Paying off Mortage by working in Saudi

mtx512

I have been offered a contract (1 yr+) to work in Saudi Arabia for a large IT consultancy. I estimate I could probably save 40-50K (tax free) a year however I'm undecided due to the life style restrictions of living in saudi and the move from family & friends. However it would help me reach my goal of clearing my 150K mortgage and the phrase "short term sacrifice long term gain" does appeal to me.

Your comments would be appreciated!

Guinea_2

mtx512 wrote:

I have been offered a contract (1 yr+) to work in Saudi Arabia for a large IT consultancy. I estimate I could probably save 40-50K (tax free) a year however I'm undecided due to the life style restrictions of living in saudi and the move from family & friends. However it would help me reach my goal of clearing my 150K mortgage and the phrase "short term sacrifice long term gain" does appeal to me.

Your comments would be appreciated!

Well I think you're right. It's only for a year anyway and if you want to pay off your mortgage and you've been given this chance for a year...I would go for it! Good luck with deciding what to do!:T

Quackers

It sounds like a fantastic opportunity to me.

You've already said it yourself 'short term sacrifice = long term gain'.

You never know - you may enjoy it so much you extend your contract!!

I've got someone who is working for me at the moment. She is just waiting for her partner to finish his masters and they then plan to go out there for a few years just to save some money for their future in the uk.

Good luck with whatever you decide

Batgirl

I say go for it, my husband and I lived in germany ( i know not the same as Saudi) for 2.5years and I must say it has had no affect on our friendships or family relationships, if anything friendships have become stronger because you get to know true strong friendships as to who stays in touch. Good luck with you decision and let us know what you decide.

moggins

Go for it, especially if you are male and single? DH went out there to play at the British Embassy last year and he loved every minute, luckily it was only for a weekend and he was highly shocked by the fact they had male and female entrances

A year will fly by and if you can really save and not squander the money then there is no good reason not to do it.

WHA

Just make sure that you get proper professional advice about the "tax free" status. If you are normally resident and domiciled in the UK, you pay UK tax on your worldwide income, unless you can satisfy all the criteria for being "non resident" for a complete tax year (6 April to 5 April). Some people get caught out because the "year" they are outside the UK straddles two different tax years, so they are not "non resident" in either tax year, resulting in all their worldwide income being taxed in the UK - ie. they don't benefit from tax free! This area is a potential minefield - it can, and does, work for lots of people, but you do need to know all the rules to avoid the pitfalls.

bootman

Can I ask is it a whole year tax year you have to be out of the country for, 365 days to not to pay UK tax?

plane_boy2000

Go for it. My father went to work in Iran in the 1970's and was getting a whopping £14K a year. He has never looked back, retired at 50, has 4 houses all paid for in full, and has a good lifestyle. If he had just stayed with the company that he did his aprentiship with he would still be working and would probably still have a mortgage.

gingerdad

i think its over 185 days ie 6 months in any tax year. go for it, the restrictions aren't all they seem. we spent 5 years in saudi in the 80's and you could aquire most things easly. my dad has recently gone out to Kuwait to work for 18months similar deal.... you should get some tickets home in that time as well or to take your partner out to you. my mum spends a couple of months a time were ever dad is in the world and then she spends some time in the uk and the rest in france.

GD

WHA

gingerdad wrote:

i think its over 185 days ie 6 months in any tax year.GD

It's far more complicated than that. It depends on your domicile, whether you are "resident" in the UK or not, whether you are "ordinarily resident" in the UK or not, and also your situation in the tax years before, during and after the period of working abroad. If you leave the UK permanently, or at least for a good few years, then you are probably OK with no UK tax, but if the Saudi posting is just temporary, doesn't include a full tax year, and perhaps you keep your UK home, and return say a year later, you may well find that you are fully taxable in the UK on all your earnings. You NEED to take professional advice before you commit to make sure that you will indeed be UK tax free. Many, many people have gone abroad to work and come back to face massive tax bills because they wrongly believed there was no UK tax liability. Get the timings right, and you are UK tax free, get it wrong, and you'll pay the price!

MissSunshine

WHA wrote:

Get the timings right, and you are UK tax free, get it wrong, and you'll pay the price!

This happened to a friend of ours, he did a year in Libya then returned to UK and because it was July-July he had to pay tax on what he earnt there :eek: Also as non-resident you can't be in the UK more than 93 days in a tax year, though this is averaged over whole years spent outside the UK.

OP dh works for a Saudi company, but we live in Bahrain and he has a multiple entry/exit visa which is paid for by his company along with the causeway fees as his office is in Khobar. Whereabouts would you be working?I've not been to Saudi, but dh regularly has to stay there and he says it's not that bad (compared with Libya). We also have lots of friends who used to live there and they rave about their time there.

Having been expat here for 5 years I'd say give it a go, you've got nothing to lose and it's a great experience, and you can always return to UK at anytime if it's not your cuppa as I'm doing in July :j