Lilly belle

Hi, im not sure if anyone can help but i need some advice regarding working in the middle east and paying UK tax.

My husband has been offered work as a remote site medic working 6 weeks on and 6 weeks off in Iraq/afghanistan or Sudan. He will be paid for the 6 weeks on but not the time off although he will have a permanent contract. Is there any way to avoid paying tax in the UK? He is a UK resident from birth.

Thanks any advice appreciated.

lionheart

Yes, if he spends the six weeks off in Cyprus for example, he might be lucky.

GOONER217

Lily Belle,

To avoid UK tax you need to be non-resident in the UK for tax purposes.

This is a fairly complicated area where your absence would have to cover a full tax year (6 April to following 5 April) with permitted visits to the UK not exceeding 90 days on average.
So unless your husband is going to spend a lot of his 6 week break periods on holiday outside of the UK, he will be liable for UK tax on his earnings.

rachdubai

Hi
I am ok with the time you have to be employed and abroad ie at lease the full tax year, and understand the average 90 day rule - what I need confirming is whether it is ok to get your wages paid into a UK account? I.e. if you meet the UK non-resident criteria does that mean wages paid into your UK account are 'safe' from tax?
Thanks

sinderelle

We were informed when we left the UK only to send back what was needed to pay bills and keep it below your personal/joint tax code allowance

rachdubai

Does everyone else agree with this? I thought that as long as you met the non-residency criteria that you could have all your wages paid into your UK bank account if that suited you best??

Thanks for your help

Old Lob

Remittances above the personal limit will be taxed.

The Dean

Cyprus is now in the EU so that's exactly like living in the UK.

So is Estonia for God's sake......

GOONER217

rachdubai,

If you meet the non-residence rules then you can have all of your salary paid in the UK without incurring any UK tax.
I think there is a little confusion here over residence and domicile. If you are UK resident but non-domiciled, you are taxed in the UK on income and gains remitted to the UK. If you qualify for a UK personal allowance that would explain the comment in this thread about remitting money up to the level of the personal allowance.

Meow

Keep it clearer by having monies remitted to a Sterling account, but offshore. All the main UK banks have offshore arms, so that the account is actually in Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.



Gooner217 - are you an accountant or IFA?

GOONER217

Meow,

I am a Chartered Tax Advisor, but that doesn't make me a bad person.

MrsHaps

you tax people are completely insane for knowing this jargon!

So i move to Dubai, i earn lots of pounds, i transfer £2k every month to my mam's account who will in turn pay my mortgage while i am away in Dubai - how will the tax man find out how much i have earned?

I am not renting my house out but i did plan to transfer £2k a month to comfortably sercure all payments of bills and the 'just incase'. The rest of the money we save for supposed to pay off the mortgage however i am growing increasingly concerned about the tax man taking the bulk of it. I do not forsee us being in Dubai before the new tax year starts either! How confusing is this lot and the website is far from helpful, the call centre advisors are pants too!

thank you in advance for your time, one confused lady!

GOONER217

MrsHaps,

I shall ignore the slur!

I am not insane, just different.

Not sure what your question is.

IF you have met the criteria to be regarded as non-UK resident your UK tax return, if any, will only have included continuing UK income. If you then return to the UK you start to advise HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of your worldwide income, but only from the date of your return to the country.

As a non-resident you weren't due to pay UK tax on your "foreign" income and so it doesn't go in the tax return because it is none of HMRC's business.

You do of course "Self Assess" that you are non-resident and HMRC could open an enquiry into your UK return to establish whether you have actually met the criteria to be regarded as non-resident.

You may well be aware of the change to the "90 day rule" which comes into effect on 6 April 2008. From that date, days of arrival in and days of departure from the UK, will be regarded as days of residence in the UK.

IF you have not met the criteria to be regarded as non-resident then you are liable to UK tax on your worldwide income. You self assess this by telling HMRC how much you have earned.

HMRC will not know how much you earned but you sign the tax return declaration that the return is complete and correct and if they open an enquiry and find you did not fully declare your income you will pay the additional tax, interest and possibly a penalty, as well as suffering a degree of grief in the process.

How likely this would be I couldn't say, but professionally, I can only recommend that people make a full and complete UK return, as required.

IF you are on the cusp of non-residence, a holiday abroad at the end of the work contract might just secure non-residence.

Hope this helps a bit.

rachdubai

Gooner217
Brilliant information - thanks for that. I was having a bit of a heart attack after the first few replies, I thought I had made a big mistake so thank you for putting my mind at rest.

Matthew-C

I would just put it all into an off shore account (preferably high interest) and transfer what you need. Dont give the tax man a chance to get hold of it.