cigarist

Hello, I am wondering if anyone can clear up the confusion regarding the P85.

I am leaving Britain for Australia pretty soon and know that you are supposed to fill up the P85.

The thing is I haven't been employed in Britain for some time now and I have been told by HMRC I no longer need to file a tax return for the last 3 years.

I will be moving to Australia to live with relatives.

Is it necessary that I fill up the P85 given that I have no tax refunds or british income whatsoever?

Thanks for any help!

Bermudashorts

I don't know why people think this is compulsory. I did not fill it in and has created no issues for me (and I did have UK income and an ongoing UK income).

moneypenny20

I didn't know people did think it compulsory You'd be dumb not to if you were looking for a tax refund and would no longer be paying UK tax. If you're not, for whatever reason, then there's no point in filling it out.

Amazulu

Out not up

SillyOldBag

or in

cigarist

Thanks for the replies.

BritInParis

I would always fill it in, no reason not to. Plus it's always a good idea to let HMRC know you're leaving as they then tend to review your tax record - the last time I did so I got several tax rebate cheques for various periods dating back nearly ten years totalling several hundred pounds.

Bermudashorts

There is no reason to fill it out. Why would you do something because there is no reason not to, in other words do something pointless, doesn't make sense to me. Most people will pay tax correctly during the course of a year and are not going to have years of accumulated rebates due. If they did, well I have noticed most people are very mindful of even a remote possibility of a tax rebate and the sensible ones would have dealt with it.

psymann

I don't think this answers your specific point, but a few other P85-related notes in case they're useful after I spent a few minutes on the phone helpline to one of the tax people earlier:

- You don't need to fill in details of a new employer if you don't have a new employer yet. They only really want to know about a new employer if it's one based in the UK and that therefore you'd be getting paid from the UK. No harm in filling it in if you do know your new Australian employer, but not mandatory after all.

- Bank/Building-Society address. I asked if they wanted my local branch address, or head office address. The answer was neither really - they only actually need sort-code, account number and name. So you can pretty much pick any address you like to fill the gap. I resisted the urge to ask why they didn't just remove the address from the form

- Income you get from the UK after you leave. They do need to know about Interest and Share Dividends - because these are things that are definitely going to be happening and are guaranteed income. They don't need to know about selling shares or cashing in investment accounts and such things, because there's no guaranteed you'd do either. Seemed to be that since this was unplanned, or at least wasn't obviously planned, that it wasn't needed to be listed.


Aside from that, the rest I found easy to complete.

It is saying something about the migration process that a tax form from HMRC is one of the easiest forms to fill in!

Alfresco

Was gonna say.

Alan Collett

RDRM10115 - Residence: Leaving the United Kingdom: Form P85

Form P85 not needed if you are in the Self Assessment regime and will be filling in a tax return for the tax year of departure - this link is to a page from HM Revenue's manuals.

See also:

> FAQs when leaving the UK to live in Australia: Frequently Asked Questions | GM Tax | Tax Planning Advice in Australia and the UK

> Factsheet on completing form P85: http://www.gmtax.com.au/?ddownload=1092

> Factsheet on moving to Australia, the tax essentials: http://www.gmtax.com.au/?ddownload=1117

> Tax related factsheets generally are here: UK and Australia Tax Factsheets | GM Tax | Tax Planning Advice in Australia and the UK

Best regards.