brummie61

Hi Charleygirl.

Yes Birmingham is my home town, though now 20 years down the track i do not know anyone there! Been in South Africa 20 years. My wife seems keen to try life back in England ( she has family in Surrey, mine are mainly on the outskirts of Brum) - i would be keen to give it a blast ( afterall home is home).
Though I am certain it is nothing like i remember my friends and family that i keep in touch with appear to be doing OK. My move to SA was a family based thing due to the fact that my wife's parents are here & so was my sister at the time. The major stumbling block as i see it is that we have no property to sell that means we have no cash to put on a house, to get a job prior to leaving this side sounds difficult though maybe not impossible & to give up a job here in the "hope' of getting one there does not sound like a clever choice to make. My kids have had great schooling here thats for certain, my 19 yr old son is in Surrey now and may stay a bit longer my youngest is 8.
I am not anti SA in anyway - we could be in a far better situation if i had made the right choices many years back but thats life hey. Anyway - hope that is enough of my story!

brummie61

Helping others sounds good to me - a fundemental that we should live by!

Fish n Chips 56

Hello Brummie and thanks for your story, I doubt many of us would be able to get a home loan without a job and a sizeable downpayment, things were always tough on that score but since the financial crisis of 08 I think its even more difficult, Id consider renting at first, it seems like the only option for many of us.

All my family are doing OK in the UK too, England has changed but still its home in many ways... Good Luck to you.

brits1

In our town most shops close on a Tuesday, still have market day on a Friday and Saturday with a Farmers market on the last Saturday of every month, we have found since we have returned to the UK that more and more towns and villages are bringing back customs of the olden days....which is so nice...we had a visit to Buxton last week and the amount of local "Morris,Clog and Stick Dancing clubs that have sprung up and perform at local festivals is just a joy.

Fish n Chips 56

Thats great news thanks...
Buxton, ahhhh a lovely town.

J.J

US Tax after leaving US back to UK.

I am happy to report that Tax Filing to US from UK as USC's that all went well for this first time.

We prepared tax online using TurboTax as always but did have to print and mail in our reports.

We were able to follow status progress online through Fed and State websites.

Within 3 weeks of mailing the Fed refund was deposited direct to our US bank, and within 6 weeks the state refund was received by post here in UK, needing only to mail it now to our US bank.

It has been useful to keep a US bank account to pay TurboTax and to deposit the refunds.

charleygirl

Hi JJ thanks for that info, glad it all was simple etc.

J.J

An automatic filing deadline extension gave us time to sort out the UK tax fining before we filed US.
Folks may be familiar with extending the filing date for 6 months when resident in USA, by making application to do so.
It is a little different when resident outside USA.

For those USC living abroad there is an automatic extension of Fed Tax deadline by 2 Months, and, for us ex-NC residents 4 months for state.
Be sure to check the little boxes on your filing forms to say you were not USA resident on April 15.

Both of these Fed + NC could be extended out to 6 months beyond the April 15 (ish) deadline by making the usual application.

I enquired of Tax Prep companies here in UK but was very expensive compared to US. So Dh did it all himself.

For UK tax , we were not sure if we had to file (self assess) or not, so Dh called HMRC and by phone they took us both through some Questions and declared we did not have to self-assess.

J.JsOH

For us, 60's somethings couple, not extravagant but not miserly, home all the time, suburbs detached 3-bed house, West Norfolk

Gas £40 / month (Autumn)
Elec £50 / month (Autumn)
Water £21 / month (metered)
Council Tax £134 / month
House Ins £16 / month
Car Ins £15 / month
Phone / Broadband £25 / month
Food and Household (e.g.cleaning products) £280 / month average

We have been tracking for over 1 year since we came back, all told we spend avg. £1,300 / month, car use is low 6,000 miles / year, meal & drinks out couple times a week. Cost of foreign holiday trips and other one-time items not included in this average month spend.

Alfresco

Great update.

J.JsOH

This has been our 2nd Christmas back.

On being back, overall I feel it is OK here but I miss North Carolina.
I feel that other than healthcare and a initial sense of 'being home' there are no life satisfaction benefits to being in UK than we had in US. UK has not met expectations.

No, I am not hankering to move back to USA but I have a sense of resignation rather than joy that I am here to stay in UK.

In perspective, I lived longer in one place in USA than I ever did elsewhere in my life. So a feeling that US is my roots is natural.

If I had known just how emotionally difficult it was going to be to re-acclimate to UK then I would not have been so willing to move back. Not that there is any blame or regret, it was always a promise when we went to USA for my job that we would come back to UK when June, (J.J) was really ready to do so.

My biggest problem with UK is the decline in social moral standards of the residents of England, thefts at all levels, physical crimes, take and not give.
Further I feel that very few here know what they are doing, it is difficult to get straight talk from service companies, phone, insurance, banks, councils etc, they all seem to be unwilling to clearly state anything and instead hide behind a lot of flim-flam and caveats.
I think I am struggling with behavioral norms compared to US.

I wonder deeply why I feel this way and probably will never figure it out. There is a lot going on. My job here has been unfulfilling, at least that has now gone and I'm glad to be out of it. I am distressed also at this time because my Mother has advanced Parkinson's and now has a unhappy existence and although she gets unlimited medication I feel that the health service has been reluctant and random. As a foreigner abroad there maybe was a sense of adventure, even after 18 years. Maybe I felt somewhat a celebrity amongst my friends there by being a 'foreigner' while here I am just another white haired old guy amongst all the others.

But wait, the sun is out, the air is crisp and it is time to get out for a brisk walk.
The song "hello mother, hello father, here I am at camp Granada..... comes to mind. But I know that the cycle will start all over again soon. Is this a case of glass half empty / full or is the glass over-designed for the intended contents?

However, I will continue to put on a positive face and make effort to integrate - realising what I am experiencing is similar to what my wife, J.J struggled through as a trailing spouse with difficulty accepting living in USA.
I do have a lot to be grateful for, I do not regret the foreign experience and despite my difficulties with re-settling do not have strong regrets about being back, disappointment with some things here but not regret.

Bud the Wiser

As someone who has been torn between moving back, staying here in the US or indeed moving to another country I found your post very insightful. Can I ask you what were your expectations when you moved back, and to what degree, and, why did they fail ?

Brigette

This is such good information. I plan on keeping my US account open for as long as I can and particularly since I will more than likely moving towards the end of the US tax year.

J.JsOH

TurboTax does require payment by Credit Card. I chose TurboTax because I used them before, they can use previous years data, I am familiar with their process and I didn't qualify to use IRS Freefile.

Others have said elsewhere that they use the IRS freefile on line for no charge. Availability depends the simplicity of your tax affairs and income level. I will consider this for the future when i feel my tax affairs are on a stable footing a couple years into life in UK.

But on the subject of keeping US bank, I have found it comforting and convenient to have it there.

Brigette

Unfortunately for me I don't use Turbo Tax I have been using Taxslayer for several years now and love them. Not familiar with IRS freefile but will look it up to see what it's all about