I am a British citizen now retired in Thailand. No family in the UK and no plans to return to the UK.

I have savings and investments mainly in the UK and some in Thailand.

 

I think I will automatically become non UK resident for tax purposes but still UK tax assessed on interest and gain earned from UK savings and investments.

I am 72 years old, my main thoughts are to mainly avoid any future UK inheritance tax.

 

A friend briefly spoke about transferring money to Singapore. My thoughts are to do this. I want to look after my long term Thai girlfriend, I already have a UK Will and a Thai Will.

 

So I believe all I need to do is transfer money from the UK to a Singapore bank or investment company probably via Wise.

Then a bit later make a Singapore Will. Job done.

 

Any thoughts and other suggestions / recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Keith

The numbers involved would be useful to enable sensible suggestions to be made

@hotandsticky When I have money from my UK house which is at the moment sold subject to contract total will be about £1 Million. 

I intend to spend some in Thailand but I really do not like the thought of later the UK government taking 40% inheritance tax.

1 minute ago, Keith5588 said:

@hotandsticky When I have money from my UK house which is at the moment sold subject to contract total will be about £1 Million. 

I intend to spend some in Thailand but I really do not like the thought of later the UK government taking 40% inheritance tax.

Who will be inheriting your assets?

 

You can make gifts to them (within limits) to reduce the final tax burden.

 

Or set up an off shore pension fund?

 

Foreign bank accounts where you are non resident can be costly.

 

And if there's nobody to give your money to when you go .... make a will that gives it to registered charities.

 

Or spend it all on women, wine and fast cars.

Transferring my UK dosh to my two sons, who work and live in Dubai, monthly.

Opened a Joint account here with my Mrs so it is already partly hers....I keep the Card & PIN!

This is all very complex and I don't claim to be a tax lawyer. But...

 

The crucial point is to make gifts at least 7 years before you die so that there is no retrospective inheritance tax on them. Since we don't know when we will die, the sooner the gift is made the better.

 

Whether you are taxed worldwide depends on how long you were in the UK and how long you have been out of the UK. If you were in the UK for at least 10 of the last 20 years then you will be hit by worldwide liability.

In reply to some of the questions.

I have no children or immediate family, all my assets I intend to leave to my Thai gf and her 2 sons.

We have been living in Thailand together for the past 8 years, I fully trust her.

 

So far I have been renting a house in Thailand but I will soon start to consider buying a house, it will be a way of giving a gift to my gf but I will have a Usufruct contract drawn up. 

 

Concerning pea pension fund, I very recently cashed in my pension funds to buy an annuity for myself, so I have that income until I die.

 

I am lucky in that I am still healthy, I do not take any medication. My plan is to live a lot more than another 7 years 🙂

 

@Kinnock Why do you state that "Foreign bank accounts where you are non resident can be costly". Are the fee's higher?

 

I want to consider giving to some charities in the near future before I die.

 

@Gaccha  I lved in Thailand for nearly 8 years before recently going to the UK. Now I am back in Thailand. So in about 2 or 3 years from now I would have been outside of the UK for over 10 years, so no problem there. Thanks for the information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

@hotandsticky When I have money from my UK house which is at the moment sold subject to contract total will be about £1 Million. 

I intend to spend some in Thailand but I really do not like the thought of later the UK government taking 40% inheritance tax.

 

 

Get married and spend £350,000 or so

Renounce the inheritance 

3 hours ago, Kinnock said:

 

 

Or spend it all on women, wine and fast cars.

I spent it on wine , women and  song - the rest I wasted !

George Best RIP 

4 hours ago, Keith5588 said:

I intend to spend some in Thailand but I really do not like the thought of later the UK government taking 40% inheritance tax.

Have a read of this as it outlines the changes to domicile referred to by a couple of posters above and clarifies rules on residency.

https://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/article/scope-inheritance-tax-new-residence-based-system

 

You will still have the £325k nil rate allowance (under current rules.........)so could leave some assets in the UK if you wanted and still not potentially be liable for any IHT on those.