Hi everyone - great to be part of this group!
We are relocating back to the UK after 14 years in China.
My husband is the one with the job here and he pays chinese tax. His contract actually ends in February 2023, but he will be on holiday from mid January and will fly back to the UK then. His final salary will be paid to him at the end of February.
I will travel ahead and be in the UK for Christmas this year and do the due process to become a UK resident again, apply for my driving license back etc.
We bought a house in Scotland last summer, which is classed as unoccupied and is not rented out. (We have yet to see the house ourselves with borders here being closed for the last 2 years!)
I have read some confusing things online that if my husband returns before 6th April, he will have to pay tax on his overseas earning for the previous year?? While we do plan to work, as we have stuff to do on the house, we don't plan to get jobs until certainly after 6th April! Does this tax issue apply only if you are going straight into work in the UK? We will live off our savings until jobs start.
Perhaps some of you could advise whether my husband waits until 6th April before starting his UK residence process, and he's "on holiday" from mid January until then - albeit we could have a trip to France and come back into the UK on or after 6th April, if that makes sense. That would then encompass the time when his final salary is due.
I hope I haven't made this all more confusing than it needs to be, was just really confused at the possibility of having to pay tax on arrival so to speak!
Many thanks for any help you can give.

You "pay tax on the entire year", but get a deduction for the tax already paid overseas. Tax is calculated on presence in the UK during the tax year, not on whether you are working or not.

In fact arriving shortly before the tax year end (April 5th) is a tax efficient time to arrive, as you get the whole year's personal allowance even though you are only in the country for a fraction of the year. When anyone asks about the optimal time to arrive, I'd always recommend that ideally you'd arrive early enough to earn your personal allowance before the end of the tax year. E.g. if your personal allowance is £11,000 and your job in the UK will pay £44,000/yr, then starting work in the first week in January would be the most tax efficient time to arrive and start working as the £11,000 you'll earn will effectively be tax free.

Many thanks for that. What if my husband is not going to take up a job in the Uk straight away? Would the 6th April be a better entry date?

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/...year-treatment

This split year treatment is what applied to us when we arrived mid-year from the USA after many years away.

Hi Julie3cald,

Please be advised that the area of Residence is complex.

Tax legislation is ever-changing and HMRC's literature on this is in excess of 100 pages so it is very important that it is handled correctly. ​​​​

Once classed as UK resident under the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) foreign income is taxable in the UK so if your husband is UK resident when he receives his final salary it will be taxable in the UK.

Hello, I arrived in the UK on Feb 25 th. My plan is to spend 6 months months here and see if I would like to stay. I haven’t completed my transfer of residency yet from Canada.
I went to Nationwide today as I have had a savings account with them for many years. I don’t think I can get a current account at the moment as I am not a resident. I am not sure at the bank though if they class a resident as someone who is just living here or someone who has changed their tax residency from e.g. Canada to England.
I think I will have a hard time renting without a UK bank account. I do have a British passport and British pension. Thanks Diane

I don't believe there is any prohibition on non-residents having current accounts at banks in the UK. Banks are primarily interested in knowing who their customer is, and how they are going to use their account(s), and if you already have a Nationwide savings account I can't imagine that they would refuse to open a current account for you. In fact I would go so far as to say I would be shocked if they declined your request!*

I would start by just phoning their customer service line as I think this may be something that can be handled entirely over the phone, and by mail, for a long-established customer in good standing.

* Unless they discovered you are resident in the US, as US tax regulations can cause particular problems for non-US banks, and some banks will not operate accounts for residents of the US, or even, I hear, in some cases, for US citizens, as all US citizens still typically have to complete a US tax return even if not resident in the US.

Not sure what you mean by 'completed my transfer of residency'? If you mean the TOR form, that's only with regard to transferring your goods, your actual residency is determined by other things. Where are you living if not in rented? You should be able to open a current account anyway.