Working outside the UK

Lally

My husband has a new job in the Middle East and has been told that if he limits his days in the UK to no more than 90, he wont be taxed. is this correct?

I also wanted to ask, the countries he goes to in his time off (which is quite substantial), do they need to be non EU countries? Or could we meet up in say Spain?

Thanks

Nick_C_4

The number of days is something like that. When I worked abroad I didn't come back for more than a handlful of days, so I didn't worry about the exact number. And I don't think other countries matter, even in the EU - when you fill in that section of your tax return, they only care about being in the UK.

Even if your money is being paid into the UK, if the work you do to earn that money is done abroad, then you can apply for an NT tax code, and you aren't taxed on that income in this country. If you have other income here (e.g. bank interest, rental income, share dividends) then they are taxed here as normal. You need to be abroad for more than an entire tax year, though, and then the entire period you're away is untaxed here. E.g. if you leave in Feb 2006 and don't come back until June 2007, you can be NT the whole time. But if you leave Dec 2005 and come back Feb 2007, you're still taxed here all the time. Note you can still be taxed in the country the work is being done in, it depends on the tax regime there. HTH, but I would contact HMRC to be on the safe side.

grumbler

A lot of information here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/c9.htm ...

Lally

Thanks guys, I did look on the site but there was just so much stuff that I could not find what I was looking for.

I finally got to speak to someone this afternoon. Max of 90 days in the country, if he has more time off and is reaching that limit he can go to another country (EU is fine). Best to collect flight tickets and things as proof.

The situation would have been different had he been in the Uk to date and then gone abroad, but we have both been in America for 2 years so it is pretty straighforward.

Cook_County

Because you have been in America things are not straight forward.

The year that you leave you no longer qualify to file joint US tax returns. You may find that you can save a great deal of US taxes by either choosin g to be in the US on 31 December 2005 or electing to be treated as full-year US residents.

You should take advice from a US accountant familiar with non-resident aliens.

As far as UK tax is concerned it sounds as if you are already non-UK resident so providing you/your husband visits for less than 90 days per year you can remain non-UK resident.

gingerdad

Cook_County wrote:

As far as UK tax is concerned it sounds as if you are already non-UK resident so providing you/your husband visits for less than 90 days per year you can remain non-UK resident.

I thought you could be resident in the uk for upto 180 days per year and not be lilable for uk tax, i cerntly know a few people who work in the uk but live offshore and that is the limit they work to, unless things have changed.

Regards

GD

nlpnlp

You are looking at slightly different things. If you spend 183 days or more in the UK in any tax year you will be treated as resident. If you spend less than 183 days in any tax year in the UK you can still be treated as resident if you average 91 days per annum (excluding days of arrival and departure) over a 4 year period.

Cook_County

UK domestic law for temporary non-residents has recently become a lot stickier following a Special Commissioners decision this Summer.

Living in the US meant that the US/UK double tax treaty could be used to claim treaty residence in the US which may well trump UK domestic rules.

However...once in the Middle East tax treaties that cover residence are few and far between...

Lally

So, is this not as straightforward as the "tech" at Inland Revenue made out?