Moving back home from England

[kildon]

I'm moving back to Ireland in 3 months time and I'm trying to figure out what happens if I leave my UK bank account open with money in it? am I liable for any tax when I'm living back in Ireland? How do I move my pension and where should I put it? With the exchange rate the way it is, should I, can I , leave the money in my UK bank account?
Any advice about moving would be much appreciated.

 

[ccraig]

you can of course leave it in the uk and as you are not leaving for 3 months its anyones guess what will happen with the exchange rate between then and now but it is not very good at the moment.

If ecb reduce interest rates later in the year it will make sterling relatively stronger. With poor economic data coming out of germany and france this week it may be possible but as long as inflation is a worry rates will not be brought down and sterling will remain under pressure against the euro.

Again this is semi useless regurgitation just to illustrate that no-one can really provide definite advice on what is best.

It was widely hoped that this bank debacle would clear up by end of summer 08/start of 09 but again each day seems to bring another skeleton out.

 

[irishlinks]

You can leave your UK banks accounts as they are. We moved over 4 years ago and I still have a UK account - current and savings with First Direct. Just give the bank your new address and there should be no problem. It will be handy for the first few months because you may have old bills to pay etc in the UK. The bank may not like it if the account is just left untouched for a long time (current acc anyway) - but savings account should be fine. If you ever get any sterling cheques etc or go to the UK for a visit - the old accounts will come in handy.
If you need tha cash in Ireland - for now just change some of it and see if exchange rates get better as time goes on.