Hi there,
My question is not exclusively related to taxes so pls move if there's a better place...
My parents have given me a generous gift to help my husband and I [try to!] buy a house. (I'm not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a nice little sum that willl help with the down payment.)
We've decided not to do anything with the money for at least 6 months to a year and in the meantime want it to sit and earn interest. We are also aware of the ever-decreasing dollar and are wondering whether or not we should convert it to pounds sooner rather than later.... There are a lot of issues involved here which I'd happily take your opinion on, however I'm also specifically wondering about the following:
1) is there a 'right' way to transfer money from the states to the UK so that you do not have tax penalties or so that you receive a good exchange rate? Currently I have a UK and US citibank account which lets me transfer money really easily, but I'm never sure if I'm getting a particularly good deal - I just use it b/c I'm lazy and it's fast.
2) in terms of earning interest - is the US or UK more competitive? especially if you agree to not touch the money for 6mos to a year?
thanks in advance,
Mimsy2000