Polish Bank account? UK resident applying for permanent residency in Poland.

Hi everyone,

i have been living in Poland for a while and will be applying for permanent residency.
I have read through the threads on here and it seems even now i would be able to open a bank account here with my passport and letter of tenancy.

I am still 'officially' a UK resident and have a Uk bank account at my parents address.

So i'm wondering whether it would be wise to open a bank account here in Poland and transfer my money from the Uk.I guess the transfer would cost approx £25,and then close the Uk bank account.Surely with the tax/interest i cannot be allowed to have a bank account in each country? I guess when i have permanent residency in Poland,i obviously will no longer be a Uk resident and therefore will not be able to legally keep that account.

I just need advise on the safest way to keep a large amount of money without seemingly breaking any laws.

Thanks in advance.

Of course you can - you just have to declare the interest to the Polish taxman. Or don't - it's entirely up to you. At the end of the year when you fill in the PIT form, you just add the interest received from the UK bank account. I think you can also tell the UK bank that you aren't resident for tax purposes (not in the UK for more than 185 days a year) and so you'll receive interest gross, not net.

UK banks don't particularly care that much if you aren't resident in the UK - as long as you maintain an address in the UK (parents/uncle/aunt/cousins/whatever) - that's all they care about.

But you will need a Polish bank account to satisfy their demands at the Foreigners Office. mBank is probably the easiest as a Brit, because their systems are actually set up to cope with foreigners without residence permits.

BenNovice

You do not have to worry about the tax on any inyerest or investments in the Poish account, the bank deducts a straight 20% on any profits to give to the taxman. I have been here 7 years and do not even have a tax number.

BenNovice
Have you got a visa card?If yes, then you can withdraw money from any polish cash machine.Of course you pay for that, but not much, depending on the amount withdrawn and on the uk bank.However, I reckon you won't need more than, say, 500 zlotys, and then the commission fee is something like 5 pounds.At least in Barclays Bank.

I had an account at Dominet bank with out a residency card. They did not charge me anything to open it just 6.50pln per month.