Living abroad several months of the year questions

matluz

Hi,
I am sorry if this is not the right section to post in but I cannot find a better place to ask these questions.
I am planning on volunteering in Asia for several months a year but I have heard this could affect my tax position and benefits. I am almost 50 and would like to stop working full time next year and then work part time to pay bills and fund a trip abroad each year to help refugees.
I have heard that I could work for some time each year then claim back the tax which would pay towards my trips. Can anyone give me any advice with how to do this please? Also heard that I may only be able to spend 3 months out of the country without problems?

Thank you
Mat:j

agrinnall

Whether you are in the UK for the whole year or not is irrelevant to whether you can reclaim any tax that you've paid. But what you may find is that if you only earn for part of the year you may be paying tax at a rate that is correct for the time you're earning but is not correct for the year as a whole.

For example, say that you earn £1000 a month and work for 6 months from April - September. In each of those months you would pay tax of £33.33, or £200 in total. However, by the following April your annual earnings will only be £6000, which is below your personal allowance of £10000. So you would be able to reclaim the £200 you'd paid in tax by filling in form P50.

https://www.gov.uk/claim-tax-refund/youve-stopped-work

lea2012

I've done seasonal work abroad before and spent around 7-8 months of the year working away, then came back for a few months over winter and worked in the UK.

Over the year my salary wasn't over the 10k personal allowance, and if I ever paid any tax I did get it back but it was a limited amount. This wasn't a problem at the time as I was young with no financial commitments such as rent etc.

However a couple of years later I'd settled back in the UK and working full time. I was working in education and only got paid during term time, in summer I got just over two months off but when I enquired about job seekers allowance I wasn't entitled to anything they said as I hadn't paid enough in during the years I was away. This is about 8-9 years ago now so things may have changed and you might not find it a problem but it is something that I would look into a bit more.

Also worth considering that for the most part, when you are in the UK, the jobs you can get will be lower paid jobs. It's unlikely that an employer will want to give a highly skilled well paid job to someone who is only going to be staying for a couple of months. You might manage the first year but after a couple of years it will reflect on your CV that you don't stay for long. Will the lower paid jobs pay you enough to fund the trips? (unless of course you have skills that can be used for well paid freelance work inc which case forget the above!)

martindow

National Insurance might be an issue if you have gaps in your contributions while you're away.

threellamas

Dont know if this is relevant - But we have a friend who lives abroad alot of the year. His only income is rental income from a house, and as long as he is out of the country for 6+months a year he doesnt pay tax on that income. I dont know if it is the same for working income - cant see how it would be because then wouldnt everyone just work for part of the year and live abroad on the tax claimed back.

matluz

I have read all of the above posts and they have given me some insight. I will follow up now and write to the relevant people to get more information.
Thanks
Mat