Tax News & Insights

Some of the most confusing and complex areas for any UK expat to decipher are their tax obligations, in both their new home country, and their country of origin. Should you be paying tax on foreign income? Is there any kind of foreign residence tax exemption? How can I get a residence tax definition? It’s a labyrinthine subject, and one that merits the help of a financial professional, but it’s good to be forearmed with a basic grasp of the subject before you do so. If you are liable to pay UK tax you will be expected to file a tax return, failure to do so or not doing so in good time, can result in penalties and even interest payments on monies owed.

Expat financial planning clients should be aware that HM Revenue & Customs have increased powers to ensure full disclosure of financial information in order to assess tax liability.

This follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal in London* in which the Court upheld the right of HMRC to demand compliance from a UK-connected individual living in Dubai.

The case clearly indicates that UK-interested parties with cross-border financial interests must consider their UK tax liabilities as part of their wider expat financial plans.

As reported in our Big Deal blog, the UK and Spain have a tax treaty agreement for Gibraltar and Spain. This 2019 treaty is designed to clarify a number of important issues, including the long-standing, contentious issues of tax disputes and tax residency.

Furthermore, the Treaty resolves the issue of Gibraltar's ongoing consistency with EU law following Brexit as the British Overseas Territory has elected to retain legislation equivalent to EU law on all matters related to financial transparency, taxation, administration and Anti-Money Laundering.

Expat financial advice is a must for any British expat living in Portugal, Spain or Italy to ensure they meet their cross-border taxation obligations while also making the most of the financial growth and preservation opportunities available to them.

However, there is no off-the-shelf recipe for success in this regard. Instead, expat financial advisers need to take full account of every client's individual circumstances before recommending any product or strategy.

Furthermore, the parameters affecting expat investors are subject to jurisdictional differences and change, so it is not only essential that expat financial advisers stay abreast of their clients' changing needs and circumstances but also the changing legal and regulatory environment in which their investments operate.

The structure of your wealth and your tax affairs should always depend on the particular laws and regulations of where you reside in the world as well as the nature of your long-term goals. The expat financial services market has evolved in order to help cater to these considerations and in some cases this includes helping ensure clients meet the demands of wealth tax.

The notion of wealth tax is an easy one to understand – a tax levied on personal capital above a certain threshold or thresholds – but it is by no means universally embraced as economic good sense, not least because it often may serve only to keep high net worth individuals from emigrating to a high wealth tax jurisdiction.

By now you are probably really fed up hearing about Brexit!  Yet, it's important that you are prepared financially; not just for a Deal or NO Deal Brexit, but also by being ready to meet the Spanish requirements for living in the country. 

You will have, no doubt, heard lots of horror stories about what Brexit means either way for UK expats and I do not intend to go into that here. Having said that, please read on, as I explain some fundamental issues that may need your attention sooner, rather than later.