Becoming non-resident of UK?

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mattseh

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Apr 6, 2009
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Has anybody done this for tax purposes? Care to share any details?

All I've found in my brief research is this: HM Revenue & Customs: Income Tax when leaving the UK

It seems as long as most of the year is spent outside of the UK, up to around 90 days can be spent "visiting" (probably not a good idea to rent / own a property in the UK if doing this?)

Obviously I would talk to a professional before doing any of this.
 


Lucky Bastard. I can only spend 35 days a year in the States.
And even then I can only write off roughly my first $95k of income and still have to pay on what's over that.
 
I'm thinking of doing this, gonna check out dubai next month. Income tax is 0%.
 
Have done extensive research into this. Planning on doing it for a year or two from 2014. PM me for skype to discuss in more detail.
 
Will skype you next week warling when in UK.

It seems to me that if you are willing to spend less than 90 days in each place (on tourist visa / no visa) then you don't need to be resident anywhere? wany3, you know anything about this?
 
Sure thing Mattseh. Have sent you a PM with my username.

I'm sure you can spend less than 90days hopping from place to place and not be a resident in those places, but you most importantly need to prove to HMRC that you are no longer a resident of the UK. This is currently achieved through a number of very over-complicated factors. For example, to prove you are a non-resident of the UK you should cut all your ties to the UK which involves:

- Selling any property you have here
- Limiting visits to the UK to less than 90 per tax year, but ideally much much less
- Cancelling gym memberships/clubs/phone bills
- Submitting a form P85 upon leaving the UK to notify HMRC you're gone
- Do all these things for at least 1 FULL tax year

If you were to settle down and have kids or get married or obtain full-time employment in another country, whilst also ticking off the points above, HMRC would agree that you are non-resident.

If you still have property/gym memberships here and went traveling to different countries for a year, you almost definitely would still be UK resident. That's not enough.

There's even more to it but that's all I can be bothered to write for now. Hope that helps.
 
Matt, I thought you liked taxes and the welfare state.

I guess it's better to receive than to give though.
 
Do you really need to notify the HMRC that you have left (with the P85) if you don't have any money in the UK? I never got round to doing it but don't have any assets in the UK and it is easy to prove I'm away with a look at my passport.
 
I left the UK 3 years ago and went non-resident, just filled out the P85 and got a letter back fairly quickly saying something like "you are now considered non-resident for UK tax purposes".

I might have included a photocopy of the air ticket with the form, don't think so though, although I did use this to amicably cancel all contracts such as gym membership, TV license (refunded), mobile phone, broadband. I was expecting to have to pay these out, but once I mentioned I was leaving the UK indefinitely they said it was a justifiable cause to cancel it and did so without penalty. Actually virgin gym tried to tell me even after years, the contract auto renewed for 12 months and was not month by month - had to break that by saying they were in breach of the contract I originally signed as they had replaced some machines with alternative/functional models.

Of course property or a wife/child left behind would most probably complicate being "granted" non residency. I was self-employed before leaving, so to finalise some returns/refunds they owed me since leaving, gave my new Argentine address which is where they now send the letters, and have had them pay me into my UK bank account which I kept (along with credit cards). Have to do a return too for a UK partnership each year which hasn't caused any issues either (although tax is due on this as it is UK earnings). With a UK bank you can also fill some form if not uk tax payer to make sure the tax isn't applied to any interest payments.

My status in Argentina is still "tourist" (90 day visa entries). Unlike other stricter countries like Brazil that limit you to X months in a rolling 12 month period, most people just cross a border to reload the 90 days. Last time I left I was about 6 months over the 90 days and just had to pay a £50 fine before leaving Argentina. After 2 years of "living" in Argentina you are entitled to citizenship - they even accept as a means of "earning an honest living" as working "en negro" (not registered/paying tax). Haven't done it myself - its a plan B if the border hopping becomes non-feasible - not that this thread was anything to do with Argentina...
 
Make sure you do get proper advice on it. A friend of my cousin's ballsed it up, and has ended up never being able to come back to the UK again, unless he pays them £400,000 of unpaid taxes and fines which they assessed on him.
 
mattseh said:
It seems to me that if you are willing to spend less than 90 days in each place (on tourist visa / no visa) then you don't need to be resident anywhere? wany3, you know anything about this?
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Check the laws carefully. For example, Canadian law stipulates unless you can prove you're a tax resident of another country, you owe Canadian taxes. If you can prove you've paid taxes in another country, you're exempt from Canadian tax.

Just incorporate in one of the many countries that offer 0% corporate income tax. Pick a country you enjoy with a decent tax rate, setup residency, and pay tax on whatever you personally pull out. The rest sits in the corp at 0%.
 
mattseh said:
There's a whole world outside basements to explore :)
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I've traveled and lived overseas. I didn't do it on someone elses dime.

I do love your hypocrisy though. Take, take, take and when it's your turn to pay, run away. lol
 
Any reason for not off-shoring a limited company and living wherever you want? I know someone who moved to Ireland and then to the carribean for a year to avoid tax issues on a company buyout and was very happy to get back home.
 
bobby_custard said:
Any reason for not off-shoring a limited company and living wherever you want? I know someone who moved to Ireland and then to the carribean for a year to avoid tax issues on a company buyout and was very happy to get back home.
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Could you explain more please? Do you mean a corporation somewhere with 0% corp tax, then a low salary paid by that corporation, which income tax is paid on?
 
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