Rental income - You just have to pay the tax, unfortunately. To keep your state pension up to date, you have to pay the higher rate if you are out the country, which is kind of bizarre. It will be around £40 a month just now. And if you sell any of the properties, you probably won't get the capital gains allowance you would have got if you were domiciled in the UK. It gets really complicated there though, as it would depend on your exact circumstances at the time. Overall, it might be a better idea for many to keep the UK as their domicile, and keep a home here. You could either buy a cheap property, or rent out a room, as you wouldn't be there anyway. You would get the first £4250 of the room rent tax free, under the rent a room scheme, and I think you can claim some repairs.

And you are obliged to declare any foreign income, when working abroad. It's not guaranteed they would tax you on it, but they like to know!

^ Mostly not true.

The UK has an incredibly generous system for non-residents (not to be confused with non-doms - they took a hammering a few years back).

Everything you could ever want to know is here: http://www.wealthprotectionreport.co.uk/

Worth paying a subscription for greater access.

As a start you have your 10.5k personal tax allowance as a bench mark - this you will keep. Not too hard to whittle away quite a lot more in related expenses.

Any "salary" (you dig?) you are paid from the UK will also be tax free in its entirety if you spend fewer than 90 days' average a year there (pro-rata available for any tax year). Anything you earn overseas comes under the tax regime of the country of residence. Certain jurisdictions have tax agreements, this one doesn't (dig?).

Register as non-resident, and wahey you go, Mr. Ed.

Enjoy; I know I do.

Tim Linkinwater wrote:^ Mostly not true.

The UK has an incredibly generous system for non-residents (not to be confused with non-doms - they took a hammering a few years back).

Everything you could ever want to know is here: http://www.wealthprotectionreport.co.uk/

Worth paying a subscription for greater access.

As a start you have your 10.5k personal tax allowance as a bench mark - this you will keep. Not too hard to whittle away quite a lot more in related expenses.

Any "salary" (you dig?) you are paid from the UK will also be tax free in its entirety if you spend fewer than 90 days' average a year there (pro-rata available for any tax year). Anything you earn overseas comes under the tax regime of the country of residence. Certain jurisdictions have tax agreements, this one doesn't (dig?).

Register as non-resident, and wahey you go, Mr. Ed.

Enjoy; I know I do.

Interesting. Good post

From the Uk and working overseas for 10 years as a management accountant myself. A couple of small admin points if you're going down the Non Resident for Tax Purposes route that Tim describes.

1) Keep your flight ticket stubs from and to the UK as proof of days in the UK in conjunction with your passport stamps, should for any reason the revenue do a random check on you.
2) There are quite a few costs that can be offset against rental income to minimise any tax liability, I used to whittle mine down quite effectively.

The Inland Revenue's website is worth looking at in this regard. Banking wise I have always been with Lloyd's as their costs on international transfers has always been good for me. That may have changed but maybe use them a starting benchmark. Send any money in sterling so the currency conversion is done locally because you get a better exchange rate, redundant point if you have a dollar account back home and are doing dollar to dollar obviously.

Haven't read Tim's link and it may well cover these points but I just thought I'd mention them. I've been a member of Expat Network up until last year, they do a monthly magazine which is a good read and keeps you up to date with any revenue rule changes, offshore banking etc. It's about 75 quid a year from memory and they are based in Croydon, Google for contact info. May or may not be of interest to you.

Living in the UK you are probably aware of the current NI changes working their way through the political process but since I know you are around my age, the key point is the number of contributing years to full pension is increasing from 30 to 35 years. Would be worth getting a statement of your current contributing year status and how much you will have to voluntarily pay per year while overseas. They are very helpful, I received an updated status statement in 10 days when I was back last summer. Contact details on the Revenues website again.

Tim Linkinwater wrote:^ Mostly not true.

The UK has an incredibly generous system for non-residents (not to be confused with non-doms - they took a hammering a few years back).

Everything you could ever want to know is here: http://www.wealthprotectionreport.co.uk/

Worth paying a subscription for greater access.

As a start you have your 10.5k personal tax allowance as a bench mark - this you will keep. Not too hard to whittle away quite a lot more in related expenses.

Any "salary" (you dig?) you are paid from the UK will also be tax free in its entirety if you spend fewer than 90 days' average a year there (pro-rata available for any tax year). Anything you earn overseas comes under the tax regime of the country of residence. Certain jurisdictions have tax agreements, this one doesn't (dig?).

Register as non-resident, and wahey you go, Mr. Ed.

Enjoy; I know I do.

It wasn't mostly untrue lol.
For non doms, I've been told I will pay the tax.
I suggested keeping a property in the UK if someone doesn't want to be non dom.
And a tax officer told me I would have to declare foreign income. Not that I'd definitely be taxed on it, just that I should declare it. I doubt anyone would have to if they were not claiming the tax allowance as I would be. It actually makes sense if you stop doing Mr Ed horse impersonations and think about it. " You dig" ( groan)

Anyway, I'm not going to argue with you.

I am not, nor as a rule do argue with others on here. I am just gathering information and opinions on which to make my judgement before getting it ratified by an accountable accountant and in so doing, I thank each and every one of you for your valued input.

Crucial distinction:

A non-dom is a resident of the UK domiciled elsewhere, usually a lower tax regime. This used to be a useful thing - not so much anymore.

A non-resident is a UK citizen who is not resident in the UK. This is the position Ed will be in.

Dig?

I have my spade in my hand as we speak !

^ Damn right.