Money Transfer

[mrspirite]

can you legally transfer money from an account, to bring balance down before a means test.

[Old_Geezer]

My guess is that you can put it wherever you wish as long as you tell the testers that you have it.

[bhg481]

Are you going to transfer it to another of your own accounts (would defeat the object) or to someone else? If the latter then it's a gift and they have every right to refuse to ever give it back to you. Also be aware that all large (>£10,000?) money transfers have to be notified by the bank, so there will be a record of it and also if it's discovered that you made the transfer solely to beat the means test eg, for benefits, it will be treated as if it never happened and you will lose the money and the "prize".

[barry1010]

No

[Sqad]

Yes, if you can get away with it, but no if you can't.
I rather agree with the succinct answer of barry 1010.

[woofgang]

Its called deliberate deprivation of assets if you give it away and fraud if you hide it. Both will get you into trouble.

[rowanwitch]

No if the intent is to commit fraud

[barry1010]

I rather resent my taxes supporting those who don't need the money to the point they have spare cash to hide to deceive the authorities. It is one of the worst kinds of theft.
Greed is an ugly personality trait.

[gingejbee]

From a DWP point of view (I'm close to someone who works on just this kind of thing), they have ways and means of finding out when this deprivation of assets has occurred and don't look on it lightly!

[carrot99]

No but it looks like you can buy a pre-paid funeral plan. Not much fun but if you're only a few thousand over the savings limit it could bring your savings down to the acceptable level.

[woofgang]

you can also replace things like domestic appliances if you can prove they needed replacing.

[mrspirite]

thanx for all your answers,