dominoman

I am about to start working in the UAE on a 3 year contract, so my earnings there should be tax free (I will ensure I dont spend too long in the UK etc)

My wife is planning to keep working in the UK for the next couple of months and then take maternity leave. The plan is that she will come to the UAE to have the baby and then will stay living here with me on a sponsor residence visa.

She will be resident in the UAE from when she arrives. But her maternity leave will be paid by a UK company to her UK account. Does that mean she will still be liable to UK tax on that even when she is resident in the UAE?

Hoping someone can opine on this. I'm doing the finances and it makes a difference...

Johnnyboy11

Your wife's tax affairs are independent of yours, so she will be liable for full UK tax and NI on her worldwide earnings until she is confirmed UK non-resident, either by complying with the 'Automatic Overseas Test' or by being deemed to have left the UK permanently. From your post, I don't think either case will apply, since the former requires full-time working overseas and the latter requires absence from the UK for at least three years, both scenarios have strings attached. Best get specialist advice on this one. In either case, best if your wife leaves the UK before the turn of the UK tax year.

jam25mack

So she's going to shaft a company for maternity leave and then resign before she needs to return to work....?

No wonder companies would rather employ men to reduce their exposure.

Millhouse

Her free-income is "earned" in the UK. It should therefore be taxed in the UK.

You cannot have your carrot-cake and eat it.

weasel decentral

Taking your statutory maternity leave is hardly considered shafting the company , giving notice afterwards isn't exactly good form I'd agree.

You have made a sizeable leap of logic to arrive at your final conclusion though, unless you are working in a company where each individual male is 100% efficiently productive all of the time

scrubbedexpat141

Agree with this. Not a great thing to do especially if you've plotted / calculated it.

co durham boy

Even worse if he's relying on it .

mission

who cares if he's Mrs will be shafting her company.....in this day and age...it's a dog eat dog world...her company probably wouldn't bat an eyelid if they had to get rid of her and so I say take what you can.

Millhouse

Spot on. It's what we did.

Even remember handing the laptop to the Abu Dhabi office and telling them too figure out how to get it back to the UK office.

scrubbedexpat141

Why stop there?

Why not just shaft everyone you meet?

That Hummer back there is probably going to skip forward and cut in at the junction, you may as well do it first, **** it! It's dog eat dog!

archie159

You need to check your medical insurance also... I would not assume, without getting it confirmed in writing, that your new company's insurance scheme will pay her hospital bills when she has the baby (if I remember correctly, I think I noticed once that Daman excludes payment related to maternity issues for the first 6 months of a new policy). Some companies won't even initiate family insurance until you have completed your probation - however long that is, but some keep you on probation for 6 months. I doubt you want to pay those sort of hospital bills out of your own pocket.

Next, many (not all) women we know over here who fall pregnant chose to return to their home countries to have the baby... for all sorts of very good reasons. Your circumstances might be different, but you might consider whether she'd be better off having it back home, hopefully with her mother on close call to help, and then bring her over.

DXBtoDOH

Health insurance out here is funny. I know plenty of people with full health insurance who still had to pay quite a bit out of pocket for sundry expenses. As much as 20K+

Might be easier for her to go home to have childbirth as has been suggested, then bring her back out here.

scrubbedexpat141

I'd be astounded if pregnancy wasn't considered a 'pre-existing condition'.

Fortunately my medical covers that stuff, loads don't.

Johnnyboy11

Once you leave the UK and take up residency outwith the EU, you are no longer entitled to free NHS treatment (with a few exceptions, like a medical emergency during a visit to the UK). You may be asked to pay all costs and also a premium on top (50%, I read somewhere).

jam25mack

I've heard this but..... have you ever heard of anyone getting stung for it? Also, if you are British.... I.e you look and sound British, are they likely to even consider that you might be a non resident?

I can't see it personally. The UK just doesn't think like that.