It’s the first question that clients ask, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I would love to reply “ How long is a piece of string ?” which reflects my problem but that’s not helpful to anyone. You as the consumer need clarity, certainty and tax return fees that represent good value.
The marketplace
If you contact any accountant in the UK, or elsewhere in the world, you might ask them to prepare your annual tax return. That firm will tell you that they prepare hundreds of tax returns per year and that their rates are competitive. The next problem to overcome is that not every UK accountant is an expert in expatriate tax matters – this is a critical point to remember when hiring a new advisor. The second problem is that a UK accountant may know some of the relevant tax laws but expatriate matters will not be his/her day-to-day work. We might compare this to visiting a car mechanic who is competent but only works occasionally on cars, but mainly on trains. The deep skills will not be there.
When you are juggling the tax regimes of two countries, you are best to use an expatriate expert.
Expatriate Tax Services London – our Expatriate UK Tax Return
When we prepare expatriate UK tax returns, we are using ALL of the latest tax laws and best practices promoted by the UK tax man ( This is exactly what you need from your tax accountant, whether it is me or someone else). The case law and practices change every year and our tax return services are very much up to date :
For example, in 2021, tax relief claims for working from home have become very popular due to Covid restrictions in prior years. Tax rebates are definitely available. Also, on 2021/22 UK tax returns there will be clients who received Government monies/subsidies, aswell as having suffered major disruptions to their overseas postings. Our firm must be fully “on it” and in tune with every tax legal change. You must ask this as a minimum from a tax accountant.
How much is a UK Non-Resident UK Tax Return ?
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** Includes significant work eg a UK tax return with rental income and UK source investments. If a client has a major portfolio of houses eg 4+ we will discuss with you how to minimise your UK tax burden.
How much is a Resident UK Tax Return ?
We simply cannot answer this with a single number, but there are many examples below.
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How do we deliver Tax Savings on UK Tax Returns ?
We thought you would like to know how we do it, and therefore here is a sample of ways to save you money.
Home leave – we can claim significant deductions for travel to home countries for certain classes expatriate. This can deliver £1,2 even £3,000 in rebates per year.
Overseas Workday relief – this tax relief is simply massive at times and applies to certain inbound expatriates to the UK. It is derived from the income arising from work carried on outside the UK. Tax savings range from £1,000 to £100,000 in some cases.
Non-domicile status – this whole area of tax is very valuable and must be examined carefully and in good time. A non-domiciled person can seek to exclude all foreign earnings and gains from a UK tax return; for the first 7 years of their UK residence. We will not dwell on the details here, but please please bring up this topic when you contact us – the tax relief and benefits can be major.
UK non-residence – clients who can achieve this legal status ( via a statutory test) can look to minimise or avoid UK tax on certain items. For example, if they earn UK rents, their mortgage interest and costs of replacement furniture, repairs/decoration, can enable them to avoid UK tax.
Tax relief on parking fines, UEFA football final staff trips – sorry, there is normally no such UK tax relief on these items. This is the type of joke that amuses only accountants. Sorry again.
We have just summarised a few parts of the job of a solid UK expatriate tax accountant. If you are still curious as to our abilities, and what sets us apart from our rivals, we would urge you to get in touch.
….It’s just a blog ….
When blogging, we do not bombard you with every part of every UK tax law. That would be a long technical guide, which does not belong here. Please remember that, you can ask me, Oliver for a specific tax review. Every expatriate’s tax circumstances are different.
