Expat tax question about returning to UK

$nake_eye$

Ill be returning to UK in January, from South East Asia. Working for the same UK company, however there will be a currency switch from local $ to GBP.

How will the tax period from Jan until April work? If I earn less than £10,600 in this time, will this be tax free?

Also, if i were to be paid in GBP from say August, would i then owe additional for this tax year? What would be the ideal scenario with regards to the currency switch?

HappyMJ

Your tax year is still April to April. Are you really going to be working for a company and earn less than £10,600 over a year?

You don't pay UK tax on foreign earnings if you're taxed in that country too. You need to know about double taxation treaties between the UK and the south east Asian countries you've been working in.

Sometimes for this scenario it's best to employ a tax accountant one who specializes in foreign earnings to complete your self assessment for you.

purdyoaten

HappyMJ wrote: »

Your tax year is still April to April. Are you really going to be working for a company and earn less than £10,600 over a year?

You don't pay UK tax on foreign earnings if you're taxed in that country too. You need to know about double taxation treaties between the UK and the south east Asian countries you've been working in.

Sometimes for this scenario it's best to employ a tax accountant one who specializes in foreign earnings to complete your self assessment for you.

To be fair the op did say £10600 for the period January to April.

It would be helpful if we knew just how long the op has been abroad?

$nake_eye$

I've been working in the Singapore office for 5 years

Spidernick

HappyMJ wrote: »

You don't pay UK tax on foreign earnings if you're taxed in that country too.

As a broad statement, this is wrong and misleading.

OP,

From what you have said you have been non-UK tax resident and will qualify for a 'split year' for 15/16 and only be taxable in the UK on your UK earnings, etc. from January 2016 (the only exception would probably be UK rental income, which would be taxable here for the full year).

You will get the full personal allowance for 15/16 (unless you are not entitled to it for any reason, i.e. due to the level of your taxable income or in certain circumstances where your domicile is outside the UK, both of which I would imagine are unlikely) which you can set against your taxable income in the UK for 15/16. If all you have is earnings under the personal allowance then, although it's not technically 'tax free', there won't be any UK tax due on it, as it's covered by the allowance. You may suffer tax under PAYE, but this could then be refunded via a Self Assessment tax return (as I think you'd need this to claim the split year treatment).