Returning to UK from abroad: eBay tax advice

moonsongs

Hi, I'm a UK citizen who has been living abroad for several years. During this time I have set up a business selling on eBay UK. In a couple of days I'm moving back to the UK permanently and need to start paying UK tax on my profits to HMRC.

- Is there a form I need to fill in to prove that I have been living abroad and have returned to the UK?

- How do I notify HMRC that I need to start paying tax? By letter? What to include?

- Will they ask me about tax I've paid on profits from this business while living abroad?

- I run my business with a friend, and all profits are split 50/50. Can I simply register as self-employed, do a self-assessment tax return, and pay my friend 50% of profit after tax? Or does he have to somehow register too?

Profit is £100-£150 per week, split between two people, so £50-£75 each.

Your help is greatly appreciated, as I'm new to this!

antrobus

Where's the business based, and where does the friend live?

moonsongs

My friend and I will both be living in the UK, and the business will be based in the UK.

antrobus

moonsongs wrote: »

My friend and I will both be living in the UK, and the business will be based in the UK.

Mmm. The reason I asked the questions initially was that you are running this business "with a friend, and all profits are split 50/50" which sounds to me like a partnership. So if this business already exists, and is based in the UK, HMRC should already know that a) the business exists and b) that you are a partner in that business, because they'll have received the SA800 partnership return.

According to this document - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/self_assess.htm- "If you are a non-resident partner of a UK partnership, you will be liable to UK tax on your share of the partnership profit."

So you might have a problem.

Cook_County

Presumably you are both already registered as a partnership, paying Class 2 NIC and UK tax and claiming DTR in the country you currently live?

antrobus

Cook_County wrote: »

Presumably you are both already registered as a partnership, paying Class 2 NIC and UK tax and claiming DTR in the country you currently live?

I suspect that the answer to that question might well be 'no'.

As I said above. I think the OP might have a problem. I don't know for certain. The saving grace might be that since profits are in the region of £100-150 per week, or £5,000 to £7,500 per annum between the two of them, there might not be any UK tax or NI liability. (Depending on what other things they've been up to as well, of course.) So it might not be a very big problem.

moonsongs

Cook_County and antrobus, thanks very much for your informative replies. I think the next step is to talk to an accountant/tax advisor to work out the best solution.