UK Declarations from abroad?

[farandaway]

This is my situation:

Have been out of the UK for all but 7 weeks since 2008.

From 5th April 2008 - 5th April 2013 I earnt literally nothing.

tax year 2013/14 - i earnt a little, much less than my personal allowence

tax year 2014/2015 - i have earnt almost the personal allowence

tax year 2015/2016 - predict that i will earn more than the personal allowence

all that i earn i make in short contracts outside of the UK, and have appropriate business visas for those contracts.

the money i earn is paid into a UK bank account.

i think i have reached the stage where it would be sensible to declare Non-Resident in the UK for tax purposes

(i believe i meet all criteria: am hardly ever in the country, no spouse or children in UK, don't own any property).

Can declaring non-resident for tax purposes be done from outside the UK?

When do i say I left? My most recent visit of 3 weeks ended Sept 2013.

Should i give that date as i haven't been back since then?

If i give that date, is it a probem that i have been paying money into ISA's since Sept 2013??

Also I am self-employed, but never decalred self-employed when i was in the UK as i wasn't making any money.

When i came abroad i didn't know for how long, or that i would start to have an income.

Can i now declare myself as self-employed from abroad??

I read this on another thread here: 'if non-resident for tax purposes and self-employed it is possible to pay 250 GBP per year for NI contributions'.

I am interested in doing this as i have no pension and only 14 years of NI contributions so far, so that is why i would be keen to declare self-employed.

Thanks to anyone who has had the patience to read through this complicated situation, and more thanks to anyone who has any answers!

[steve187]

You usually pay 2 types of National Insurance if you’re self-employed:

• Class 2 if your profits are over £5,885 a year - apply for a small earnings exception if they’re less, this is about £2.60 per week, paid by way of a 6 monthly bill, also can be paid by direct debit, as from april 2016 this is changing to be included in any tax return you submit.
• Class 4 if your profits are over £7,956 a year see here - https://www.gov.uk/self-employed-national-insurance-rates

class 2 contributions can be paid by a non resident voluntarily, certain criteria have to be met. see here - https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-if-you-go-abroad.

I don't see how you say you are self employed, but you did not declare self employment. where does the tax man think you are.

the decision to say you are non resident is up to you, but it has side effects.

[farandaway]

Thanks for the reply Steve.

Ok, so you are helping me to realise that i was not self-employed until i started to make any money, so

5th April 2008 - 5th April 2013 - i was actually unemployed, although not claiming any benefits so i was not 'declared' unemployed if there is such a thing. but i was not employed, nor self-employed.

when i started to have contracts as a freelancer, tax year 2013 - 2014, i was not in the UK, so did not think about declaring self-employed.

now i am thinking about it as i really want to clean up my messy situation.

thanks for the links re: NI contributions, i will have a read.

where does the tax man think i am? i don't know and i wasn't giving it any thought at all until i realised that soon i will have more than my personal allowence being paid into my UK bank account and the tax man might start to be concerned about where i am and where this is coming from.

i realise i probably should have been clear about all this even while earning under the personal allowence, but as i said, i buried my head in the sand. now i'm peeping out and want to know what to do to get this straight.

i also want to know if can i clear it up while outside of the UK or will i need to go back to the UK to get it sorted (really don't want to go to UK at the moment if avoidable as am doing quite enough travelling as it is).

please can you elaborate re: side effects of being non-resident that might concern me?

many thanks.

[steve187]

you can register on the government website, they will send an activation code to a UK address, from that site you can do everything, register as self employed, ( you have 3 months to register after the business starts), do tax returns, etc.

but you really need to think it through first, if all the money was earned outside the UK, do you need to register that is beyond my knowledge.

side effects, NHS, and maybe others.

you need to think/know if registering is right for you, or just paying class 2, as a non resident

maybe someone else can help more.

[ukrules]

There is some obscure rule which dictates that you can't be domiciled in the UK even if you want to be if you're there for less than 5 days per year.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge on this matter will be along shortly.

[steve187]

personally i would just get the class 2 for being out of the country sorted, unless the money going into your UK bank will come back and bite you later

[AyG]

There is some obscure rule which dictates that you can't be domiciled in the UK even if you want to be if you're there for less than 5 days per year.

Simply not true. UK Domicile is something that is incredibly difficult to lose, even if you've lived abroad without stepping foot in the UK for years, or even decades.

[AyG]

i think i have reached the stage where it would be sensible to declare Non-Resident in the UK for tax purposes

(i believe i meet all criteria: am hardly ever in the country, no spouse or children in UK, don't own any property).

Can declaring non-resident for tax purposes be done from outside the UK?

When do i say I left? My most recent visit of 3 weeks ended Sept 2013.

Should i give that date as i haven't been back since then?

If i give that date, is it a probem that i have been paying money into ISA's since Sept 2013??

You don't declare yourself non-resident. Residency is based upon a number of factors, described simply in http://www.pwc.com/en_JG/jg/publications/the-statutory-residence-test.pdf

By the sound of it, you became non-resident in 2008. (This was under the old rules where residency was based simply upon the number of days a year you were in a country.)

You've been breaking the rules by paying into an ISA after becoming non-resident (but you can keep pre-existing ISAs). The ISA will need to be undone, and any tax benefits received reversed. I suggest you contact your ISA provider and explain the situation, rather than wait until Hector finds out you've been a naughty boy.

[topt]

i think i have reached the stage where it would be sensible to declare Non-Resident in the UK for tax purposes

(i believe i meet all criteria: am hardly ever in the country, no spouse or children in UK, don't own any property).

Can declaring non-resident for tax purposes be done from outside the UK?

When do i say I left? My most recent visit of 3 weeks ended Sept 2013.

Should i give that date as i haven't been back since then?

If i give that date, is it a probem that i have been paying money into ISA's since Sept 2013??

You don't declare yourself non-resident. Residency is based upon a number of factors, described simply in http://www.pwc.com/en_JG/jg/publications/the-statutory-residence-test.pdf

By the sound of it, you became non-resident in 2008. (This was under the old rules where residency was based simply upon the number of days a year you were in a country.)

You've been breaking the rules by paying into an ISA after becoming non-resident (but you can keep pre-existing ISAs). The ISA will need to be undone, and any tax benefits received reversed. I suggest you contact your ISA provider and explain the situation, rather than wait until Hector finds out you've been a naughty boy.

I would suggest you contact HMRC and discuss with them - and you should be able to do this without giving too many absolute specifics if you want to test the waters. I did this 6 years ago from abroad (and they phoned me back) and had a very fruitful conversation. I found the relevant numbers online. Things may have changed of course.

If it was me I would also suggest not mentioning your ISAs and just not paying in any more and hoping it will slide under the radar.