Transfers are sold as tidiness: one login, one country, one statement. Tidiness is pleasant. It is not a reason to trigger a gain, to lose a wrapper, or to spend months unable to deal because two firms disagree about a form. The checks are dull and they are the whole job.
Will the new firm take you, and take this asset?
Residence, nationality and the type of holding all get a vote. Some funds cannot be offered to residents of your new country. Some shares will not move in specie and would have to be sold. Ask for a list of what can move as itself and what would have to be cashed. A cash transfer is a sale. Treat it as one.
Ask whether anyone sees a disposal
A change of nominee can be administratively nothing and fiscally something, or the reverse. This article will not tell you which. Ask a tax adviser, with the actual asset and the actual countries, whether the transfer realises a gain, resets a cost, or does neither. Do this before the old firm releases the holding.
Time, cost and the gap
Ask how long a similar transfer took, what it costs, and whether you can deal during it. Ask who is responsible if a dividend is paid in the gap. Keep the last statement from the old firm. If the transfer is really a sale and a purchase, compare the rate and the spread as you would any other trade, and do not let ‘transfer’ hide them.
Separate the transfer of an account from the sale of what is in it
Moving investments abroad can mean several different operations. The same holdings can sometimes be re-registered with a new provider. Sometimes they must be sold. Sometimes only cash can move, and the new provider buys again. Ask both firms which of those they can do for the actual holdings you have, not for a generic portfolio. A fund that cannot be held on the new platform is a specific problem, and the answer may be a sale you did not want.
Ask about time, cost and what happens if the transfer stalls halfway. This guide states no timetable and no fee. The firms can. Ask whether you can still give instructions during the move, and who is responsible if a dividend arrives in the gap. Get the answers before you resign the old account.
The tax question travels with the holdings
A transfer that looks administrative can still be a disposal for tax, or it can be nothing of the kind. The difference depends on the countries and on the way the transfer is carried out. Do not assume that ‘in specie’ means ‘no tax’. Ask a qualified adviser with the list of holdings in front of them. Give them the acquisition history if you have it. Without that history, even a correct legal outcome is hard to report.
Banks sitting between the two platforms may ask for source of funds when cash moves, even if you think of it as your own money moving house. Warn them, and have the statements ready. Keep the old provider’s closing statement and the new provider’s opening statement together. They are the proof that the move happened as you think it did.
Before you act
Ask for a list of holdings that cannot move in their current form, and decide those one by one before you sign a transfer that assumes the whole portfolio will arrive. A single fund that must be sold can change the tax conversation, the timing and the amount of cash that has to pass a bank. Agree who tells the sending bank that a large receipt or a large payment is coming. Keep a simple reconciliation: what left, what arrived, what was sold, and what cash is left over. When the new provider’s opening statement matches that note, the transfer is finished. Until then it is still in progress, even if both websites look calm.
A practical checklist
- Written acceptance from the new firm.
- A split between in-specie and cash.
- Tax question asked before instruction.
- Costs and an expected range of time.
- Statements saved on both sides.
- No pension included in a general investment transfer by accident.
Questions to ask
- Can this holding move without being sold?
- Will you accept a resident of my country?
- What will it cost, and what will I be unable to do meanwhile?
- Who receives income paid during the transfer?
- Is this a disposal for tax?
- What happens if you reject the asset halfway?
Common mistakes
- Signing because the form says ‘transfer’ and not ‘sale’.
- Moving a pension in the same breath as a brokerage account.
- Choosing a firm that cannot reopen the account after you arrive.
- Ignoring exit charges at the old firm.
- Losing the cost history in the move.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
