Danoz

How did people go about this? I have been offered as part of our move for PWC to do my UK tax return for this year. We have now been out of the UK since late December 2013, and when I ask PWC when they are going to file my P85 and tax return, they indicate they will not do this until June/July time. Is it correct you have to wait for the end of tax year to file for a refund if you are permanently leaving the UK? I was under the impression you could do as soon as you left.

MsElui

I'd also like to know if there is any limitation on this ie we left in 2007 am I too late?

civilservant

Nope you can file when you leave the country, I left I August, sent the form the day before on left and received my refund by direct deposit in late September.

Danoz

I believe you have up to 6 years to file when leaving. Don't quote me though, but I recall reading that somewhere.

Danoz

This is what I thought as well. Ok thanks. PWC just being lazy.

Cook_County

Why don't you use a different (and presumably cheaper) accountant?

Danoz

Was part of relocation package. So its not costing me anything other than waiting.

Cook_County

So...why not do it yourself then?

Danoz

That is part of what I am figuring out. Was there a reason PWC indicated it would take so long, or not... from the few replies here, appears there is no reason, so I can now look into other options, challenge them to speed it up or wait.

rpjs

Yes, you have plenty of time to file the P-85. We didn't do ours until the summer after we arrived (in January) and the refunds came through in a couple of months. HMRC realised that OH had been wrongly coded and had overpaid tax for several years previously and she got a series of quite fat cheques from Her Majesty as a result.

FatFrank

Just FYI; I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there with both good and bad tax experiences from all these large companies. If I recall correctly my own experience with PWC was always very positive for the 3 years or so that they helped me.
They covered my initial relocation to the US and they always seemed to know all the nuances and find money owed to me every year between my US and UK returns without me even asking. That seemed to change almost immediately when my tax assistance was changed to Deloitte as part of my revised relocation package. I was never too impressed with the understanding of the UK/US tax systems that the tax preparer assigned to me had. Specifically, I had a couple of years where they'd said I owed absolutely harrowing amounts of cash - some, but by no means all, of which I was able to find offsets for myself between the two countries - and as you may know, I am a complete novice at such things.

Probably just all down to the individual tax preparer assigned rather than the company, but it just shows the bandwidth of support available. Overall some of the best most informative advice that I have had/read has been from this forum.

Orangepants

I was advised to wait until the end of the UK tax year as HMRC want to ensure that you don't come back and work again before April - how do they know your move is permanent? is the answer I received.
I didn't wait as I wanted to close things off - sent P85 in July and got the refund in my bank account in Jan.

Danoz

Thanks for that. Nice to hear that you were happy with PWC assistance.

Zez

We filed, but HMRC wrote back saying to wait to file our taxes after April 14. Boo

Steyner2011

I have had some difficulties, left the UK in Nov 2013. Completed the necessary paperwork a week before I left, HMRC 'misplaced' P45' then found it, then said there was a post backlog. A refund is supposed to be dealt with and paid within 5-6 weeks of submitting your forms. It's now February, I was promised 10 working days ago that 2x tax refunds were going to be paid into my accountant by deposit. Still waiting........ I will have to call them again later and see what the hold up is this time.........