Pulaski

If you are not tax resident in the UK then you should not be paying tax there, and claiming a refund is the correct course of action. Double taxation relief is used when you are required to pay tax in the UK (and the rules don't allow you to reclaim it), so that you don't get taxed again in the country where you are tax resident (if the tax where you are tax resident is greater you would have to pay the difference. E.g. you receive £100 and are required (not reclaimable) pay £25 in tax. The country where you live assesses £30 of tax on the £100. You would claim double taxation relief, offsetting the £25 paid in the UK, and pay an additional £5 in the country where you live.

Jakeinaka

The plot thickens, HMRC chat robot says this
When I can find a way to message them, I will.
How many forms do they have? This is an online claim it seems. This may suit my needs but I also want to get tax relief at source from now on.

BUT
Follow that link, I'm back to the original form, Japan 1 DT, "Use form Japan-1-DT to apply for relief from UK Income Tax on income paid on or after 1 January 2007."

Jakeinaka

So I contacted HMRC and eventually replied. I covered several topics, refund of tax paid, certificate of residence and tax relief at source. I was planning to use form Japan 1 DT.
Their reply:

That seems to be a newer/different version of the DT form covering many countries, wish they would make up their minds
Previously I'd been directed here by my pension provider
https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-liv...ad/taxed-twice

durham_lad

I too would have thought that the Japan specific form would have been better, but since there is not a tax treaty with every country then I guess they also need to have a generic one. Quite possibly the HMRC agent answering the request was too lazy to look for a Japan specific form.

SunnyDave

Late to the party but some information from my own situation.

Before HMRC will apply an NT Tax Code, there now has to be a regular distribution started from your pension source, the 25% tax free lump sum and/or the common $100 initial payment to trigger a tax event with HMRC are not sufficient. I completed the necessary forms last May, got a letter from HMRC advising they had not approved the NT tax code so I called & spoke to a very helpful gentleman who explained that the regular income source has to actually start being paid before they would apply the NT code, they no longer approved NT codes prior to the income source starting. He stated the paperwork would be 'put on hold' & once the payments had started, I could contact them again & ask for them to re-review the NT request. I contacted the Pension provider to start a regular distribution & after the first payment was received September last year, contact HMRC again who did re-review the NT request & approved the NT code within a couple of weeks & I got an E-mail from HMRC confirming the tax code change.

Jakeinaka

Interesting, I was planning the same route but, I may not have to it seems.
I started with a few withdrawals from my tax free 25%, that was simple. Then I decided to start using the taxable funds to get the HMRC ball rolling which I did in December, was taxed as expected and a new tax code applied at HMRC. So to get another taxable withdrawal within the same tax year, I did the same this month same amount. This was NOT taxed. The communication I got from my provider is as follows:



I should contact the pension people to confirm it but the way I see it is that any withdrawal within my annual allowance (around 12.5K) will not be taxed (as per new tax code), after the annual allowance is used then tax will apply, which I need to claim back. I could be wrong of course, next time I withdraw funds I'll find out. Not sure if it matters but I hadn't planned to take regular payments, just take some cash as and when necessary.
I'll mail them next week.

Jakeinaka

So as mentioned I started withdrawing funds from the taxable portion of my pension, 3 times so far. First time was taxed, second wasn't, third was also taxed. I was preparing paperwork to reclaim the tax from withdrawal #1 when surprisingly the tax was refunded direct from HMRC, no application at all . My pension provider didn't know about it apparently.
So I'll wait and see what happens with withdrawal #3. If I can get away from the application requirement it will be so much easier, no trips to the tax office to prove where I live.

trirod

I have a similar situation where I have a small UK private pension (around £8,000) that I would like to drawdown just to get rid of it and make my FBAR reporting etc. easier.

Can I just take out £1,000 per month, which is under the personal allowance threshold, and avoid UK tax issues that way? Or will I still have to file the various forms to get an NT tax code?

durham_lad

You may find that you will still need an NT tax code otherwise the provider will have to apply an emergency tax code causing taxes to be withheld.

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/discover/...-claim-it-back

Jakeinaka

This is correct. My taxable withdrawals so far are well within my allowance, nevertheless being taxed. I have since discovered my only refund (so far) WAS from my pension provider. What's the phrase? "Don't know their arse from their elbow"
Anyhoo, this is communication I received from HMRC, which is the route I will take from now on.

The form linked there is the standard form, there may be a slightly different version depends on where you live. Check the link below for list of forms, instructions included.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-uk-income-liv...ad/taxed-twice