Im going to wire about 40,000 back to Australia. Any recommendations? My big four bank seems to want to rip me off in the process!
Bring Money from USA to Australia
dw121212 on 28/02/2018 - 07:58
Last edited 28/02/2018 - 09:43 by 1 other user
Last edited 28/02/2018 - 09:43 by 1 other user
Comments
Do it over crypto
Schrodinger's wire transfer. It could be $48k or $32k when it comes out.
But it can’t possibly be both
Different exchanges…
@original15:
Understood, and the different crypto exchanges can show different prices for the same coin at the same instant.
It is not until you make the trade/collapse the waveform that you know precisely what price you will get!
that's 50:50 … good odds
ozforex
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/currencyfair.com
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/ofx.com
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/transferwise.comHave used the first two and all went well. Have not yet tried the third but gets mentioned often. See which gives you the best deal for your situation.
currencyfair.com seems to have the best rate at the moment
I've used OFX (well, actually usforex.com) a number of times in the past to send USD to Australia.
I was curious how they all compare so I got them to quote on a USD$1,000 transfer (within a couple of minutes of each other) and it came out as follows:- OFX $1,288.57
- Transferwise $1,277.09
- Currencyfair $1,276.90
Obviously these rates are changing all the time, but they are all pretty close.
Do you require the USD to be converted to AUD as soon as received in Australia?
If so, then you have a few suggestions for the best rates / fees above, but the exchange rate to be used will be dependant on the date the funds arrive.
With that $ amount (usually >$10k.), you should be able to source a 'market-based' exchange rate from any of the big 4 rather than their retail rates of the day.If you don't have any pressing need to convert the USD, consider holding the funds in USD at HSBC or similar. At worst you can pick and choose when to convert to AUD at what you consider is a favourable exchange rate.
There may be some fees - check their T&Cs out.What the tax impication? Wouldnt ATO Austrack be alareted??
Austrack will be notified as a matter of routine for amounts over $10k (unless you use bitcoin, I guess).
ATO is not, but have data matching with banks etc.
Your comment points to a misunderstanding of how Australia's tax system works.
There is no tax for financial transfers. If the source of the money was income or capital gain, then tax is payable in Australia if the OP is a tax resident.
This happens even if the money stays offshore.
If tax was already paid abroad, it is usual for that to be accounted for by the ATO so you are not double taxed. This is the case with the USA.It could be worse, at least we aren't like the US where citizens never lose their American tax obligations, even if they live and do all their financial transactions abroad.
so, if hear nothing from austrac , means no issue down the track ?
You won't hear from Austrac unless you are laundering money.
You won't hear from the ATO unless you are avoiding tax.
Both can make you pretty miserable if you are doing the wrong thing.ATO is not, but have data matching with banks etc.
Your comment points to a misunderstanding of how Australia's tax system works.
You won't hear from Austrac unless you are laundering money.
You won't hear from the ATO unless you are avoiding tax.Your comments point to a misunderstanding of how the ATO operates in relation to the review of large monetary transactions.
In addition to operating independently, Austrack frequently notifies the ATO of transactions of note. It is then up to the ATO to decide whether to pursue things further. If they do they'll issue a threat of assessment of the full amount as income if the origin is not explained to their satisfaction within a certain timeframe, usually 1 month.
There is a high likelihood an amount of $40,000 AUD let alone USD would trigger one of these notices - I've seen them for less.
Anyone got some spare time?
This type of topic about Forex gets asked all the time.Let's update the wiki.
I did exactly the same as you with UK pounds for a similar amount. I used Trasferwise and after jumping through a couple of hoops to set the account up, it was fantastic. Your money is changed at the current exchange rate and they just charge you a nominal set fee. You can even park your balance in a 'borderless' account and change it to several currencies when the exchange rate suits you better. There are several businesses doing this now, but I went with them and was very happy. Cheers :)
Hi all. I have used a company based in NZ called Collinson Forex (just transferred money for our house here in NZ). They offer better rates than currencyfair ($50 more on a 35k Tx) and way better than xe.com, and way better than banks, obviously.
There's a guy Samuel that sorts out issues super quickly (log ins, passwords, ID, all that jazz). They do do transfers from USD (I've done it before), not sure about residency issues etc. I'm a NZ citizen. Anyway check them out, I spent hours yesterday comparing and tracking rates…Can you bring cash with you?
USD currency when you travel to Australia?$40K is only a relatively small size, easy to carry with you.
Once in Australia you can open a foreign currency account and deposit the cash (Commonwealth, HSBC, many others).
You can then "exchange" small amounts as you wish.Remember to declare the money when entering Australia. There are no limits on how much to enter, but must be declared.
Just a different option to transferring money.
I recently had a similar need (transfer USD to AUD) and wanted to contribute to the wiki but I'm not sure how representative my experience is.
TL;DR Transferwise's site is incredibly buggy. But they offer better rates than OFX. Call OFX and use Transferwise's rate to get a better rate. OFX online rate is off by ~0.4%.
I also considered CurrencyFair but they only accept USD via an Irish bank which will in most cases incur additional fees (my USD is in a US bank).
Long version:
Comparing like for like (i.e. putting in the same USD into both Transferwise and OFX and comparing the final received amounts) Transferwise always offered a better online rate, roughly 0.4% better than OFX.
I ended up calling OFX twice and telling them Transferwise's rate, and on both occasions they were happy to beat Transferwise. I asked the OFX rep if they can simply enable better rates for my account so I don't have to call every time and she said unfortunately calling is the best option.
The OzBargainer in me naturally wanted to see what Transferwise could do over the phone but on both occasions when I rang them the phone rang out.
I also found Transferwise' site is incredibly buggy to the point that I question how reliable it is (and if I am transferring say $20k I sure as hell don't want it to go missing). And as of today they are unable to do USD transfers >$50k for retail ($250k for business). That makes me wonder what they are doing behind the scenes, given that $50k is not exactly a huge amount of money (well it is to me, but in the global context it's not).
That said, Transferwise is still useful as a bargaining chip.
It's possible my experiences with Transferwise (over 2 days) were just particularly unlucky hence I'm not willing to put this into a wiki just yet.
This crowd is great and fast:
https://www.flash-fx.com