Kiowan

Ok, i'm going insane.

I've lived in Canada throughout the entire 2016/17 tax year working here but also had a UK rental property and income from that, paid gross without tax as I filed an NRL1 form when I left.

I work away a lot and have been trying to figure out my tax return on my days off at home and it's absurd, each question which is utter gibberish to the layman has a 100 page document explaining the laws surrounding whether it applies to you, I couldn't be sure if I was ticking the right boxes and so on. Anyway, I looked on here and elsewhere and people were recommending TaxCalc, seemed legit and it'd let me file online too which is quicker (deadline soon), however it's utterly useless besides that, it's just the same form with the same explanations as the HMRC supplementals, doesn't explain things any easier.

The problem is the whole thing isn't geared towards someone living abroad so I've no idea what to fill in. Under the income section it asks if you were employed, well yes, but does it really want to know about my Canadian employment? No online resources suggest this is supposed to be declared, it's dealt with and taxed in Canada not the UK.

Then there's claiming personal allowance under double taxation agreements, I read this is only relevant for savings income of which there are a few quid in the UK, am I filling this in? Then ultimately on the property section it asks for your rental income but nowhere does it give you a chance to say that you have declared it and paid Canadian tax on it, it just asks if you had UK tax taken off which I didn't as it's paid gross due to the NRL1. The whole thing is infuriating!

Oh, and also nowhere can I find any suggestions on how to deal with the fact that the UK and Canadian tax years are different so I haven't yet filed and paid for Jan-Apr 2017 here.

paw339

I have to fill in a full UK and Canadian tax return every year so my situation is slightly different to yours.

Don't be afraid to ring up the UK and/or the Canadian international tax help lines. I've always found them to be very helpful and will usually steer you in the right direction.

With regard to the non aligned tax years you usually just have to proportionate the figures. For example to cover the Jan- Apr period you would take 95/365 of the whole UK Apr-Apr tax paid etc and for the Apr to Dec period you would take 270/365 fraction of the following UK tax year.

For me the biggest issue is I have to estimate the UK tax paid for the Apr - Dec period as Canada wants it's return completed before the UK figures are available. Then I adjust the figures when I have them from HMRC, usually followed by the CRA asking for a copy of my UK tax return to do their own calculations and figures anyway.

Kiowan

Hmm, thanks, i've spent all weekend pouring over it and have a completed return which shows I owe no tax like it needs to, i'm just not sure if I did it all correctly. I was sole trader in the UK a few years ago which was fairly simple but the same issue I had then I have now in that HMRC never answer the phone within 45minutes which is when I usually have to hang up so I haven't even tried phoning them for weeks.

I guess if I filled it out wrong then they will let me know I owe them money and at least i've filed. I do actually have to fill in a UK and a Canadian tax return, it's just the UK one that I find so difficult to follow.

mrken30

There is a list of software that you can use on the HMRC website. Are you registered for self assessment?
If the rental income is below your personal allowance, there is no UK tax payable anyway.

https://www.gov.uk/software-tax-returns

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ware-suppliers

Kiowan

I am registered for self assessment and have my UTR etc, though am having problems with the Gateway, the software is not allowing me to submit. I ended up completing it with taxcalc so i've printed it and will probably post it if I can't get HMRC to sort it out on Monday. I was unaware I had no liability due to personal allowance as I assumed you would lose your personal allowance by living and earning abroad and it was just a case of proving you'd paid Canadian tax on it. I guess they don't care about that though and it's just CRA that care if you pay tax on it now?

mrken30

I have just been made aware of another software company called ftax that may be useful to some people.

https://www.ftax.co.uk/index.php?act...&tpl=itemSA100