UK Tax

[yosib157]

Maybe wrong forum but I wanted to reach as many members as possible.

 

Brit ex-pat not returned there for nearly 20 years and have no intention of going again.

I receive two Government pensions per month so unavoidably the tax office (Customs etc) hit me every month.

I last spoke with them 15 years ago trying to go ''tax free'' and their answer was simply ''UK Sourced Money'' will be taxed.

 

Since then no appeal submitted as such only annual cock-ups by them overcharging, rebating, charging again -- no apologies and no further comments about an appeal.

 

So, my question is, do any other Brits have the same situation and/or found a way to decrease their tax commitments. 

 

Obviously I can only give further info by pm but look forward to receiving any comments which could help others in a similar situation.

[billd766]

I get the UK state pension, a military pension and a company pension.

 

The first two are obviously UK sourced and the company pension I queried as I spent 70% of my time offshore .

 

HMRC stated that even though I was working offshore, the company was UK based, paying my salary, expenses etc so they deemed that my company pension was also UK based and TBH I couldn't dispute this so I pay income tax on the military and company pensions.

 

Even if I could convince them that I ought to be paying tax here in Thailand all they would do is take the Thai tax that I pay and subtract that from the normal tax I pay and bill me for the difference, so in effect I would be no worse of and certainly no better off.

 

At least HMRC only taxes us on UK sourced income. The USA taxes their people on whatever money they earn worldwide.

 

Sadly like most of us you are stuck with it.

[yosib157]

2 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I get the UK state pension, a military pension and a company pension.

 

The first two are obviously UK sourced and the company pension I queried as I spent 70% of my time offshore .

 

HMRC stated that even though I was working offshore, the company was UK based, paying my salary, expenses etc so they deemed that my company pension was also UK based and TBH I couldn't dispute this so I pay income tax on the military and company pensions.

 

Even if I could convince them that I ought to be paying tax here in Thailand all they would do is take the Thai tax that I pay and subtract that from the normal tax I pay and bill me for the difference, so in effect I would be no worse of and certainly no better off.

 

At least HMRC only taxes us on UK sourced income. The USA taxes their people on whatever money they earn worldwide.

 

Sadly like most of us you are stuck with it.

Thanks 766. My situation similar to yours (without the private one) so I won't even bother writing to them.

Sticks in the throat all the same .......

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, yosib157 said:

So, my question is, do any other Brits have the same situation and/or found a way to decrease their tax commitments. 

Not much hope of achieving this, I'm afraid.

 

Take a read of the following recent thread:-

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1047340-is-retirement-income-subject-to-income-tax/

[KittenKong]

I dont really see what is unreasonable about the UK taxing income that arises in the UK. Most countries do this. In fact I suspect that they all do.

[rak sa_ngop]

If you have UK dividend income you can elect to forgo the tax allowance and pay full tax on your pensions (State pension excluded) and not pay any tax (currently 7.5 pc) on your dividend income. This is called 'disregarded income'. This obviously only works if your dividend income is large and your UK pension income is small.

 

Check the government websites or consult a UK tax expert.