Tax credits and going abroad

Angela_1976

Both myself and my husband have been made redundant in the last six months and we are at our wits end.

I have been offered a job for a UK company on a 12 month contract which can be done remotely and takes about 25 hours per week, I will only be required to go into the office every six weeks.

My husband has had no joy in getting further employment so has decided to do a course of study via distance learning. He has family in Morocco and a family property where he can live rent free also the cost of living is small compared to the UK.

If I were to accept this job and go to Morocco with my husband and our son whilst working remotely would I still be able to claim tax credits.

We still have a UK home, I would still be paying tax on my UK earnings and we would be returning every 6 weeks to the Uk for approximately a week at a time. We still class the UK as our home and this is not a long term arrangement purely to help us get through the recession as painlessly as possible.
I think that it may be possible to claim tax credits

On their website it states the following for you to be classed as Ordinarily resident:-


Ordinarily resident in the UK

To qualify for tax credits, you must be 'ordinarily resident' in the UK. This means you normally live in the UK, and have chosen to stay and settle here for the time being. When the Tax Credit Office decides if you're ordinarily resident in the UK they'll look at:

• where your settled home is Answer UK
• where your close family live Answer UK
• how long you've lived in the UK All our lives
• why you came to the UK Born there
• if you plan to leave the UK for good in the next two or three years Plan for the UK to remain our home

You are also allowed to claim Tax credits if you are out of the country for up to 8 weeks. I would not be out of the country for longer than six and during this time and I would be working for a UK company and paying my taxes. Every six weeks I would be returning to the Uk and reporting to the office for a week, then flying out of the country for a further 6 weeks.

I would ask the Tax credit people but I have been trying to get through for a month with no joy - no matter what time I call!

I know that if you work on oil rigs or out at sea as long as you are not away from the Uk for longer than 8 weeks at any one time then you can still get tax credits. See scenarios below:-

Seafarers and offshore workers

If you're a seafarer or an offshore worker you'll be able to keep on claiming tax credits if you're outside the UK. But each period that you work outside the UK must be eight weeks or less.
You'll be treated as being in the UK as long as you're inside the UK's territorial waters - 12 miles out from the low water mark. If you're working outside this limit you can only be away from home for up to eight weeks at a time before your tax credit award ends.
Example 2

Ahmed works on a fishing boat that's always outside UK waters. He works four weeks on, four weeks off. Because his working periods outside the UK are less than eight weeks, he can keep on claiming tax credits.
Example 3

John and Andrea are married so must make a joint tax credits claim. John works on an oil rig that's based outside UK waters. He works for periods of ten weeks before returning home. John and Andrea can claim tax credits jointly for the first eight weeks, and then Andrea must make a single claim until John returns home. They must then make a new joint claim for tax credits.


Obviously I would be UK employed and still paying my tax,NI etc.

Any help much appreciated.

kb92830

Angela,

I have just been through a similar situation. I had a joint tax credit claim with my GF but have now moved to Switzerland to work. The difference for me was I am no longer a resident of the UK as the swiss insist you become a swiss resident for tax purposes, therefore I had to cancel the claim in the UK and my GF now claims as a single.

For you, you will still be a UK tax payer and as long as you do not exceed the 8 week out of the country rule you will still be deemed as resident and can therefore claim. If you do breach 8 weeks away you have to cancel you claim and start again. If you have a joint claim your OH will have to come off it if he is not planning to return every 8 weeks.