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Living in Eurozone, working for UK agency - any experience?
Thread poster: Anne Brackenborough (X)
Anne Brackenborough (X)
Anne Brackenborough (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 17:07
German to English
Jul 22, 2009

I live in Germany and have so far only worked for agencies in the Eurozone. I am also interested in working for UK companies but am not sure how it would work.

I've heard that when you send payments from the UK to the Eurozone you have to pay a fee. Is that inescapable or is there some simple way of avoiding it? Does it make any difference which account they are paying into?

I see that expats can open bank accounts in Jersey and the Isle of Man, although looking at the
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I live in Germany and have so far only worked for agencies in the Eurozone. I am also interested in working for UK companies but am not sure how it would work.

I've heard that when you send payments from the UK to the Eurozone you have to pay a fee. Is that inescapable or is there some simple way of avoiding it? Does it make any difference which account they are paying into?

I see that expats can open bank accounts in Jersey and the Isle of Man, although looking at the HSBC package it seems you need to keep 5,000 GBP in the account, which would be a bit annoying - and I'm guessing my tax consultant would not be happy with it. Would that count as earning money in the UK, if you worked for a UK company and kept the payment in the UK?

Does anyone else live in the Eurozone and work for UK companies? How does it work? Do you raise your rates to cover the transfer fees? Is there some way to make it more convenient for the client?
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:07
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I do Jul 22, 2009

Anne Koth wrote:

I am not sure how it would work.

How does it work?


HI Anne, what the others say seems to me (mostly) correct and useful. But the following might give you a broader picture:

I live in the UK and work for agencies in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Ireland etc. But your situation is the opposite. You don't live in the UK but want to receive payments from clients in the UK. This is perfectly normal! It happens every day, with millions of transactions carried out between the UK and the rest of the EU.

The only difference is that the currency has to be exchanged from GBP to Euro. For big companies making and receiving payments in Euro all the time, the problem doesn't arise. They simply hold Euro accounts everywhere.

But for smaller fish, such as yourself (I assume you are not a vast multinational firm!) even if you hold a Euro account in the UK, your client would still be paying you in GBP .

FACT: at some point, the currency exchange still has to happen and you can't avoid this.

I would not advise you to open a UK bank account. To do so, you have to be *resident in the UK*. Moreover, if you then receive payments from UK clients into that UK bank account, that would make it seem that you are liable for UK tax. This is to be avoided.

As for Jersey and the Isle of Man, these are "tax havens" of uncertain status. The G12 were supposed to shut them down. So far this has not happened but I would imagine it's only a matter of time. Anyway, were you to hold an offshore account in either of those two places, I imagine your own tax authorities would ask you why.

In other words, if it appears that you are trying to set up various bank accounts in the UK or offshore in order to avoid tax or get around paying the costs of currency exchange, this might land you in trouble!

So to sum it all up: you can't avoid the extra costs due to the fact that the UK is not in the Eurozone. There is no way this can be done. Blame it on the foolishness of the Brits

So you might as well just ask your UK clients to pay the money into your German bank account in the usual way. You'll lose on the transaction but....c'est la vie!

That happens to me with every single payment I receive from the Eurozone into my UK bank account. It penalises me heavily but there's nothing I can do about it. And I can't increase my rates to cover it, since the more I get paid, the more I lose anyway on the currency exchange. Anyhow, my rates are high enough as it is

Paypal isn't much better because PayPal also change the money from one currency to the other, at *their* exchange rate.

The only other (desperate!) option would be to ask your UK clients to pay you directly in Euro. But they would certainly not take on any extra cost of doing this ! And you would not create a very good impression.....

[Edited at 2009-07-22 10:31 GMT]


 
Giuliana Mafrica
Giuliana Mafrica  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 17:07
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
Never paid additional fees Jul 22, 2009

Hi Anne,

I live in Italy and work for a couple of translation agencies in the UK. They pay me regularly through wire transfer, but neither they, nor my bank, have ever asked me to bear transfer fees.

I apply my regular rates and receive payments in my Euro bank account or, in some cases, in my Paypal account (where lately a little fee is applied for the reception of payments from abroad, automatically deducted from the total amount).

Giuliana

[Modif
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Hi Anne,

I live in Italy and work for a couple of translation agencies in the UK. They pay me regularly through wire transfer, but neither they, nor my bank, have ever asked me to bear transfer fees.

I apply my regular rates and receive payments in my Euro bank account or, in some cases, in my Paypal account (where lately a little fee is applied for the reception of payments from abroad, automatically deducted from the total amount).

Giuliana

[Modificato alle 2009-07-22 09:37 GMT]
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Edward Vreeburg
Edward Vreeburg  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:07
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Sure do! Jul 22, 2009

Some of my best clients are from the UK, and I do loose some in exchange rates if they pay me in GBP, of with international transfers, or even with Paypal, but that is "operating costs", if you are expanding in the world you should expect to make some costs... but usually this is only a small percentage of your turn-over.

If you are still hesitant only send larger invoices (bundle small jobs) and make sure the agency pays for international transfer fees (if any).

Ed


 
Michael Zapuskalov
Michael Zapuskalov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 21:07
English to Russian
+ ...
Unbelievable Jul 22, 2009

Giuliana Mafrica wrote:

Hi Anne,

I live in Italy and work for a couple of translation agencies in the UK. They pay me regularly through wire transfer, but neither they, nor my bank, have ever asked me to bear transfer fees.

I apply my regular rates and receive payments in my Euro bank account or, in some cases, in my Paypal account (where lately a little fee is applied for the reception of payments from abroad, automatically deducted from the total amount).

Giuliana

[Modificato alle 2009-07-22 09:37 GMT]



In case of wire transfer my customers from abroad pay fees and I pay to my bank around 3%. For the same payment BTW. Moneybookers turns to be cheaper in this respect, though I live outside Europe (at least from financial POV).


 
Celine Gras
Celine Gras  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 17:07
Member (2008)
English to French
+ ...
Inside the Eurozone Jul 22, 2009

Wires are free. I charge my UK clients in Euros, they wire the agreed upon amount in my French bank account, and there are no charge.

But that is only the case in the Eurozone.


 
Tim van den Oudenhoven
Tim van den Oudenhoven
Germany
Local time: 17:07
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
+ ...
No fees withing EU Jul 22, 2009

If you use the IBAN/BIC codes as you do with Euro-payments, there is no fee to pay for anyone: the free wire transfer within the Eurozone counts for the whole EU (including non-Euro countries like Sweden and UK), plus Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.

 
Penelope Ausejo
Penelope Ausejo  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 17:07
English to Spanish
+ ...
Most of them pay me in Euros Jul 22, 2009

Most of my UK clients pay me in Euros, in fact I had only one that paid me in Pounds (I don't work for them anymore, because of the devaluation of the pound against the euro... cannot afford it).

And for me, everything works as with the rest of my Eurobased clients. No problems, no extra-costs.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:07
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Lucky Jul 22, 2009

Penelope Ausejo wrote:

Most of my UK clients pay me in Euros, in fact I had only one that paid me in Pounds (I don't work for them anymore, because of the devaluation of the pound against the euro... cannot afford it).

And for me, everything works as with the rest of my Eurobased clients. No problems, no extra-costs.


Lucky you, Penelope!

If I asked my Eurozone clients to pay me in GBP I think they'd go ballistic !

And even if they did, my UK bank would *still* slice off a piece for themselves if the other bank is outside the UK.

All UK banks always slice something off for themselves *even if the client says they want to cover all banking costs*



[Edited at 2009-07-22 19:42 GMT]


 
Gillian Searl
Gillian Searl  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:07
German to English
Not true!!! Jul 22, 2009

Tim van den Oudenhoven wrote:

If you use the IBAN/BIC codes as you do with Euro-payments, there is no fee to pay for anyone: the free wire transfer within the Eurozone counts for the whole EU (including non-Euro countries like Sweden and UK), plus Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.



I have moved from the UK to Germany and back again - I know the turf! If you transfer money from the UK to a Eurozone bank account I can assure you that the UK banks will charge a fee - they justify it as the same fee for a same-day transfer. I know - and you know - it's illegal but try explaining that to the bank.

My solution was to have bank accounts in both countries. I'm not sure how/if you can open a bank account as an ex-pat - it doesn't make you tax-resident to have a UK bank account, but the opening process may be very difficult.

If a UK agency wants to pay you into a German/Eurozone bank account you need to clarify in advance who is paying the fees and in which currency - negotiate well! Another alternative - that I don't like very much - is paypal. Clarify all the issues in advance and you should be fine.
Gillian


 
Sonja Allen
Sonja Allen  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:07
English to German
+ ...
Not quite true Jul 22, 2009

Tim van den Oudenhoven wrote:

If you use the IBAN/BIC codes as you do with Euro-payments, there is no fee to pay for anyone: the free wire transfer within the Eurozone counts for the whole EU (including non-Euro countries like Sweden and UK), plus Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.


I live in the UK, have a GBP account in the UK and still have got a Euro bank account in Germany. When I transfer money from my German bank account into my UK one there is no charge, but if I want to transfer money from my UK bank account to my German one, I get charged at least 7 Pounds if I take over all charges. I can opt to split the charges between recipient and sender or let the recipient pay it all.

So somehow the UK is not quite so good when it comes to foreign transfers. But I wouldn't let this shy you away from UK agencies. I also have some clients that are not in Germany or the UK and they pay me via Paypal or bank transfer and let me bear the cost. I just see it as business costs.

The only issue I see is the weak Pound at the moment which will make it difficult for you to charge a decent rate.

[Edited at 2009-07-22 11:38 GMT]


 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:07
Member (2004)
English to Italian
yes... Jul 22, 2009

my bank charges me £7.00 every time I receive any money from the eurozone... I don't know if it's illegal, but it happens all the time...

G


 
Anne Brackenborough (X)
Anne Brackenborough (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 17:07
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for sharing your wisdom :-) Jul 22, 2009

It sounds like there is no clever way to do it, and I'll just have to put up with the charges. Somehow when I was young and living in the UK it seemed to make sense that the UK was always a special case demanding special rights, attention and fees, like a needy child

 
Andrzej Lejman
Andrzej Lejman  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 17:07
Member (2004)
German to Polish
+ ...
Plus Poland & Jul 22, 2009

Tim van den Oudenhoven wrote:

If you use the IBAN/BIC codes as you do with Euro-payments, there is no fee to pay for anyone: the free wire transfer within the Eurozone counts for the whole EU (including non-Euro countries like Sweden and UK), plus Iceland, Switzerland and Norway.


so on.

A.


 
Anne Brackenborough (X)
Anne Brackenborough (X)  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 17:07
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Low-cost transfers optional outside Eurozone Jul 22, 2009

Countries outside the Eurozone can choose whether they want to apply the regulation on cross-border payments for their currency tooo:

The Regulation allows non-euro area Member States to opt to extend its application to cover payments denominated in their own currencies. The UK has chosen not to extend the applicability of the Regulation to cover payments in Sterling. This means that if, for example, a customer makes a cross-border transfer order in Euro fro
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Countries outside the Eurozone can choose whether they want to apply the regulation on cross-border payments for their currency tooo:

The Regulation allows non-euro area Member States to opt to extend its application to cover payments denominated in their own currencies. The UK has chosen not to extend the applicability of the Regulation to cover payments in Sterling. This means that if, for example, a customer makes a cross-border transfer order in Euro from a UK Sterling bank account, the bank would normally charge for the currency conversion from Sterling to Euro. In addition, some banks will also levy charges for the cross-border transfer... http://www.euro.gov.uk/crossborder.asp
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Living in Eurozone, working for UK agency - any experience?







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