Moving abroad - UK TAX confusion

olly300

Pinedita wrote: »

I would be really grateful for any advice here. I left the UK May last year with my husband and son. I didn´t complete any P85 form......stupidly didn´t realise I had to do that. We have rented out out house in the UK however as far as I am aware we are below the threshold for having to pay any UK taxes on it.
Thing is, my UK bank accounts are still open and have only just recently noticed that the child benefit and family part of the tax credit has still been getting paid into my account, even though we never renewed our claim last year as we moved away. We live in Ecuador.
My parents have recently sent me a load of old mail, and in it there is a Self Assessment form which I have to fill in on-line by January. If I fill this form in, will I have to pay back the full overpaid amount in one payment?...Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do? I know I should have been more organised at the time........

Thanks

You need to get in touch with the government departments promto and pay them back.

You also need to fill in the self-assessment tax return as they will start fining you.

If you claim money or get money you aren't entitled to then you shouldn't have spent it as you need to be able to pay it back if asked.

While you have moved aboard there is always the possibility that you will come back to the UK so you shouldn't muck around with government departments.

Desert_Rose_2

Pinedita wrote: »

I would be really grateful for any advice here. I left the UK May last year with my husband and son. I didn´t complete any P85 form......stupidly didn´t realise I had to do that. We have rented out out house in the UK however as far as I am aware we are below the threshold for having to pay any UK taxes on it.
Thing is, my UK bank accounts are still open and have only just recently noticed that the child benefit and family part of the tax credit has still been getting paid into my account, even though we never renewed our claim last year as we moved away. We live in Ecuador.
My parents have recently sent me a load of old mail, and in it there is a Self Assessment form which I have to fill in on-line by January. If I fill this form in, will I have to pay back the full overpaid amount in one payment?...Can anyone give me some advice on what I should do? I know I should have been more organised at the time........

Thanks

Hi there,
Thought i would offer some advice.
I left UK in Sept 07, and fully looked into the tax issues before leaving. I reside in a tax free country and wondered if i would be stung for uk tax on my earnings..
I also left with a rented out 3 bed house in the north west.

Firstly i filled out a P85, this not only tells them you are out of the country but you will receive a small rebate on tax you have paid up to the date of departure. Basically tax on your earnings are calculated based on you staying a whole year AFAIK...leaving part year meant i got a chunk back. Leaving in May i suspect you will only get a small overpayment rebate given the tax year starts in April...Non the less, it is important to tell all government departments what your doing, not least because when you come back you might get stung for emergency tax..(significantly higher rate until sorted out). although i note the guy that went to Germany had no probs.

On the child benefit thing, you must get that sorted. If you now start going through the motions of telling them you are abroad the dates will start becoming apparent and they will find out...so best to be up front...maybe write to them...details are on the net. on the last page there is an invoice but i cant remember if you have to pay all at once or in installments...if its in your account and you forgot about it, it shouldnt be an issue just to pay it back...

Next NI. I contacted them to pay voluntary contributions. its only a few quid a week, but keeping up your stamp entitles you to claim state pension on retirement. Also if you go back you have no gaps should you require benefits of any kind (the gap years can stand against you and believe me they will use it). Note though, that it is nothing to do with NHS and as a non resident you are not automatically entitled to free NHS....before anyone shouts at me, yes, there are ways around it, but properly registering non resident means nope, your not (i recently researched it for my xmas trip home)....

If you have a house rented in the UK you will have to fill in self assessment (its classed as an income within the UK) and my best advice is do it online...the only pain is the registering waiting for snail mail to bring password but thats the easiest way and it is really easy!...Yes, with a joint ownership, technically you will be below the threshold for individual earnings unless you have a place the size of Buck house and have a massive rental income, but you still have to declare it...

did you have a management agent that got you to send back a non resident landlord form? so you get your rent tax free (after thier management fee of course)....this would have highlighted your tax status and why you are probably getting self assessment requests if you never had it before.....
also keep your bank statements as you can offset the summary of tax paid on the self assessment too.
I have all my UK accounts savings and current and do send money home but the rate of income on my savings sent is low (interest rates are low) so its fine. dont ignore the self assessment it wont go away, especially if they are sending stuff to your parents address.
:beer:

Confused_Expat

I have a follow up question - if i've sent money back to the UK from abroad to pay mortgage, bills and some savings do I have to declare it as income in the UK?

System

Confused_Expat wrote: »

I have a follow up question - if i've sent money back to the UK from abroad to pay mortgage, bills and some savings do I have to declare it as income in the UK?

No. The mortgage interest is an expense you can set against your rental income on your tax return. Similarly management company fees for the rental property can be set against the rental income too as can landlord insurance.
This is the UK property page on a tax return - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/sa105.pdf

you can the various categories of expenses which can be set against rental income.

Only the interest made on savings is classed as taxable income unless the capital is in an ISA in which case it is tax free.

Cook_County

Confused_Expat wrote: »

I have a follow up question - if i've sent money back to the UK from abroad to pay mortgage, bills and some savings do I have to declare it as income in the UK?

It may still be taxable in the country where you live as most countries tax residents in worldwide income and gains.