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WORKING OVERSEAS & EX PATS

Just because you work abroad and don’t pay tax at source, it does not mean that you are not liable to UK income tax. However, if you can achieve a ‘Non-Resident for UK Tax Purposes’ claim, your income from work ashore or seafaring can be exempt by means of a claim through a Self Assessment Tax Return.

 

To achieve a claim of this type is slightly more difficult than an SED claim. The rules are a lot more complicated. In brief;

  • The claim period must span a full UK tax year. For example; if you started a job abroad in October 2015, the claim period would not be valid until April 2017, thus including one full tax year (April 2016 to April 2017). Part years can still be claimed of course, once the claim is valid, therefore you would not lose October 2015 to April 2016.

  • You can only spend 91 days per year or less, on average, in the UK.

  • An employment contract must be provided and employment must be consecutive, if you have more than one employer. There cannot be any big gaps in employment.

 

In theory the claim can run on for many years but it is safer to try and keep a maximum of four years on a Non Resident claim in case of any HMRC checks.

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