Child Investment Plan / General Money Advice

DFWATTS

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice/criticism/comments regarding my current financial situation. 
A little background firstly, and all financials given are in GBP...

I'm an expat right now residing in Singapore, soon to be moving to Switzerland (this summer), and with my wife (both 45) we currently have the following:-

UK House - Rented out.  Bringing in around 17k per year.  Value around 420,000, no mortgage.
Pensions - We both have decent amounts in our work based pensions in the UK, albeit we've not paid into them since moving to Singapore 3.5 years ago (I have around 280k, she has around 230k)
Premium Bonds - Both hold the max 50k
Cash - I have about 220,000 by the time we leave Singapore in the summer, and my wife has a similar amount
Child Investment Plans - We began saving with F&C when the kids were both back in 2011/2014, initially at 100 per month, but then upping it to 200 per month some years ago.  As things stand today, one pot sits with about 28k, and the other 22k, but both are in my name. I declared the dividends within my self-assessment each year, but to be honest I'm not 100% sure if I'm registered as the beneficial owner of the investment or the kids.  Yes, I know I should know, but I don't, but I will comment that I can't see the names of the kids anywhere on the documents I receive (statements, dividend tax certificate, etc., hence why I've declared the dividends under my own return.

Overall, not a bad place to be I would say, but I'm conscious there are some holes here and there which I'd appreciate your thoughts on.  Questions I have are as follows:-

1. I assume most people think it wise to keep the UK property rented out versus selling it and investing that money elsewhere? 
2. Pensions - I will join the company pension in Switzerland when I'm there, so the UK pensions will continue to remain dormant (i.e. no money being added).  Does it make sense to continue adding funds?
3. Cash - What to do with it?  I've held some fixed deposits here in Singapore for 3/6 month periods, which have paid decent levels of interest (4%), but now I'm moving I wanted to have the cash handy for expenses such as school fees etc.  So, when we have finally moved to Switzerland, what should I do with this?  Most will remain in Singapore Dollars (SGD) until I decide.
4. CIP - This is where I get really confused. So, I declare the dividends right now, as mentioned before, but if I want to cash in these plans and then invest the money elsewhere for the kids (into their own Premium Bond accounts, for example, as it's tax free) would I have to pay capital gains tax?  How would I even know what this is??  The holding company - now Columbia Threadneedle as opposed to F&C) buy shares every month with the money we invest, so how would we know how much profit has been made? 
Sorry for my ignorance on this, but it's always been a bit a grey area for me....
5. Any other advice? 

Last time I posted (some years back), I got some great feedback - both positive and negative - which all helped, so here's hoping for the same.
Any questions anybody has then please shoot and I'll be more than happy to answer.

Thanks in advance.
D

poseidon1

Although you are submitting UK tax return and reporting UK source income, you are non resident for capital gains tax purposes other than on disposals of UK residential property - see below

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/what-you-pay-it-on#:~:text=You have to pay tax,within 5 years of leaving

Therefore sales of the unit trust holdings are UK CGT free. I also assume Singapore does not impose worldwide CGT on its resident ex pats, so presumably no liabilty or reporting requirements for that jurisdiction.

I will leave others to expound on ideas for cash resources, although if paying future school fees in Switzerland, may not be a bad thing to keep an eye on exchange rates in the coming months and occasionally buy lumps of swiss francs ( for spending there) when  favourable opportunities present. A Wise account would work for this, if you don't have one.

By the way, any future queries on tax and compliance matters as an ex pat, better addressed to the Cutting Tax forum, where there a few more contributors with a bit of a knowledge base.

xylophone

Child Investment Plans - We began saving with F&C when the kids were both back in 2011/2014, initially at 100 per month, but then upping it to 200 per month some years ago.  As things stand today, one pot sits with about 28k, and the other 22k, but both are in my name. I declared the dividends within my self-assessment each year, but to be honest I'm not 100% sure if I'm registered as the beneficial owner of the investment or the kids.  Yes, I know I should know, but I don't, but I will comment that I can't see the names of the kids anywhere on the documents I receive (statements, dividend tax certificate, etc., hence why I've declared the dividends under my own return.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78755137/#Comment_78755137

DFWATTS

Hi Poseidon1, 

Thanks for this info, good to know!  It's not that I've paid a fortune in CGT since I departed the UK as I sold some share (around GBP 200), but in reality I didn't need to pay.
In this instance, do you simply not report the CGT in your self-assessment, do you know?

Hi xylophone,

Thanks!  As I get older, I become more forgetful, but good to see I'm still confused about the same problem years later....;-)

poseidon1

DFWATTS said:

Hi Poseidon1, 

Thanks for this info, good to know!  It's not that I've paid a fortune in CGT since I departed the UK as I sold some share (around GBP 200), but in reality I didn't need to pay.
In this instance, do you simply not report the CGT in your self-assessment, do you know?

Hi xylophone,

Thanks!  As I get older, I become more forgetful, but good to see I'm still confused about the same problem years later....;-)

If your past completion of the CGT supplemental SA108 was solely for sales of the unit trusts, then you simply stop submitting it.

Technically speaking if the £200 unnecessary CGT you did pay was within the last 4 tax years, you could seek a repayment by perhaps claiming an offset against the non resident landlord income tax you are paying each year on the UK rents.