sallysimmons

Hi everyone. I haven't been on here for ages, but have just been catching up with threads and seeing that some of the lovely regulars made it back. Congrats to you all!

Most of you won't know me, a few will. I came back in April 2012 after 26 years in Canada and the US.

Life isn't perfect (when is it ever?) but I am happier than I can remember in terms of where I live. I just fit here. It's home in every way. I'm lucky to live in a nice house in a lovely part of the country and fortunate that my husband and I are self-employed, so didn't have to worry about jobs. We also don't have kids, and had no family abroad. This means we had a relatively easy time of moving back.

The only hitch was that we hired ludicrously expensive London-based international accountants to help us navigate double taxation issues, and they totally screwed up. They forgot to tell us that self-employed people have to pay their UK taxes in advance after the first year, so we were hit with an enormous bill that we're only just now clearing up.

We're thinking about renouncing our US citizenship because the tax reporting requirements are so onerous and expensive. I don't think it's anywhere near as bad if you don't have a business, but for us it's ridiculous. The only thing stopping us is the $5,000+ fee for two people to renounce. I would NEVER have applied for US citizenship if I had known how much of a pain it would be.

As for life here, we live in a quiet valley in Yorkshire, right near the Lancashire border (a little too close for my liking!) Our village is tiny - no shop, just a pub - but we're close to several towns and we can easily get to Manchester or Leeds when the urge for a city strikes (it doesn't very often). I'm happiest walking out on the moors or painting the landscapes and animals around my home.

We thought we'd travel a lot - around Britain and to Europe - but actually we've barely left Yorkshire. I think it's because we've been without roots for so long.

My mum recently moved to a house about 20 minutes away, so I've seen a lot of her, and I've been able to reconnect with some old friends. My goal this year is to make some new friends (other than our neighbours who we get on very well with).

My husband is dealing with some very challenging eldercare issues which have made life difficult. But I know he's glad to be here rather than stuck 3,000 miles away unable to help.

The weather for the last few weeks has been beyond abysmal - sheets of rain, howling winds, lots of fog, endless grey skies ... but that's winter in England for you. At least we're not digging out feet of snow the way we used to in New York!

All in all, coming back here was one of the best things I have ever done. I only wish I had done it years earlier. Or better yet ... never left!

Good luck to everyone thinking about making the move.

Perth

Lovely to have you back with us, Louise! Funny, but just this morning I was drinking my tea out of my Melancholy Cow mug. She's such lovely company

Always good to hear happy tales of being back. So tired of the gloom and doom. You'll be pleased to know that we will be relocating to Chesterfield (whenever we can finally get there) although we may eventually move on to Wales, or at least the Borders, if hubby insists. I have long since lost my desire to return to London - due in no small part to following your blog with all those lovely photos of the countryside.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year

~Monique

morayeel

Happy for you..thanks for the fantastic update.

BEVS

sallysimmons !

How really lovely to hear from you & what a quality update.

Hope you and your husband's new lives go from strength to strength.

Wishing you all joy and happiness for 2015.

Merry Christmas.

robin1234

I enjoyed reading the update, thanks! I'm glad to hear things are still going well, SS, and I can understand it when you mention that you had thought you would travel but have found you rarely leave Yorkshire...

I am stranded in the extremely cold and snowbound wastes of northern New York State in body, but spending my days strategizing about north Norfolk where we are buying a small new build flat (exchanged contracts a week or so ago, hoping for completion late January or early February.) Yes, the process is caught up in that English bureaucratic phenomenon, the two week Christmas break.

Our new place is tiny and is in a rather bland development but it is on the edge of town, with a great Norfolk view of fields, hedgerows, and ancient oak trees from our windows. Radiating out from town are several long distance footpaths that go on for miles. I feel with arthritis, bad back etc., I can still comfortably walk for miles in flat countryside while I'd have trouble in hillier places.

I don't think we will actually be moving over there though! I hope to spend much of my year in England while my wife will probably just visit for much briefer periods. Quite how we will manage this tax wise we are not yet too sure, since we file jointly with the IRS, and if I spend extended periods in the UK I will probably have to file taxes in the UK in 2015/2016.

Right now we are starting to plan for carpet laying and ordering furniture, and hoping to go over there for February - March ... in time for the daffodils!

Lorry1

Hi Sallysimmons,

Its good to hear you are still happy. So nice that your mum has moved nearby and you have a great relationship.
It's funny to hear you have had lots of rain up there in Yorkshire, we've hardly had any really down here in the south east. I get out twice every day walking the dog and have only worn a rain coat a couple of times so far this winter.

I hear you on the travelling. We said we would do more of Europe, but spent all summer doing weekends away within a couple of hours from us. Beautiful places though...Bath, Warwick, Stratford, The Cotswolds...and more. We were looking at York but decided we couldn't be bothered to drive that far
I think it's a case of being away a few years and now wanting to stay at home. I never really travelled the UK before leaving for Canada so it's been great to be able to start doing that now.
More Europe next year I think?

I can't believe we have been home a year and a half...and no regrets!

Keep on enjoying Yorkshire!

britwhore

sallysimmons!!!!!!!! So glad you've settled in.

I'd be interested to see how you deal with renouncing. It USED to be $450 but with more and more Americans giving up their citizenship they've decided to up the price (to hopefully stem the tide? Or just to make more money? who knows?) My husband and I have discussed it. I guess we'll see how it goes once we've moved back. The US just come across as schoolyard bullies when it comes to FBARs, tax etc. All very stressful and annoying.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I hope you get to see some of Europe soon. Never been to Yorkshire. I hope to visit soon

Pombat

So lovely to see an update from you, Sallysimmons!

We also planned to do much more travel than we have actually achieved, but maybe 2015 will be different. It is wonderful simply to feel settled at home.

I had not realised the fees for renouncing had gone up so much . We had green cards for 5 years, and formally surrendered those on our arrival back in the UK which was pretty straightforward. So relieved we did not ever take US citizenship!

Bnet36

This was a wonderful update.

I had decided not to go for the U.S.citizenship before we return back home (next summer) and the more I investigate the more I realise that is the best decision. I don't want to be indebted to Uncle Sam forever.

Hubby and I were just saying the other day how much we didn't explore Britain (we did most of Europe) before we left. So our plan is to explore Britain a lot more when we return.... If we can pry ourselves from our home.

Enjoy every minute OP, it takes leaving to realise how beautiful our country is.

Bnet36

Lovely update Sally!

I had already decided not to do my U.S citizenship so thank you for adding your experience to solidify that decision. I figure I will go through the green card process again if that should ever come up. I doubt it though, I am sticking with 'home' until retirement.

Interesting about traveling and exploring England or Britain. We did very little of it and chose to visit most of Europe as we were planning to relocate to the U.S. Just the other day we vowed to travel around Britain more when we get back. Hopefully we can pry ourselves from where we end up settling

Enjoy every minute .... the saying 'home is where the heart is' resonates with me so much after being an expat.

Best wishes!

between two worlds

Sallysimmons, wonderful to hear from you! Such a great update, and it's so good to know things have worked out so well for you both.

Seems like yesterday you were planning, dreaming, then putting your house on the market….

I've been back for a year and am really really happy to be here, but for us it's more complicated, as DH is USC, plus one adult child is still there, we still have a property there, etc etc…we can't completely cut our ties with the US and my DH would never renounce, nor of course should he.

Thanks so much for the update.

Your experience with the tax accountants is absolutely appalling, these are the people we trust to guide us through the morass of double taxation….can they be officially complained about or reported to ombudsman or something?

Happy new year!

Bnet36

Sorry for the double post. The original didn't look like it was going to post so I rewrote it... Oops.

brissybee

Hi Sallysimmons. I'm glad to hear you are so contentedly settled. It's great to read such a positive update. The past couple of years seem to have flown. I hope everything continues to be wonderful for you. All the best.

J.JsOH

Hello Sally,

By chance I stumbled on this thread, not being a regular reader anymore.

One of the best things that June and I have done since moving back is to have renounced, which we did mid 2014. (Other best things have been a holiday touring south coast and visits to distant pre-USA friends.)

Walking out of the embassy after doing the deed, I had a sense of freedom, freedom to live in my own native country without being considered as an American overseas with a foreign (UK) passport, freedom (after 2014 reporting season) from the increasing complexity of annual paperwork. I could not see how I could forever go on filing that stuff to end of life.

We now have to get through the last FBAR, the last tax filing, plus the extra end-of-USC tax report and we done. Yay, nearly there. I will feel a lot better about being in UK without the US spectre looking over my shoulder.

I dont feel any sense of loss of US access now that we are back fully - if the need arises we can go back as visitors, but so far, no regrets and a rapidly diminishing urge to ever go back.

By chance we lucked in and renounced before the recent price rise but for me it would still be worth the much higher price.

Good luck to you.
John

J.JsOH

I was told the increased cost of renouncing is to truly reflect the cost of the effort that is put into US processing the renouncement.
I could have done with receiving payment for the many days and weeks I spent in dealing with the darn annual FBAR, Tax forms, for essentially nil effect.