An update: I finished my employment in the UK and have moved to Jersey. Hopefully the following should be useful if anyone is thinking of doing something similar in the future.
So far I've done a bunch of things to move my life over and make it as clear as possible that I've fully left the UK with no intention to return and fully arrived on the island.
- Moved into a flat and signed a formal lease (needed to be a self contained unit, if anything is "shared" like a bathroom/kitchen you are not deemed an official "tenant" just a "lodger" and this could call into question whether you have an always available "abode" which you need for them to deem you tax resident if you stay less than 183 days a year here)
- Got official residency card and number + tax TIN from the gov office
- Handed in UK drivers license for a Jersey one
- Cancelled my UK mobile contract, got a new one in Jersey (you can't transfer your UK number here unfortunately)
- Removed myself from the UK electoral roll
- Am telling HMRC know I've left as part of my 21/22
self assessment tax return next year (you need to send this in in paper form because there's an extra leavers section to add
- Changed my address from the UK to Jersey for
Revolut and any
cryptocurrency exchanges I use like Coinbase/
Kraken
- Opened a Wise personal account (they directly serve Jersey residents)
- Closed all my UK bank accounts apart from one I've left dormant
- Opened an International Brokers account with my Jersey address and transferred my stocks from UK broker ISA and regular account then closed the UK account. This took a very long time and they thoroughly checked all my
crypto related purchase docs.
Now for the issue I'm having which was always going to be the hardest part: opening a Jersey
bank account with most of my wealth in crypto. So far I've been outright rejected by Natwest International who have a blanket no crypto policy and Santander International said I could open an account but not put any crypto related money into it. Barclays application is currently ongoing. Bear in mind this is for someone from the UK who has had a corporate career working at well known banks in the UK and has all documentation to prove his crypto purchases - I think I should have a pretty low risk background from a bank's perspective other than the crypto. I was expecting some detailed questions but not complete rejections.
My strategy is going to be to hope I get the regular account with Barclays, then try Lloyds and if not then move up to the banks with more expensive fees which I ideally wanted to avoid but am obviously willing to pay. Thankfully there's a decent list I can try here:
- Standard Chartered
- Standard Bank
-
Butterfield Bank
- Nedbank
- Investec Bank
- Coutts
Then if none of those work then I'll look to the Swiss/Lichtenstein banks:
- SEBA
-
Swissquote
- Dukacospy
-
Bank Frick
If none of those work I'll be forced to use my dormant UK bank account rarely for a few transfers. This would be more likely to result in a tax investigation when I get these deposits but pay no UK tax that year and I'll be more likely to have to go through the time consuming and stressful procedure of an HMRC audit. Or try and use my Revolut account (I've had this since 2017 and have moved 6 figure
crypto exchange transfers through it but I think chances are it gets locked. I'm actually friends with a couple of senior people in the company so could be worth speaking to them).
Ideally I would use one of these banks for transactions, keeping the minimum balance and transferring any money after crypto sales to IBKR to buy stocks and hold them where it's cheaper. However I think a lot of these places want you to keep most of your money/
investments there to make it worth it for them. Again annoying but I'm willing to do it if it means they open the account.
If anyone knows some other banks in Jersey or outside I've missed that would be worth trying please let me know.