Concise Accountancy

Accountants and Registered Auditors

Business financeCash business

Bring cash in and out of the UK

You must declare to the Customs Authorities if you bring cash in and out of the UK of more than £10,000. It does not matter if your cash is for personal use or for business use. For example, you are traveling to London Heathrow Airport from Singapore Changi Airport and you are bringing £8000 traveler’s cheque and Pound Sterling Currency notes of £3000 in cash and some Singapore dollars of $2000.

Declare your cash to Customs online

You must declare the total cash you bring into the UK up to 72 hours before you cross the UK borders. You can do it online via GOV.UK website. In brief, your declaration is to tell Her Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC) about who owns the cash is, where it has come from and what it will be used for.

The information about the person who travels with the cash in and out of the UK

You would require the following information about yourself to complete the declaration.

  • Passport number
  • Full name
  • Nationality
  • Place of birth
  • Country of birth
  • Occupation
  • Date of birth

The currencies you bring in and out of the UK

Let’s say you are entering the UK from Singapore, transit at Hong Kong and you bring £8000 in a cheque, £3000 in cash, and SGD $2000 in cash.

You must declare in your online declaration form each currency type you are bringing into the UK.

Currency type Pound Sterling (GBP £) Singapore Dollar (SGD $)
Value in Notes and coins £3000$2000
Value in Cheques & Traveller’s cheques£8000$0
Value in Bankers’ drafts£0$0
Total value£11,000$2000

Your flight journey

You must specify whether you are entering or leaving the UK with the cash. this includes how you are going to travel in the UK whether by air, sea, or channel tunnel.

In addition, you must also provide your flight information. In this example, the airport you will start your journey would be Singapore Changi Airport and your destination airport would be London Heathrow Airport.

If your flight journey includes transit at another airport in another country between Singapore and London, you must disclose that information also. For example, your flight from Singapore will stopover at Hong Kong International Airport before heading to London Heathrow.

If you cannot remember the airport’s names, do not worry the Gov.UK online form already have airports’ names and countries listed in their database, when you type the closely match airports and countries will appear for you to select.

Your cash origins

Correspondingly, you must let HMRC knows which country your cash was generated in. For example, the cash you bring into the UK is the sales receipts from your Singapore company then you specified your cash is generated in Singapore.

The next question HMRC would ask you is that do you own the cash? If you personally own the cash then declare that fact by choosing “yes”.

If you do not owns the cash then you must disclose who owns the cash. a family member or a friend or a business. Say your cash is owned by a UK company. You must provide the UK company name, industry, and address in the UK. If you cannot remember the UK company’s information, contact Companies House.

Subsequently, you must disclose if you are intending to give your cash to someone else or you are paying for goods or services. Say if you paying for your UK accountant to set up your UK company, filing your confirmation statement and company accounts to the UK authorities. This is considered paying for services.

However, if you are intending to give your cash to someone else then you must provide information about the recipient whether a business or an individual.

A businessAn Individual
Company nameFull name
Industry the company operates inOccupation
Address (UK or overseas)Address (UK or overseas)

Thereafter, you must declare what business purpose the cash will be used for? For instance, to buy commercial vehicles or parts, pay wages, business expenses, or other business costs.

Finally, you will be asked to provide your email address where HMRC will send a confirmation including your submission reference number that they have received your application. You would need to save this information.

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