest rate, then this method might be considerably easier and work out better in the long run. Hope thats helps and sorry this is a late posting, but I have just joined.

Thanks Gareth. This was really was about maintaining an existing account in the UK to pay fr the odd thing in Sterling - like an Amazon purchase, or, on a rare trip back to see the grandchildren, being able to get a little bit of Sterling out once there.