Cash gift from parents coming from third party abroad

[kamoe]

Hi everyone

My case is not straightforward and I hope someone can shed some light in what the implications are for my tax situation in the UK.

I'm a non-domiciled resident and first-time buyer of property in the UK. For this, my parents have lent me £55K.

My parents are Colombian living in Colombia, and our first option for this was to transfer the money via an international bank transfer from their account to mine. For this, we prepared all documents required by the bank, including a legal declaration of them stating they're lending me the money. Because of this, I now owe them officially this amount in Colombia. However, it seems it a very unusual thing to do to transfer money in this direction (it's usually TO Colombia that ordinary people transfer money, not FROM) and the bank staff weren't sure how to do it, were taking ages, and awaited more than three days after we submitted all documents to even start the process. The pound soaring by the hour, my mom became nervous and decided to arrange this otherwise: buying sterling from a live-long friend, who owns a company in Panama and a bank account in Switzerland (more on this later). The transfer took one day and I now have the £55K in my UK bank account. My bank statement as it is displayed, shows this Panama company transferring the money to me, and a reference number. I understand they arranged it so that the official sender is my father, but his name is nowhere on the statement as I see it.

Now... am I in trouble? My UK bank has not contacted me, so I am assuming this has not been considered suspicious.
Should I declare this money, in any way, in a self-assessment next year? I've never done self-assessments as I've always been employed with no further revenue. Not sure if this lump sum coming from a company changes my situation.

Now, about the Panama thing: My mom's friend is a wealthy German-Colombian citizen, with his affairs in order, who in the 2000s spent 9 months captive by the FARC in the time this guerilla targeted wealthy foreigners for ransom. I understand that ultimately his family paid for his release, and after this traumatising episode he decided to legally 'hide' his wealth outside Colombia. Again, affairs are in order, and he sometimes uses this Panama company to tarde foreign currency, transferring strong currencies abroad against Colombian pesos locally.

Help.

[AGoodman]

At first sight this does not appear to raise any tax issues - you have simply received a gift from your parents - albeit of currency bought from the friend/company. There is nothing to declare on a self assessment return but make sure to keep all records in case it is queried and ask your mother to do the same.

There could be wider money laundering issues if the money in Panama/Switzerland has not been declared to the relevant tax authorities, wherever they may be (e.g. Colombia). That is not something I can help you with on a forum (and not my area of expertise generally). It all comes under Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

[kamoe]

Thanks for this.

I will keep a paper trail of all transactions and ask my mother to do the same.
I understand all of the Panama/Switzerland business is in order, and although I would say obviously also done for the purposes of optimizing taxes, all within legal frameworks and procedures.

Thanks.