Home » Offshore Banking and Savings Guides » Expat Tax Saving Guide
What are the Benefits of Going Offshore for Expats?
Fri, November 20, 2009 - 9:16 am EET
If you’re just starting out on your journey abroad and beginning a new life overseas as an expat, chances are you will not yet be necessarily well-versed in the advantages of ‘offshoring’ your finances. After all, when you live onshore you’re almost indoctrinated against putting money offshore by your own government.
In part this is because your government needs to keep reminding you of your reporting obligations when it comes to taxation – and in part it is simply because they prefer your money and assets to be onshore where they can keep an eye on them! However, when you move abroad, naturally all of this changes – and it changes very much for the better.
When you leave your old home nation behind and start on a new path abroad, your entire tax status changes and this can have a positive and beneficial impact on your wealth. It is at this point that the concept of ‘offshore’ - when it comes to your fiscal status - needs to be explored. So, what are the benefits of going offshore for expats? Allow us to explain and guide you through the very straightforward ways in which you could actually be enhancing your fiscal status by going offshore.
Do You Have to Leave UK to Avoid British Taxation
Mon, November 16, 2009 - 8:56 am EET
According to The Sunday Times newspaper, David Landau, former owner of the Loot newspaper and current arts patron who has donated millions of pounds of his wealth to causes in the UK, is the latest victim of Brown’s taxation assault and is packing his bags and leaving his life in the UK behind.
Whilst you may never have heard of this man or be at all interested in the arts for example, you may like to learn that Landau’s a foreign national, resident in the UK who has paid taxes on his British generated wealth in the UK and as stated, has donated a lot of his wealth to British causes. However, he is so unhappy at the way the UK has introduced a non-dom levy and is now poised to hike income tax even higher, he’s leaving.
Landau has quit his charitable roles and is leaving the UK – proving once again that the idea to tax us all harder and harder is a bad one and that it does have a negative effect on the nation. But do you actually have to leave the UK to avoid British taxation?
Do Expatriates Escape Inheritance Tax by Living Abroad
Fri, November 13, 2009 - 7:44 am EET
If you move abroad and leave the UK behind pretty much permanently, chances are you will become non-resident in Britain for tax purposes. At first this may mean you’re no longer liable for income tax on anything you earn outside the UK, then after a period of time you may no longer be eligible for capital gains tax. You might even escape taxation on your savings by going offshore – and of course if you no longer own property in the UK you can escape council tax.
Of course, the above tax escape scenarios depend on your expatriate status and every individual’s status is different so do check your tax liabilities before you just turn you back on the British taxman – but is there ever a scenario where expatriates escape inheritance tax just by living abroad?
Many people have been sold homes overseas for retirement or relocation purposes on the back of claims by developers and agents that a property in a given nation is not subject to inheritance tax in that nation. This can lead people into the false sense of security that if they just up sticks and go and live in that property, they escape their IHT liability full stop. However, as we will now show, when it comes to IHT or estate tax, it is NOT that simple.
Expatriate Tax Saving Advantages
Mon, November 02, 2009 - 9:47 am EET
When you move abroad to live or work permanently overseas, your tax situation changes. Depending on the nation you originate from, you will need to be non-resident in your old home nation for a set number of days before you can officially claim this non-residency status for tax purposes, but as soon as you can, your entire financial situation can change for the better!
One of the main advantages of becoming non-resident for tax purposes in your old home nation is that you can embrace the wonderful world of offshore and take your full expatriate advantage as a result. At this point there is a very real potential tax benefit to you from saving and investing, banking and doing business offshore.
In this article we’re going to explore expatriate tax saving advantages so that you can fully understand what courses of action are available to you to help you save tax once you move abroad.
Why Americans Shouldn’t Go Offshore
Wed, October 28, 2009 - 9:01 am EET
Unfortunately we receive multiple requests on a daily basis from Americans living abroad as well as those who are resident in the US and who want to discover ways they can benefit from going offshore. The requests are mostly straightforward and legitimate queries about where one can source better interest rates offshore for example.
The unfortunate part is that we cannot assist anyone who is American, no matter where in the world they live, and we cannot assist anyone living in America, no matter where in the world they herald from. The reason is simply because subsequent American governments, in their so-called war on tax evasion, have eroded the rights of their citizens completely.
It seems American governments – whether republican or democrat - want to wage war on everything from Iraq, Afghanistan, terror and tax evasion to their own citizen’s freedom of choice. In this article we’re going to explain once and for all why Americans shouldn’t go offshore – particularly in light of a new bill that strips even greater choice from Americans and is incredibly threatening to those who do have legitimate assets offshore.
BBC’s Revelation: To Avoid UK Tax You Have to Emigrate
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 9:09 am EET
Sarcastic moment coming up I’m afraid. Imagine our complete and utter surprise when we read a BBC article recently about how to avoid UK taxation and were informed that to avoid UK tax you actually have to emigrate!
My goodness – I mean, who would ever have thought such a thing! In fact, it wasn’t even the BBC who dropped this incredibly earth shattering bombshell, it was none other than a spokesperson from the accountancy firm Saffery Champness who was quoted in the appalling article.
I suppose we’ll just have to assume that Saffery Champness clients are exceptionally dim if they need to be told: “If you want to be sure you will not be regarded as UK tax resident, you need, in effect, to emigrate.” Either that or the person quoted assumed that the readers of the BBC article would be very poorly educated. Well, just in case anyone is in any doubt, if you do want to stop paying British taxes you have to become non-resident – and here’s how the latest rules work to that end.
Offshore Bank Accounts No Fines For the Innocent!
Mon, September 14, 2009 - 9:33 am EET
The latest, (and apparently last), tax amnesty as announced by HMRC is designed for all Britons who are tax resident in the UK to come clean about any undisclosed assets that they have and earn interest or an income from abroad and offshore.
In the first taxation amnesty, the customers of a handful of British banks who held accounts offshore were targeted, and now HMRC is attempting to clear up the sticky issue of taxation forgotten, avoided or evaded by all others who have the likes of bank or savings accounts offshore.
The bottom line is that it is not illegal to go offshore with your money – even if you reside and pay tax onshore in the UK. What is illegal is failing to disclose this money to the taxman. However, the good news is that there will be no offshore bank account fines for the innocent. I.e., those who have genuinely been ill advised or made a mistake will not necessarily be fined by HMRC. Read on to learn more…
