Non-UK residents with plans to purchase residential property in England and Northern Ireland will be required from April 2021 to pay an additional 2 percentage points of Stamp Duty above those standard rates applicable to UK residents.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a transaction tax that is payable when purchasing property in England and Northern Ireland.

For many expats, much uncertainty existed in the build up to Brexit, and now that the United Kingdom has officially left the European Union it is fair to say that confusion persists, given the number of enquiries received recently. Your taxpayer status will continue to be the same whether you are residing permanently in or out of the EU area, either in Germany, Italy, Singapore, or Australia. The terms of each country’s Double Taxation Agreement with the UK will remain in place regardless of any involvement of the EU. In terms of the Coronavirus, the disruption and chaos this has caused to many on a personal level is disheartening and for some expats it is creating many challenges that require resourcefulness and courage.

In such situations, tax is an issue that will not go away unless confronted and resolved. For others, caught up accidentally in the UK over extended stays, due to the closing of borders and travel corridors, HMRC’s rigid criteria to determine if taxpayer residence in UK has been established is causing havoc for those who are unfamiliar with UK tax laws.

With the opportunity to work from home while working for their UK employers, many are transferring the ‘home’ to other countries. Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands feature often in discussions.

When working from home overseas you have to consider the double taxation agreement with the other country. If the situation allows for you to be deemed non-UK resident, arrangements can be made for you to obtain the appropriate DT relief from HMRC.

We would be happy to guide you further on this matter.

As a resident taxpayer of the UK, all worldwide income is taxable in the tax year in which it arises. For many, the most common way to settle tax is through Pay As You Earn, whereby tax is deducted at source from the monthly salary.

If you are in receipt of worldwide income and gains, you should be aware that the tax authorities of various countries communicate with each other. It is therefore in your best interests to learn how to be fully tax compliant.

Voluntary disclosure is looked upon more favourably than when being prompted by HMRC to do so. While HMRC offer a Digital Disclosure Service, there are still expats in the UK who maintain undicslosed interest bearing assets overseas. When this is discovered by HMRC, a letter is issued to the taxpayer that often provokes stress and concern. This can be avoided by seeking professional guidance and support.

In the constant pursuit of excellence and accessibility to clients in all corners of the world, we are excited by the addition of a new cloud-based file sharing system which allows clients to automatically access their files and documents, 24/7, and throughout the year.

This enhancement to our interaction with you, as the client, removes the need to print and download documents for storage elsewhere.

This cloud-based file storage arrangement complements our remote ID verification and authorization processes to streamline the client onboarding experience and to enhance interaction from the start, through to completion of your tax returns and reports.
With Hodgens Global as your tax agent you can be assured of close co-operation.

For the next two months, we expect the workload to reduce to less than 7% of a full year’s activities. This is therefore a time to reflect and to build upon the successes of the past year. We are excited about growing the business and creating ways to enhance the service and the support you require. But during this time, there will be moments to pause and unwind with a few books and a movie or two.

Having been an expat for many years, it is great to be reminded of places around the world that have been the backdrop to a lot of memories. While there is currently no possibility to take a vacation elsewhere, there is a lot of choice available to stream, and on the ‘watchlist’ currently is a French TV show called ‘Call My Agent’, whereby the Agent takes care of all the stress that the client would otherwise experience.

The stress, the doubts and the uncertainty that you may be experiencing as an expat are fully understood.