Sydney Boy

key points that I have learned. 1. When you sell a property in the UK as non resident you have 30 days to fill in a non resident Capital Gains Tax form (NRCGT) and send it to HMRC. 30 days from sale so you have to be quick to avoid a 100 pound fine. This is even if you owe zero tax or its your primary residence. You can fill the form in online yourself. 2. The calculation of capital gain for the Australian Tax office is worked out in Australian Dollars not pounds. To work out the purchase price you use the exchange rate at the TIME of the purchase ( or if you already owned it when you moved to Australia its the estimated price on the day you moved to Australia using the exchange rate when you moved here ) and the sale price uses the exchange rate at the TIME when you sell the property. ( If you are lucky you may find you make a loss in Dollars even if you made a profit in pounds if the exchange rate went the wrong way. E.g you moved here in 2002 when the rate was 1GBP=3AUD and its now 1GBP=1.77AUD 3. See Point 1 : You have 30 days to fill in the form. It even applies if there is no tax to pay; a loss has been made; taxpayer is registered for self assessment; registered with HMRC for corporation tax; and taxpayer is registered to report under annual tax on enveloped dwellings (ATED) or ATED-related capital gains tax returns

Yes having a UK bank account will be very useful even if you don't live there and keeping a credit card active. e.g For holidays back in UK , hiring a car etc You can change your address to a family member in the UK or change it to your Australian one. If you change it to Australia there isnt a problem . You will eventually get a letter from UK bank asking for your Australian tax file number so big brother can connect all your earnings together . ( money laundering etc ) . It will be almost impossible to get a UK account again once you stop living there. A UK credit card / \bank can be very handy for buying things online and for sending birthday money to family.

Myself and partner both have defined benefit "final salary" pension funds in UK , One is the unfunded NHS , the other a company private "funded" pension fund. Our Australian pension expert is telling us the advantages in general of transferring from the UK and is telling us in general what the tax laws are. They have received the valuations for both funds. One fund is above the 540k limit so its been suggested Gibraltar as the location to keep at least that fund in pounds until we decide to bring it to Australia in parts. No reason for Gibraltar rather than another country has been given. At no point has the adviser given me any specific projection or what in the UK they call "critical yield" calculation to compare what the UK fund would pay out annually in maturity compared to a QROPS invested in shares etc i.e They havnt said what a QROPS fund needs to generate to be equivalent to the benefits of the original defined benefit scheme. Am I completely mistaken in my expectations when dealing with country to country advice ??? I've quickly worked out on the larger fund that a return of 2.5% plus inflation say 2.5% = 5% would be equivalent to the defined benefit pension without having to touch the capital ( which in Australia I would also have access to the capital ) . But even that type of info has not been provided. Is it something to do with official financial advisers or "pension transfer" accountants in Australia not being allowed to give advice on foreign investments????? Should an Australian international expert on pensions be able to give me comparisons for the UK pension funds vs them in a QROPS or not, so I can make an informed choice ? My other regular Australian pension adviser won't get involved in foreign pension advice except to set up a QROPS. What should I expect for the large transfer fee they want ? Is it such a no brainer to transfer it to a QROPS from the UK that I shouldn't bother with projections for comparisons ? Confused ! Our valuations are now about to expire and I still havnt even got one spreadsheet to show the pros and cons or what the QROPS needs to generate.....am I expecting too much is this unregulated no mans land ? Am i supposed to just accept its the right thing to do because the expert tells me ?

There is an agreement between UK and Australia so you don't pay tax twice. So if you do pay tax on income in one country ( called X ) where you don't live , you can get a "credit" on your tax return on the other country (called Y) you are living in. But for some income in country X you may be able to come to an agreement with the local tax people to pay the income WITHOUT having any tax deducted at source. In my case my Rental agents in UK do NOT have to deduct any tax at source and I receive it gross even though I'm currently a non resident and living in Australia. I still fill in a UK tax return and declare it annually and have to pay UK tax on any profits over the 10,000 pounds personal UK income tax free limit. But any tax paid is then a credit on my Australian Tax return. I'm not an expert on the double taxation rules but that's how it works for me practically. Its a similar story for foreign pension income under double taxation rules but again I'm not an expert. From here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensioners/paying-abroad.htm the UK Tax office states the following Once you've retired abroad, even if you're classed as being 'non-resident' for tax in the UK, you'll still pay tax on most pensions you receive from the UK. However if you're living in a country that the UK has a ‘double taxation agreement’ with, you may be able to get these pensions without Income Tax being deducted. You may also be able to claim a refund of any tax which has already been deducted. You can find more information about making a claim in the third link below. Maybe an expert can tell us does it mean the pension income is REALLY tax free in the country you don't live in ( e.g UK ) or do you still need to fill in a UK tax return and pay UK tax at the end of the financial year if applicable ?? In my case I do fill in a UK tax return even though from above do i really need to declare anything if a non resident....very confusing.

I'm not an expert: When I checked a few years ago , CGT liability in the UK also depends how long you live overseas. I think after 7 years (living outside the UK) , there is no CGT to pay in the UK if you sell a UK property. The Australian tax man is only interested in the UK capital gain FROM the time you moved to Australia till the time you sell the UK property. e.g if you rented out your UK property from 2012 onwards, and still lived in Australia 7 yrs later in 2019 before selling the UK property, then Uk CGT = zero , and Australian CGT = UK house selling price in 2019 minus the UK house value in 2012 ( not at the time you originally purchased it ). Note there was some vague small print in the UK CGT notes about there is a chance you may have to pay the UK CGT if you ever returned to the UK full time, ie its not zero its just differed ( but as someone said you avoid the UK CGT on a home for the first few years anyway so it shouldn't be too high) I'd ask an expert or the Tax office to confirm the above as CGT laws seem to change especially in the UK . I've no idea how it works in reverse should you sell an Australian property but as you will be living in it there should be no Australian CGT. One other observation. The current exchange rate to A$ is terrible for Brits at the moment so if you do sell your house and bring your pounds over here you won't get much for your money. The A$ will only weaken once Europe and USA economies pick up and/or China gets a cold. This might be years away or round the corner....