Showing posts with label non resident. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non resident. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

60-day Capital Gains Tax Reporting

As a property owner, it is important to be aware of the tax implications of disposing of your residential property.

The 60-day capital gains tax reporting requirement for residential property disposals is a crucial aspect of the tax system that all property owners should understand. It was implemented in 2020 (initially as a 30-day rule later relaxed to 60-day) and most people are not aware of this requirement.

In this article, we will provide a comprehensive overview of the 60-day capital gains tax reporting requirement and how it applies to residential property disposals. 

What is the 60-day Capital Gains Tax Reporting Requirement? 

The 60-day capital gains tax reporting requirement is a regulation that requires property owners to report the sale of any residential property situated in the UK to the HMRC within 60 days of the sale completion. They also need to pay the tax (or an estimate of that tax since in many instances the exact calculation can only be done after the tax is finished in April) at the end of this 60-Day period. This requirement applies to all individuals or trustees who sell UK residential property for a gain, regardless of the amount of the gain. If the sellers are non-UK residents they have the obligation to report even if they haven't made a gain and for every disposal of of UK land not just residential property -- which is not the case for UK residents. 

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Feared non-dom reform is a go!

Following the Brexit vote, some people were wondering if the non-dom reform announced in the previous budget would indeed go forward or be shelved for the time being. There were concerns that many high net worth individuals would then decide to leave the UK putting further pressure on the premium property market. It seems that these concerns were not enough to stop the changes and now the government has released a further consultation document in which they confirm that they will press ahead with the proposed changes to the taxation of non-domiciled individuals. Here are the key changes:


IHT on Residential Property

The government has confirmed that, from 6 April 2017, all UK residential property will fall within the scope of UK inheritance tax. This means that shares in overseas companies holding UK residential property will no longer be considered as excluded property for IHT purposes, and will therefore be chargeable to UK IHT on the death of the owner, regardless of their domicile status. This treatment will also extend to overseas partnerships owning UK residential property. The definition of residential property is likely to follow the existing definition of a dwelling under the Non-Resident Capital Gains Tax rules.

Many non-UK domiciled have traditionally held UK residential property through an offshore structure in order to avoid exposure to IHT. Even following the introduction of the ATED (Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings) charge that now applies to properties worth over £500,000 held by an overseas company or other structure, many non-doms chose to retain their structures, accepting the ATED charge on the basis that the property would not be subject to UK IHT on their death.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Why overtaxing non-doms is not a good idea

Wealthy foreigners living in the UK are paying less income tax, but it is unclear whether this is due to relocation or rearrangement of their tax affairs. According to HM Revenue & Customs figures released under a Freedom of Information request, the amount of income tax paid by non-domiciled residents fell from £11.4bn in 2011-12 to £10.8bn in 2012-13, the most recent year for which estimates are available.

This was largely due to a £500m fall in the income tax yield from non-doms who elect to be taxed on a so-called “remittance basis” to £4.6bn. While this represents a 10 per cent year-on year decline in revenues in 2012-13, the number of individuals claiming the remittance basis that year fell by only 6 per cent to 46,700. Under the remittance basis, income and gains from UK sources are taxable along with any foreign income and gains brought to the UK. Income generated overseas that is not repatriated to the UK is not liable for tax. To benefit from this, an annual charge of £30,000 is payable after seven years as a UK resident, rising to £50,000 after 12 years. Non-doms who do not choose to be taxed on the remittance basis are liable to pay UK tax on their global income and gains.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Non-Residents to be subject to Capital Gains Tax

One of the announcements made today in the Autumn Statement is that capital gains tax will be extended to non-residents who own residential property. This extends the previous measure to bring non-resident companies within the scope of capital gains tax on 'high value' residential property, measure that was introduced alongside the infamous ATED (Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings). 

So now both high value and low value residential property gains will be taxed, regardless of whether the property is owned by a company or not. The change is to take effect in April 2015.

This move was expected but still, it could reduce confidence going forward. Non residents were strongly encouraged by the Government to take their properties out of companies so that a future sale of bricks and mortar (rather than shares) is subject to stamp duty. In exchange they would not be subject to the annual charge (ATED) nor to the capital gains tax. Having de-enveloped as they were asked to do, they will in fact be subject to capital gains tax after all.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

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:

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

How about the CSG and the CRDS?

If you have some French property investments, you might have noticed in 2012 the apparition of new taxes called CSG, CRDS, Financement du RSA or Solidarité Autonomie. All those are actually social charges and even though they been in existence for a while, in the past non-residents were exempt (since they don't use any of the French social infrastructure).

With the arrival of François Hollande and his socialist team, those deductions have been extended to all types of income (rental income, capital gains and dividends) and for residents and non-residents alike. What it means is if you sell a house in France you will have to pay the 19% capital gain plus the 15.5% social charges on the gain. And in some cases (if your capital gain is above €50,000) yet another exceptional tax that can reach 6% of the capital gain (if your gain is above €260,000). That's a total of more than 50%.

But unfortunately as far as the HMRC is concerned the 15.5% social charges are not considered a tax and therefore cannot be offset against UK tax. You will therefore have to top up the French tax by at least an additional 9% UK tax (assuming you are in the 28% CGT tax bracket).

Friday, September 13, 2013

Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings due soon

Announced in the March 2012 Budget, the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) return -- called at the time the Annual Residential Property Tax (ARPT) -- is due by October 1st 2013. The corresponding tax liability has to be paid by October 31st 2013.

If all of the following criteria are met, an ATED return is required by 1 October 2013:
  • a company (other than a company acting as trustee of a settlement or as nominee), a partnership with corporate partners or a collective investment scheme which holds UK residential property, and
  • at least one single-dwelling interest was worth more than £2m on 1 April 2012 or at the date of acquisition if later, and
  • the single-dwelling interest was still owned on 1 April 2013

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Remittance: some examples


HMRC will be soon be undertaking an "educational exercise" in respect of individuals taxed under the remittance basis in 2011/12. They are of the opinion that taxpayers may not fully understand the remittance basis, and are concerned that they will have experienced problems in completing their tax returns accurately. They will also be sending out a factsheet with this letter. They say that the intention behind the letters is primarily educational, and hope that it will prompt taxpayers to conclude that they need extra help in this area.

People don't always understand that it's not just a transfer of money that can trigger a remittance. Here are the examples mentioned in the fact list:

Money transfers to the UK

  • You transfer some of your foreign income from your offshore bank account to your UK bank account.
  • You withdraw some cash from your foreign bank account (that contains your foreign income) whilst overseas and bring the cash with you when you return to the UK.
  • You give some of your foreign income to your spouse or civil partner who brings the money to the UK.
  • You transfer some of your foreign income to the UK account of a registered Charity.
  • You rent out your holiday home abroad and the customer pays the rent directly into your UK bank account.
  • You loan some of your foreign income to a company you control overseas or settle some foreign income in an offshore trust. The company or trustees bring the money to the UK.
  • You inherited money a few years ago that you deposited into a foreign interest bearing bank account and you transfer some of the money from this account to the UK. Although the inheritance is not taxable when remitted, the account will also contain taxable interest that will be treated as remitted before any of the non taxable inheritance.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Bye bye NOR... Hello OWR!

People who have come to the UK to work and who travel a lot have known about the concept of Non Ordinary Residence (NOR) as it has allowed them to benefit from significant tax savings. Under that status, one would only pay income tax on income related to UK work as long as foreign income was kept overseas.

The concept of ordinary residence is no more however. It was withdrawn in the last budget with effect from tax year 2013-2014. That's the bad news. The good news however is that it was replaced by the concept of Overseas Workday Relief (OWR). This is one is statutory. The main difference between the 2 is that one cannot benefit from OWR if domiciled (which was not the case with NOR).

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Owning UK property in an offshore company

Until recently UK resident and non-domiciled individuals investing in UK property would have been advised to use an offshore company to hold the title. This not only allowed the owner to avoid the 40% UK inheritance Tax (IHT) but also offered the potential for future buyers to avoid stamp duty (SDLT) by acquiring the company shares rather than property title to the UK property. Perhaps not surprisingly the UK government decided to legislate in this year's Budget to prevent this loss of revenue from residential properties (commercial properties are unaffected).

The draft legislation published on 11th December 2012 outlines the new taxes and charges which will have to be paid by Non Natural Persons (NNP) owning property in the UK. There is already a new punitive rate of Stamp Duty (SDLT) where a NNP acquires a UK residential property for more than f2m (15% instead of 7%). And from April 2013, NNPs owning properties valued in excess of £2m will also be subject to an annual charge (called the Annual Residential Property Tax or ARPT). The charge will be £15,000 for properties valued between £2m and £5m, £35,000 for properties valued between £5m and £20m and £140,000 thereafter.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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.

Monday, November 19, 2012

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)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

New VAT rules for non UK established businesses

HMRC have made changes to VAT notice 700/1 'Should I be registered for VAT?' They have added guidance on registering for VAT online and have also set out new rules for businesses not established in the UK.

From 1st December 2012 the VAT registration threshold will be removed for businesses with no UK establishment. Currently these businesses do not need to register for UK VAT where their UK sales are below the VAT registration threshold (currently £77,000). After 1st December 2012 the threshold will be removed for these businesses, so if they make any sales liable to VAT in the UK then they will be required to register.