Buying a gift for someone abroad

[alistair.reynolds]

Hi,

My fiancee from China sometimes buys things in the UK for her friends in China, and then they pay her back. Normally this is for small things, but someone wants a bag here for £7,000, so I'm worried about tax issues.

If she transfers money from her Chinese account into my UK account, then I use that to buy the bag with, would there be any tax implications?

[pawncob]

Not unless she's selling things at a profit. Presumably they just reimburse her.

[alistair.reynolds]

OK, that makes sense. So there would need to be some kind of proof on their end that she sells it at a profit I assume, like if she did it for a lot of bags instead of just the one.

Thanks for the info!

[bd6759]

Definitely keep recepits (or copies of them), and match your purchases with monies received.

Your biggest problem will be banks seeing regular international transfers. They might consider that suspicious and will need to report it.

[AGoodman]

And presumably there could be customs issues and import duty payable as well (presumably Chinese rather than UK customs).