Non Resident Tax UK

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There are two key parts to our services for non-residents :

  1. How do you achieve non residence for UK tax ?  and
  2. If you are non-resident, what are your action points ?

Sorry, there are actually three parts to our work.  We advise on the impact of Covid on residence.

As they say in the TV commercial, let’s do the science bit..

Achieving non-residence

There are many ways in UK law to become (or stay) UK tax non-resident.  Let’s focus on some of the main options : 

  1. Spend fewer than 16 days in UK, if you have lived here in the last 3 years. 

Please note I’m generalising and simplifying just for the purposes of keeping it light !

  • Spend fewer than 46 days in UK, if you haven’t resided here lately (greater than 3 years away from UK).

  • The working full-time abroad test.  There’s quite a bit to this one, but it’s very popular with people assigned overseas.  The full details https://bit.ly/36JVr6k

  • A whole other set of rules called “Sufficient Ties” which are very useful when seeking UK tax non-residence.  These rules assess the number of ties or connections that you have with the UK.   The more ties that you have, then the harder it is to be non-resident ( the less days you are permitted to spend here).  There’s some more detail to this but for now, we should note that someone with plenty of UK ties will find it harder to be tax non-resident (eg with an available UK home, some children in the UK, and regular UK meetings).

Covid and tax residence

HM Revenue & Customs have changed a number of rules to reflect our changing Covid world.  We have worked with expats who cannot return to the overseas post, clients who have lost their job overseas, even people who return to be with family.  We have it all covered, and we keep you non-resident if at all possible.

Shopping List

Let’s assume you are UK tax non-resident, what would be your shopping list of actions ?

  1. An expat who has just “broken” tax residence should be notifying HM Revenue & Customs of their departure.  There’s an official HMRC form P85.  PLEASE, if you do nothing else, use a tax advisor like me to file this form.  It contains a few traps that we can avoid.

  • You are renting out your UK home.  You may have a UK letting agent and they are required to apply UK tax.  We can assist and help to avoid this.

  • Your state pension ( link to pension page).  How will you manage this ?  Can you carry on contributing, or can you claim a UK state pension if you are already in your 60’s ?

  • UK tax returns as a non-resident – yes, we still have to file in the UK.  To report in the UK, the UK requires details of total rents received, and I seek to minimise any UK taxation.

  • Keeping a diary of travel.  Your return days back in the UK can influence your residence position; therefore tracking your travel each year becomes important.

Why use us ?

If you are UK tax non-resident, you will I am afraid require tax support; at least at the start.   You would have  Oliver Heslop as your only and main contact, that’s our business structure.   You will encounter issues with UK tax returns, UK lettings, UK bank accounts, home visits, a multitude of issues.  The GETS difference is that half of our clients are like you, non-resident with trailing UK tax issues at home.  It is our niche and we pore over the UK tax laws to minimise UK tax costs.

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