One of the most confusing aspects for expats is establishing where they should be paying tax after they have left the UK. Many just assume that there is no UK liability after they have left.
I’ve left the UK – why am I still paying tax there?
By Portugal team
This article is published on: 17th March 2023
UK property
Tax on income and gains from UK property is always taxed in the UK, even if you live in Portugal with or without NHR status. You do still have your UK annual personal allowance and capital gains tax allowance to offset against any taxable income or gains as a non-UK resident.
You must also declare this in Portugal and will receive a tax credit for the tax paid in the UK to offset any Portuguese tax liability.
UK government pension income
The taxing right remains with the UK in respect of former government service pension income, and you have your UK personal allowance to offset against this.
Government service pension schemes are not the same as the UK State Pension. The State Pension is not taxable in the UK, can be paid out to you gross and is taxable in Portugal.
UK private pension schemes
Private pension schemes are taxable in Portugal. Again, the income can be paid out to you gross by your pension provider. However, in practice, some people still find themselves having tax deducted at source on UK pension income and must reclaim it. If you complete a DT/individual form, available from HMRC’s website, and follow the submission process you will be able to receive your pension free from UK tax at source.
UK dividend & interest trap!
The UK has the right to tax UK-sourced dividends and interest under the treaty rules between the UK and Portugal but an interesting quirk of the rules is that when you submit your UK tax return HMRC will automatically calculate the best outcome for you; either to not tax your UK dividends and interest and in turn, you lose your UK personal allowance (this is called disregarded income treatment) or to tax them and preserve your personal allowance to offset against other income e.g. rental.
Special care must be taken if claiming split-year treatment – this is when you leave the UK partway through the tax year and you are only taxed in the UK from 6th April to the date you leave. A real-life example: an individual who left the UK in July subsequently took a large dividend in the same UK tax year. As a result, the dividend was taxed in the UK (even though they were no longer UK resident) and this resulted in a hefty tax bill. Had they waited until after the following 6th April, HMRC would not have taxed this.
Exceeding your UK day count
Another scenario where you could find yourself a UK tax resident, even though you have moved abroad, is when the relevant day count allowance is exceeded. The UK Statutory Residence test clearly sets out the rules and the allowable number of days to avoid getting yourself into this grey area. The day count can be as little as 16 days and as much as 182 days depending on the number of ties and connections you have.
UK Inheritance Tax
Another context when you can still have a UK liability is in respect of succession and inheritance tax. This is a complicated area, and we will dedicate next week’s article to exploring this topic.