P85 - Income tax refund when you leave the UK!

[silversnake125 266]

Hi all,

 

Just here to remind everywhere to fill out a P85 form to get your income tax refund with HMRC when you move. I saw it mentioned here once but don’t see many people talking about it. You have to do it after you’ve left the UK, but it’s all online and really simple to do!
 

I did mine when I moved in late September. It took them a while to write to me (the letter just arrived today - over 2 months later) but I just found out I’m due a repayment £1249/ $1676!! They enclosed a cheque with the letter. That’ll help us recoup some of the costs of me moving here and will help with Christmas presents too.

 

DO NOT FORGET!! You could get a decent amount for just 5 minutes of your time.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-leaving-the-uk-getting-your-tax-right-p85

[Dags 134]

I assumed they sent the letter and checque on your US address? I’m thinking about doing it as a bank transfer, as I still will have UK account opened

[silversnake125 266]

4 minutes ago, Dags said:

I assumed they sent the letter and checque on your US address? I’m thinking about doing it as a bank transfer, as I still will have UK account opened

Yeah they sent a letter with cheque attached to my US address

 

I don’t think they offer bank transfer as an option otherwise I’d have chosen that, cos I have a UK bank open and have a feeling the bank here will want to take a decent percentage of it.

[corntop 129]

Thanks for this reminder! I'll be leaving in the new year and it'll be the first thing I do, even just a portion of that amount would be nice!

 

Can anyone explain why refunds are given? Just out of curiosity. Is it something to do with personal allowance?

[yoda one for me 322]

Yep, I did this. On the website as part of the process I nominated a family member to receive the cheque and they popped it into my UK bank account for my as it was a little while before I was organised enough to get a US account. Super easy to sort it all online and well worth doing.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

I received P85 monies (££££.££) and later an inheritance cheque (££,£££.££) which would have been expensive to have my US bank process. (Lots of service fees by bank plus a less favorable exchange rate. Also bank service fees were a percentage of the amount, so the large cheque was quite a bite ). I mailed both cheques to Mum who paid them in to my UK bank. When I wanted to move money to the US, I used Transferwise. I still have the UK account 12 years later. 

[ohcoffeeeyes 120]

Completely forgot about this. Thank you!

[silversnake125 266]

On 12/5/2020 at 7:36 AM, Wuozopo said:

I received P85 monies (££££.££) and later an inheritance cheque (££,£££.££) which would have been expensive to have my US bank process. (Lots of service fees by bank plus a less favorable exchange rate. Also bank service fees were a percentage of the amount, so the large cheque was quite a bite ). I mailed both cheques to Mum who paid them in to my UK bank. When I wanted to move money to the US, I used Transferwise. I still have the UK account 12 years later. 

Yeah I don’t fancy those bank fees either. My family are really busy at the moment though so I don’t want to trouble them. Buuuut I just found out that Starling Bank have a service where you can write your name and account number on the back of your cheque and post it to them, and they’ll deposit it for you. Once it’s deposited I’ll move it over to my US account via Transferwise

So that’s a good option for people who may not have family left in the UK after they leave. I also like that Starling doesn’t charge for using your card abroad. Was real handy when I first got here and couldn’t open a bank yet. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, hannahjsf said:

Yeah I don’t fancy those bank fees either. My family are really busy at the moment though so I don’t want to trouble them. Buuuut I just found out that Starling Bank have a service where you can write your name and account number on the back of your cheque and post it to them, and they’ll deposit it for you. Once it’s deposited I’ll move it over to my US account via Transferwise

So that’s a good option for people who may not have family left in the UK after they leave. I also like that Starling doesn’t charge for using your card abroad. Was real handy when I first got here and couldn’t open a bank yet. 

Did they suggest to write—

For deposit only

Starling Bank

Acct xxxxxxxxxxx

(signature)

 

My wife’s suggestion in case mail ended up in the wrong hands, somebody could just go to a bank and cash your check because you signed it. It says it can only be deposited in a specific bank and Acct number.

 

[gus_mili 46]

Has anyone posted their check to Starling Bank through mail? I've recently received my check and wondering if anyone else has done it - it is now the easiest solution for us.

[silversnake125 266]

1 hour ago, gus_mili said:

Has anyone posted their check to Starling Bank through mail? I've recently received my check and wondering if anyone else has done it - it is now the easiest solution for us.

This was what I did when I got mine. They only allow app deposits of a certain amount so I mailed it to them and it went in just fine. I’d double check because this was 2 years ago now, but I doubt you’d have a problem.

[gus_mili 46]

13 hours ago, silversnake125 said:

This was what I did when I got mine. They only allow app deposits of a certain amount so I mailed it to them and it went in just fine. I’d double check because this was 2 years ago now, but I doubt you’d have a problem.

That's perfect, thanks for confirming. We'll be sending ours today through mail, so fingers crossed it will show in the Starling account soon!