Split Year Treatment under new SRT

Normally, if you are resident in the UK for any part of a tax year you will be taxed as a UK resident for the whole of the tax year. However, there are special rules which may apply to you if you either leave the UK to live or work abroad, or come from abroad to live or work in the UK. These special rules split the tax year into a UK part, when you are taxed as a UK resident, and an overseas part, when you are taxes as a non-UK resident.

Before 6 April 2013, HMRC operated these special rules as a concession known as Extra Statutory Concession A11. After 5 April 2013, these special rules are contained in law, under the Statutory Residence Test ('SRT'). Once you have determined using the new SRT test that you are non resident for part of the year you still need to find out what is the exact date where the status changes. As with the residence test, treatment is different whether you are a leaver or an arriver. Here are the rules for finding out that date:

Buying your way into the UK

Property prices in London have challenged economic conditions in the past decade. There is a very simple reason for that. There are just too many rich foreigners coming to the UK. It's actually quite easy to explain. Not only the is the tax system very attractive for them thanks to the non-domicile status but it's quite easy to obtain a Visa if you are ready to bring in enough money into the British Economy. In many jurisdictions, obtaining residence visas can be fraught with red tape, delays, quota restrictions and other hidden difficulties, often resulting in refusals of such applications. Not so in the UK.

Here are the options:

The Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa

The basic requirements for the initial visa are that the individual needs to show evidence of having £200,000 available to invest in the UK and needs to be able to speak English.

The new Statutory Residency Test (SRT)

Currently it can be very difficult to know for sure if one is UK resident or not. The uncertainty has been the reason there has been so many tax cases on that subject, often with a surprising outcome. We have heard about the new Statutory Residency Test (SRT) for a few years now and it looks like it's going to happen next year at last. As a reminder, here is a summary of the current situation today:

If you are not UK resident, you will become UK resident if either applies:

• You are physically present for 183 days or more in a tax year
• You have visited the UK for an average of 91 days per annum over 4 consecutive tax years (you will then be regarded as resident from the beginning of the 5th year)