Temporary Non Residence and Capital Gains Tax

Published / Last Updated on 22/04/2022

 

HMRC has recently updated its practice notes and guidance on UK temporary non-residence and capital gains tax.

If you are tax resident and domiciled in the UK you are subject to capital gains taxes on disposal of worldwide land or property rights as well as disposal of other assets such as shares even if they are not in the UK (subject to any tax treaty).

Many people think they can simply leave the UK and then sell their assets and not pay UK taxes on capital gains.  This is not the case and if you leave the UK, you should be aware of the following:

Permanently Non-UK Resident

If you leave the UK with the intention of this being a permanent move, then provided you dispose of assets (other than UK property) in the tax year after the tax year in which you left, then you will not be subject to UK capital gains taxes.

Temporarily Non-UK Resident Tax Status

HMRC has provided clearer guidance on where it will consider you only ‘temporarily’ non-UK resident rather than permanently non-UK resident and tax you accordingly.

  1. You had ‘sole’ UK residence in whole or in part for 4 of the last 7 tax years.  You are temporarily non-resident and subject to UK capital gains taxes on disposals whilst overseas.
  2. Had a period on non-UK residence ‘sandwiched’ in between 2 x periods of sole UK residence.   E.g., You were resident in UK, you live overseas ‘permanently’ sell some assets after 1 year on non-residence and then return e.g., after for 3 years to UK.  You will also be classed as only temporarily non-resident and subject to UK capital gains taxes on disposals that you made whilst living overseas.
  3. Your total non-UK residence periods i.e., you are not ‘sole’ UK residence is less than 5 years.  You are temporarily non-resident and subject to UK capital gains taxes on disposals whilst overseas.

The above is a simplified version of the temporarily non-UK resident rules, they are more complex than this.  You should contact us for tax advice if you are thinking of leaving UK or indeed thinking of returning to the UK.

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