Pay for contract abroad, kept abroad = No UK tax?

[AlanDavis]

Being a UK resident and going abroad to do a short contract - if I get paid into a local account abroad and keep that money there, it is not subject to tax until I bring it into the UK? Or would I still have to declare it and pay tax on it before even bringing it in to the UK?

Secondly, if I do decide to bring it in to the UK, is there a tax efficient way to do this? e.g. gift it to my grandchild?

[Waldorf]

I think you have to declare all your income, so you will have to pay the tax on it, not to would be evasion.

The revenue are picking up on foreign accounts so you will probably get caught if you decide to be naughty.

[ASB]

Questions are if you are ordinarily resident and/or domiciled. If neither then it is potentailly possible to be taxed on the remittance basis depending on circumstances.

But chances are not..

[XLMonkey]

As a UK resident you are taxed on your worldwide income (i.e. it doesn't matter which country you earn it in, or whether you keep the money abroad, you still have to pay tax on it in the UK).

So, its definitely against the rules not to declare it.

As the OP said, the Revenue are also getting pretty good at getting access to information from foreign banks (there are tax disclosure agreements between the UK and most developed countries).

[Menelaus]

Working abroad, domiciled overseas - presumably taxed on it in that overseas location(?)

[XLMonkey]

Working abroad, domiciled overseas - presumably taxed on it in that overseas location(?)

Not for a short contract. To be domiciled overseas for tax purposes you need to be out of the country for a long-ish period (there's a bunch of rules on the HMRC website that specify the rules exactly - think its >6 months).

If you are working abroad for a shorter period than this then you are still taxed in the UK.

You can end up getting taxed in both countries, in which case you have to go through a fairly complicated procedure to get the overseas tax back (the rules here vary from country to country)

[ASB]

Not for a short contract. To be domiciled overseas for tax purposes you need to be out of the country for a long-ish period (there's a bunch of rules on the HMRC website that specify the rules exactly - think its >6 months).

If you are working abroad for a shorter period than this then you are still taxed in the UK.

You can end up getting taxed in both countries, in which case you have to go through a fairly complicated procedure to get the overseas tax back (the rules here vary from country to country)

There was a case recently where a guy who had been abroad (but maintaimed some interests here) for the best part of 40 years still hadn't obtained a domicile of choice elsewhere. He was ordinarily resident in the UK for the entire period.

[bobhope]

There was a case recently where a guy who had been abroad (but maintaimed some interests here) for the best part of 40 years still hadn't obtained a domicile of choice elsewhere. He was ordinarily resident in the UK for the entire period.

Presumably, he didn't take citizenship of wherever he was?

[Menelaus]

Does anyone know the form that needs to be sent off to HMRC to specify heading offshore?

I'm going offshore in a couple of months time for five years (feeling a little like One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, tbh) of self-imposed exile but in the meantime am going to be paying a mortgage in the UK. Surely as all of my earnings are outside of the UK and I'm not living in the property (my ex is, with no financial contribution to me or the costs of the mortgage) I'll be taxed overseas(?).

[Moscow Mule]

Does anyone know the form that needs to be sent off to HMRC to specify heading offshore?

I'm going offshore in a couple of months time for five years (feeling a little like One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, tbh) of self-imposed exile but in the meantime am going to be paying a mortgage in the UK. Surely as all of my earnings are outside of the UK and I'm not living in the property (my ex is, with no financial contribution to me or the costs of the mortgage) I'll be taxed overseas(?).

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/p85_p85s.htm