chickenpies

After 16 years living in Asia, I am moving back to the UK with my wife who is asian + my 2 children

I won't be working to begin with, but my wife has her own business.

She doesn't have to work on it from the UK, but she will receive funds from her Asian account to her newly created UK account. Would those deposits be taxable?

If I'm not working, but living off my wife's income - would I have to declare anything? I don't think anyone would need to know; would that be right?

sayang

It depends. If she is resident in the UK, she only needs to pay tax on income that she remits to UK (i.e. not worldwide income) Question is - how will you prove to the taxman that these are savings of money already taxed, vs dividend income from her business? Especially if she take regular deposits, rather than one large lump sum transfer when she moves to the UK. The fact that you say that you will be living off her income sounds like the former - that she will be drawing income from her overseas business while in the UK - taxable revenue.

Yes, you still have to file a tax form even with zero income.

chickenpies

She isn't a residency of the UK. She is a non-native, and will be coming on a visitor's visa; but I need to research her visa, so that's a different question.

The money is income earned from the business that she has; and she's simply transferring it from her personal account to let's say my bank account in the UK (she doesn't have a UK bank account yet)

but what I want to know is how will they know? I've been transferring money for years (my asian person account to my uk person account) with no issues whatsoever.

sayang

Ah - you said she is moving to the UK, which would make her a resident.

Anyone who stays in the UK for more than 183 days a year is classed as resident for tax purposes, so be aware of that for her. The UK has double taxation treaties with most countries though.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/residence

Gifts are tax free, but I don't know about gifts from abroad from your wife to you. I would think you will need proof that the money is gifted, and not taxable income from abroad

Up to now, you haven't been a UK tax resident, needing to fill in tax returns. They will know because you will tell them, as tax evasion is a crime

sayang

Sorry - that sounds a bit harsh. Taxation of foreign residents in the UK is a complex subject, so I would suggest to pay for some professional tax advice at some point (and probably in both countries if double taxation comes into play)

BuckinghamshireBoy

I would say contact HMRC for advice. They are incredibly helpful these days - they are light years away from the grumpy, inept jobsworths of yesteryear.

I just generated some revenue in the UK for the first time in 30 years, and I figured that I had been overtaxed. After a 15 minute 'phone call with very knowledgeable HMRC back office support people they said that due to double taxation agreements I was entitled to a full UK refund, and that in turn I should pass the final statement to my local tax authorities.

I should wait until the UK new financial year in order to do this only once; the support people told me which forms I would need to fill in, which questions on those forms I could ignore, and which questions to pay special attention to.

Give them a try. If you try and wriggle under the fence and get caught, you'll be on the radar for years to come.

Vadio

Only slightly off-topic...you said your wife would be entering as a visitor. She cannot work on a visitor visa - not even remotely for her own company.

You need to do quite a bit more research, because if she enters on a visitor visa, assuming she is admitted, she will need to return to her home country to apply for a spouse visa. Entering with you and the children could easily be a red flag, and there is more than a little possibility that she won't be admitted. If she is, her stay would be limited to no more than 6 months.

BritInParis

If your wife is coming to the UK on a visitor visa then she won't be permitted to stay long enough to become tax resident. It's important to note that she cannot 'move' to the UK on a visitor visa nor can she switch from a visitor visa whilst in the UK. She will likely need to apply for a spouse visa. This comes with significant financial requirements to fulfil. If she has significant savings then that should simplify things as she would likely to be eligible to fulfil the financial requirements through cash savings.

Savings are not taxed but income is. Once she becomes tax resident then she will be subject to income tax on her worldwide income which would include interest payments on her savings.