Expats who have figured it out

[woopwoop]

I know quite a few of us live overseas and I wondered if anyone has figured out the following yet:

NI contributions / pensions
Self assessment / tax
Student loans
Declaring income in both countries

I'm thinking of closing my UK ltd company down and transferring everything to my US Llc. This will mean no UK income and not sure how continuing to pay NI will work as self employed although a nonresident.

Appreciate any tips from people who have navigated all this.

 

[retired_member33]

Expat as well.. Living in the UK but still paying my taxes in Holland and I guess I will be doing that for the rest of my life... Just to support our wee Queen and country.

#youaintmutchifyouaintDutch

 

[chrisduggan]

http://www.icaew.com/en/library/subject-gateways/tax/double-tax-treaties

 

[woopwoop]

Expat as well.. Living in the UK but still paying my taxes in Holland and I guess I will be doing that for the rest of my life... Just to support our wee Queen and country.

#youaintmutchifyouaintDutch

I think the treaties apply to holland too. Are you paying tax in holland on separate uk income? Or paying tax on holland on Uk income?

http://www.icaew.com/en/library/subject-gateways/tax/double-tax-treaties

Thanks Chris - i'll look around the site. I was fairly confident I wouldn't be taxed twice on the same income because I'd heard of the treaties, but the whole NI/pension thing is something I have no idea about.

 

[wb]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/faqs_general.htm

 

[JMOT]

Good luck in not triggering an exit tax... you cant just transfer out assets/IP to another entity to stop paying tax in the UK. Dont do anything you think is clever without having gone thru your accountant first else you may find urself with a very large bill.

 

[woopwoop]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/faqs_general.htm

Thanks WB - Helpful, but daunting... every paragraph I read is telling me to click a link and download the leaflet. Already a headache.

Good luck in not triggering an exit tax... you cant just transfer out assets/IP to another entity to stop paying tax in the UK. Dont do anything you think is clever without having gone thru your accountant first else you may find urself with a very large bill.

Well the good news is that I don't have property so no gains, although in this market it would probably be a loss.

Most of my stuff is under a ltd company, which I'm thinking of closing.
Does anyone have any experience of this? The domains/websites aren't big fry but they would end up in a US LLC (from transferred from ltd. to me after ltd closed, then from me to overseas LLC). I think because I have all the equity in the LTD and the business pretty much makes a loss, I don't think that there is an issue getting the names out of the ltd. so long as it isn't a bankruptcy.

Something I wish I didn't have to think about.

 

[Edwin]

Pay for an accountant before you change a thing... Anything else is false economy!

 

[JMOT]

Well the good news is that I don't have property so no gains, although in this market it would probably be a loss.

Most of my stuff is under a ltd company, which I'm thinking of closing.
Does anyone have any experience of this? The domains/websites aren't big fry but they would end up in a US LLC (from transferred from ltd. to me after ltd closed, then from me to overseas LLC). I think because I have all the equity in the LTD and the business pretty much makes a loss, I don't think that there is an issue getting the names out of the ltd. so long as it isn't a bankruptcy.

Something I wish I didn't have to think about.

Why ask for advice if you are not going to listen and think you know best?

Having just sat thru a meeting with my accountants about moving domains, IP etc between companies etc its actually quite a pain in the arse if the domains etc have a book value or trading worth because depending on how your domains have been treated by your accountant they will have a "worth" and that is open to quite some interpretation.... You cant just move them willy nilly without creating intra company liabilities. Indeed as far as i understood you cant just transfer them into your own name without creating a personal gain as again, depending on how they were accounted for, the "worth" of those domains even tho your company might not be profitable or trading could trigger a gain for you. The domains are also the property of the Ltd company if paid for by and registered under its name. Not yours personally even tho you might own all the shares in the Ltd co. Unless you licensed the domains to your company yada yada eyes rolling gone all glazed its complicated shit get someone proper to handle it for you.

GO SEE A PROPER ACCOUNTANT/TAX SPECIALIST before you do anything because you will open up a shitload of complications with a US LLC or Inc... again, part 2 of my recent meeting was involving US corporate tax planning etc.

 

[Edwin]

As a related aside, if I had the choice of anywhere in the world to incorporate, my LAST choice would be the US. Their tax system has some of the furthest reaching tentactles of any jurisdiction.

 

[woopwoop]

Why ask for advice if you are not going to listen and think you know best?

Having just sat thru a meeting with my accountants about moving domains, IP etc between companies etc its actually quite a pain in the arse if the domains etc have a book value or trading worth because depending on how your domains have been treated by your accountant they will have a "worth" and that is open to quite some interpretation.... You cant just move them willy nilly without creating intra company liabilities. Indeed as far as i understood you cant just transfer them into your own name without creating a personal gain as again, depending on how they were accounted for, the "worth" of those domains even tho your company might not be profitable or trading could trigger a gain for you. The domains are also the property of the Ltd company if paid for by and registered under its name. Not yours personally even tho you might own all the shares in the Ltd co. Unless you licensed the domains to your company yada yada eyes rolling gone all glazed its complicated shit get someone proper to handle it for you.

GO SEE A PROPER ACCOUNTANT/TAX SPECIALIST before you do anything because you will open up a shitload of complications with a US LLC or Inc... again, part 2 of my recent meeting was involving US corporate tax planning etc.

JMOT I appreciate you taking the time to reply and offer advice but theres no need to turn this nasty. The thing i was mainly asking about was pensions and NI and ongoing tax (meaning foreign income).

I'm not sure if you misinterpreted a the tone of my last message but nothing will be willy nilly, so no need for CAPS or telling me I shouldn't bother asking for help. Again I appreciate your help.

As a related aside, if I had the choice of anywhere in the world to incorporate, my LAST choice would be the US. Their tax system has some of the furthest reaching tentactles of any jurisdiction.

Edwin not through choice (definitely nothing to do with tax avoidance - just geography). The LLc technically isn't an incorporated business, there's the limited liability but you can elect for taxes to be paid as a corporation or for the profit/loss to be treated as personal income (sole trader).

If anyone has has experience with the NI/pension side of things would be grateful for your advice - although the link given above is really helpful.

 

[Edwin]

Edwin not through choice (definitely nothing to do with tax avoidance - just geography). The LLc technically isn't an incorporated business, there's the limited liability but you can elect for taxes to be paid as a corporation or for the profit/loss to be treated as personal income (sole trader).

You've lost me. Anyone's free to incorporate in dozens of jurisdictions around the world with virtually no or indeed zero restrictions. So why pick the US when it is known to have one of the furthest-reaching, longest-lasting tax regimes? (For example, it takes at least a decade for US citizens living and working outside the US to "break" their tax liability back home - and it's far from an automatic process, with a large number of hurdles)

 

[woopwoop]

Basically the new business will be related around selling a product, so being based in NY it is easier for me to be treated as a domestic llc (non incorporated) rather than incorporate or have a business created in a different jurisdiction and trade in NY (because I'd have extra formalities for just trading here).

This may be just because of my particular operation or size of it but my research and US accountant (who wasn't able to help with UK tax /ni) made me think the set up I'm going for is correct.

I don't have anything to hide so am not worried about some of the stuff you mentioned it's also more practical having a NY llc if the business is located in NY (cheaper and less hassle in filing for my set up).

Forgot to mention but there are other tax benefits too: such as using business losses to reduce the tax liability on regular employment income.

 

[Edwin]

Your problem will most likely come if you decide to move away from the US (although you're going to have all sorts of sales tax issues as well) as the US tax authorities will probably want to keep their claws into the revenue stream for many, many years afterwards.