Why UK bank charges are not taken account when looking on interest for taxation?
"When I left the UK four years ago, free banking is still an option and I'm pretty sure it still is.  Therefore, you have chosen to have a bank account with a 5.00/month charge.   In return for this charge, you will be eligible to receive certain benefits.  For example; reduced borrowing costs, discounted mortgage rates, free overdraft on small amounts, ""rewards"" for paying household bills by direct debit, and things of this sort.   Amongst these benefits may be preferential savings rates.  However, from HMRC's point of view it will be the extra perks you are paying for with your monthly charge.  You have chosen to pay for the account and HMRC is not interested in how you choose to spend your money, only in the money you earn. While I agree with you that it does have an element of unfairness, the problem is how would you divide the cost amongst the various benefits." Because your profit from the capital IS 100 quid. Capital gains is not like running a business and doesn't come with tax deductions. It's up to you to pick saving scheme that maximizes your profit (either via low costs or highest possible rate).
"With regard to your edit (although I didn't downvote): one way to reduce the security risk is to separate the payment from the ability to drain your account.  A considerable part of the security risk is inherent in giving people a number which is directly linked to a bank account where you keep all your money.  If you don't want that risk, don't do that.  Instead of (or in addition to) trying to reduce the chance of fraud, you can reduce the impact of fraud, even if it occurs, by not paying for things using the details of an account where you have all your money.  Trying to protect against fraud while keeping all your money in the account is sort of like carrying around thousands of dollars in cash in your wallet and then worrying about how to defend against robbery.  Yes, you can carry a weapon or hire a bodyguard, but it's probably simpler to just not carry that much money in the first place. You already mentioned one solution with your option #1, which is to just keep a small amount of money in a separate account and use that for online payments.  Assuming you can easily transfer money in and out of this account via online banking, this effectively is what you say you want in your edit: you log in to your bank online, but rather than ""informing it"" you're about to make a payment, you just transfer money in.  You'll probably have to keep a small amount of money in the account to keep it open, but if this is an important issue for you, that shouldn't be that big a deal. Another solution is a credit card.  With a credit card, you simply make the payment online.  In the US, if the merchant (or someone else stealing the info) makes fraudulent charges, the credit card company assumes the liability and the consumer suffers only the inconvenience of having to get a new card issued.  I don't know what the UK laws are regarding credit vs. debit fraud, but some sites I found seem to suggest that credit cards have fraud protection in the UK as well.  This is probably worth looking into if you are concerned about fraud." Lending isn't profitable when interest rates are this low.  Consider what's involved to offer a savings or checking account.  The bank must maintain branches with tellers.  The bank has to pay rent (or buy and pay property taxes and utilities).  The bank has to pay salaries.  The bank has to maintain cash so as to make change.  And pay for insurance against robbery.  All of that costs money.   At 6% interest, a bank can sort of make money.  Not great money, but it takes in more than it has to pay out.  At 4% interest, which is about where ten year mortgage rates are in Canada, the bank doesn't make enough margin.  They are better off selling the loan and closing their branches than offering free checking accounts.   An additional problem is that banks tend to make money from overdraft fees.  But there's been a move to limit overdraft fees, as they target the most economically vulnerable.  So Canadian banks tend to charge monthly fees instead.  UK banks may also start charging monthly fees if interest rates stay low and other fees get curtailed. I think this is really two questions: Dumbcoder has already answered part 1 in a comment - either just wire the money from the Japanese bank account to the UK bank account (either bank should be able to help you with the details of this) or if your Japanse bank also has a UK operation you may be able to do it within the same bank.  As for part 2 - if you are looking for a mortgage then many high street mortgage providers (banks) will want proof of your savings up front. They may or may not accept Japanese bank statements; all you can do is ask the question. You would probably also need to ask your Japanese bank if they can provide statements in English.  If you find that most or all of the high street banks will not accept this as proof of assets, or that they demand that the money is in the UK for a period of time first, then you might have more luck with a mortgage broker who can deal with the specialist requirement. If you do find a mortgage provider who is happy to accept Japanese bank statements as proof of assets then you would simply need to wire the money direct from your bank in Japan to the UK bank of your solicitor at or shortly before the point when the deposit becomes due (usually at exchange of contracts). "A TFSA is a tax free savings account.  It is a type of account where you can buy various investments like stocks, bonds, or funds (mutual, exchange traded, and money market).  There are some other options but it's best to see what your bank or broker will allow. You probably specified the type of investment when you opened the account.  You can look at your statements or maybe online to see what you're invested in.  My guess is some kind of HISA (high interest savings account).  This is kind of the default option for banks. The government created these accounts for a variety of reasons.  The main stated reason was to encourage people to save.   Obviously they also do things to get votes.  There was an outcry after the change to a type of investment called ""investment trusts"".  This could be seen as a consolation prize.  These can be valuable to seniors for many reasons and they tend to vote more often.  There was also an election promise to eliminate capital gains taxes in some fashion. It's not profitable for the government, in fact it supposedly cost the federal government $410 million in 2013.  Banks make money by investing your deposit or by charging fees. You can see what every tax break 'costs' the government in lost revenue here http://www.fin.gc.ca/taxexp-depfisc/2013/taxexp1301-eng.asp#toc7" When I went on vacation to London a few years ago, I looked around at banks with ATM deals with UK banks. I found that B of A had a deal with a UK bank that you could use their ATMs to take out money from your US account for practically no fees. So the week or so before I left, I opened an account at B of A, put a bunch of money in it, and used the B of A debit card during my trip as much as possible. On the revenue only. This amount of 10$ will be considered as interest and fully taxable. It will not be a capital gain. But why would you decide to declare it as an income? 100$ is insignificant. If you lend small amount to friends it cannot be considered a lending business. Nothing happens. A bank is a business; your relationship with the bank doesn't change because your visa or immigration status changes. Money held in the account is still held in the account. Interest paid on the account is still taxable. And so on. If the account is inactive long enough, abandoned account rules may apply, but that still has nothing to do with your status. I can't comment about your tax liability in Greece. You will have to pay tax on interest in the UK. If you are earning massive amounts of interest, unlikely with the current interest policies from Merv, then you might be bumped up a tier. The receiving bank may ask for proof of the source of the funds, particularly if it is a fair chunk of change.