UK Personal account for contract work in USD

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I’m going to have a contract with a UK company soon as a contractor, and they’ll be paying me in USD (not a huge amount), but looks like the monthly deposits might be flagged as business transactions and raise eyebrows??

I have a metal plan which I really like but do not want to pay for a business account in addition. I really want to keep my metal account.

Also as Revolut is not a UK bank yet larger amounts coming in each month will not be as secure as a bank.

So thinking of opening either a USD Barclays account or Xapo USD bank account. (The latter preferred due to the interest rates and cashback).

Get my payments deposited there and then make personal transfers to my Revolut account to keep just enough for my daily costs and usage.

There was a similar thread but it was archived.

Thanks

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A bank would also pull the same scrutiny if they were concerned, revolut doesn’t really work any different, minus FSCS protection as a bank generally has.

If it’s income, you’ve nothing to worry about regardless of whatever country it’s from provided you can evidence it’s yours IF (big IF) revolut decide to ask about it.

It’s never certain if they will ask, provided it doesn’t look sketchy and you’ve payslips and a contract you’ll be fine in the instance they do just want to ask about it.

You only require a business account if you’re selling goods or services, but if youre employed as an employee you’ll be fine as you would in the UK.

There’s always the Pro account which is free, if you were for example contracting out, thus yourself being the service and they pay for you in that way.

You also have Savings Vaults, which in the UK are FSCS protected through a UK bank (Allica and Paragon at the moment), so storing your money in those and withdrawing as and when needed maintains the same protections you would have with a bank.

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Thanks for the advice. Yep already got usd in a savings vault.

Not sure what benefits the pro gives you. I’ll just be providing IT services. Invoicing monthly and nothing else.

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What’s this ultra plan? No prices revealed which is a bit crap. Join the wait list and see! The suspense!

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I guess if they’re paying your tax you’ll be fine. There are USD savings Vaults too but I’ve no idea how those work or even if you can get them here in the UK for USD coverage.

I’m keen on Ultra too. I’m a Standard customer for now.

I want some sustainable phone insurance for a device I already have, along with the other perks.

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No as I contractor you pay your own taxes. But yes a signed contract will exist and official monthly invoices.

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Opened up a pro account. So best to get any invoices paid deposited into this account I assume

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Just don’t use the pro account for any personal spending, move your salary or pay to your Revolut or whatever bank.

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Nope wasn’t intending to.
But a good option to receive payments from businesses for contract work?

Either that or Xapo bank. A good backup anyway. Xapo offer free transfers. Interest and cashback anywhere. At a cost of course but a small amount of savings will cover the annual cost

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@Carl_1460 Thank you for the response. :blush:

@CJD Hope this helped. :hugs:

Veda | Community team

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Ok so Xapo bank is not working properly to receive USD deposits! No ETA. They could have informed customers before signing up on the app. They market themselves as having such a great USD account but you can’t deposit USD due to USD rail issues? hmm

Revolut wins again!
So best to get my USD monthly invoices paid for contract work done deposited into my Pro account and transfer into my personal account for spending?

Thanks

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That’s right.

It really does depend how you’re running your contractor work to be fair. If you’re taking tax and other work allowances from your contractor salary to pay on your own back, and have business expenses and other bits to cover, Pro is the way to go.

If it’s essentially a salary payment (net pay) going direct to you, it should be fine to go to your Personal straight from employer.

A key definition is. Would you be sending the invoice from your pro account to the business for time expensed.

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Contract work yes - yes paying my own taxes etc.
Not sending invoices from Revolut app.

Pro then.

Shame the pro card is a bit bland. Same as the free account. Would have been nice to have a more business feel. (Yes I know its free and we’re not paying for the business account). At least a different colour/design to differentiate it.

Could easily get them mixed up.

Thanks

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My Pro card is white, but I did order it back in August, either was a promotion or they don’t have any other coloured cards available at this time.

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