Help to Buy ISA

JackieEdwards

I'm looking for advice for my daughter, who is employed by the UN as an aid worker in Africa. She moves quite a bit, and her only official address is our address in the UK, where she stays when she's on rest breaks. She is paid in USD but as she has little opportunity to spend, changes her income into GBP and saves most of it in UK bank accounts. She does not pay tax as she is only in the UK for a few weeks each year. As she hopes eventually to return and buy a property in the UK, she would like to set up a Help to Buy ISA, but we have read in the small print on these that she should "be resident in the UK for tax purposes or, if not a resident, either perform duties which, by virtue of Section 28 of Income Tax (Earnings & Pensions) Act 2003 (Crown employees serving overseas), are treated as being performed in the UK, or you must be married to, or in a civil partnership with, a person who performs such duties". To complicate matters further, she is married to an Egyptian. As the UN is not a UK organisation, I assume she is not classified as a "Crown employee"; we are not sure where she fits in this requirement. Can anyone advise? Thanks!

Malthusian

You are correct, the UN is not the Crown.

From the sound of it she is not UK resident either.

You’re automatically non-resident if either:
you spent fewer than 16 days in the UK (or 46 days if you have not been classed as UK resident for the 3 previous tax years)

you work abroad full-time (averaging at least 35 hours a week) and spent fewer than 91 days in the UK, of which no more than 30 were spent working

She is therefore not eligible and will have to save without the bonus.