Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

My husband lived in the UK for 20 years and I lived there for 14. We had to file taxes with the US government every year and did so through an accountant in the US that specialised in it. It cost us a few hundred dollars every year. Totally worth it. If however, you have the choice to become a citizen of the US (unlike us as we were born here), it is definitely something to consider as you have to report your worldwide earnings and file taxes no matter where you go in the world or how much you do/don't make. It can be a slight pain each year.

With regard to the 40 credits, this may also be something worth considering carefully. As people live longer, any payment (however small) per month may make a difference. We also continue to pay national insurance although we live in the USA so that we can receive the UK state pension (something like 11K GBP per year upon retirement- not a lot, but the contributions are relatively small in comparison). So two state pensions could come in handy :) You never know.

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Heh, I've been attempting to get through to HMRC to talk about making voluntary NI contributions for the UK pension side of things! And now I realize what the 40 credits are, I will do that if we go back to the UK with US citizenship. We are definitely cautious that way, and happy to take the mild pain of filing US taxes every year from abroad, as long as we don't actually *lose* a shedload of money by 'paying tax twice' (which I know is technically avoided with a tax treaty, but we will be finding out exactly what will be involved for our particular situation). So complicated...

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Once we set it up, it was easy as it just comes out of our HSBC account. I don't remember what we actually did to get it set up. I am sure getting through to anyone at this time can be challenging.

Good luck on all fronts :)

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Also, and with regard to making friends, Internations is a terrific group! There is one in Edinburgh and I have expat friends all over the world that meet others via this organisation - mostly professionals.

Here is a link to the British Expats Internations group in SF - https://www.internations.org/san-fra...expats/british

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Unlike Jenninedinburgh I found my costs of filing US tax returns going up and up - FBAR, FATCA etc with the relevant forms annually valuing non-US houses, banks accounts, savings investments, pensions posts, UK taxes taken and offset tax years etc etc - you could find yourself coughing-up up to $1K per year for the accountant. I also saw friends struggling with an exit tax (not sure how this would apply to you) and the impacts of capital gains on UK rental properties they wanted to sell etc.

I should have explained the SS 40 credits bit further, but you seem to have a good idea of it now - basically a min 10 years of US work to ensure you get a US state pension. As others have mentioned, voluntary Class 2 UK NI payments seem like they are very good value (I say "seem" as I am not convinced that the UK state pension won't start to become means-tested in 10-20 years time).

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Well, we pay over $1k a year to file here, because Google compensation is kinda complicated, so we can suck that up. Although it will be more painful if we are ever out of work, and once we retire - hmm that’s something to think about. Definitely going to talk to an accountant who’s an expert in UK/US situations!

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Thank you! I will definitely check that out, and get over my feeling that I’m a terrible person for not fraternizing with the locals ;)

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

I did make a few very good Scottish friends in Edinburgh, but at least half of all of my friends however were from all over the world (and my besties are Peruvian and from New Zealand). It could just be an Expat mentality and that expats make better friends with expats :)

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

The $1K+ pa isn't the end of the world, but if you're living in the UK and unlikely to return then it's $1K flushed down the pan each and every year. I don't know the full details of how capital gains etc would apply when being a USC living and working in the UK, but as you say, time to find a good UK/US tax advisor.

Re: Should we move back to the UK?
 

Capital gains for a USC living in the UK is really very easy, I’ve been doing it for 4 years now. It works very much the same as in the USA in how it is calculated, then the first £12,300 is free of tax and for a basic rate tax payer like myself the rest is taxed at 10%.