Send Money from Australia to the UK

How long does a transfer from Australia to the UK take?

Most transfers arrive the same working day or the next once your funds have cleared.

• •The time difference. Australia runs hours ahead of the UK, so a transfer funded late in your day often completes the following UK morning
• •When you fund the transfer. Sending your Australian dollars to us earlier in your day gives the transfer the best chance of completing sooner on the UK side
• •First-transfer verification. Your first payment can take a little longer while your account is verified. After that it's quicker
• •Compliance checks on larger amounts. A big incoming sum may need source-of-funds evidence, so having it ready avoids a pause on the transfer
• •The UK leg. Once we release the pounds, Faster Payments delivers them to the UK account almost immediately, so the receiving end is rarely the delay
• •Weekends and holidays. Bank processing pauses over weekends and public holidays in either country, which can add a day around those dates

A bank on this route typically takes two to four working days. With us, most AUD to GBP transfers land same or next working day, with the time zone gap the main thing to plan around.

Legal and tax notes for Australia to UK transfers

• •On the UK side, there's no tax simply on receiving money from abroad. The UK has no gift tax on the recipient, and money you transfer to your own UK account isn't income, so bringing your Australian savings home isn't a taxable event in itself. Where tax can arise is on what the money represents, not the transfer, for instance capital gains on an asset you sold, or income that was already taxable. If you've become UK tax resident, take advice on how any gains or foreign income are treated here.
• •There's one inheritance-tax point worth flagging. If someone who is UK-domiciled makes you a large lifetime gift, it can fall under the seven-year rule: amounts over the £3,000 annual exemption are potentially exempt transfers and only fully escape inheritance tax if the giver survives seven years. That's about the giver's estate, not a charge on you receiving the funds.
• •On the Australian side, Australia has no gift tax and no general inheritance tax, so gifting money out isn't taxed at the point of sending. Providers must report international transfers to AUSTRAC, but that's a compliance obligation on the business, not a cost or a tax to you.
• •One thing to check if you're on a means-tested Australian pension or benefit. Centrelink's gifting rules let you give away up to AUD 10,000 in a financial year, or AUD 30,000 over five financial years, and stay within the gifting free area. The harsher of the two limits applies, and the thresholds are the same for singles and couples (a couple's combined limit doesn't double). Anything above them is treated as a deprived asset and still counted in your pension assets and income test for five years. So if you receive the Age Pension and you're sending a larger sum to family in the UK, it's worth checking how the gift affects your entitlement before you send.
• •These notes are general information, not tax advice. Repatriating a large balance, moving property proceeds, or dealing with an estate across both countries are exactly the situations where it's worth taking professional advice on your own circumstances.