Global wealth and global lifestyles can make managing taxes incredibly complex. Our specialist international tax solicitors can help you stay compliant with international regulations and ensure you don’t pay any more tax than you have to.
If you have assets and investments in different countries, your wealth is affected by a variety of different tax regimes, regulations, and cultural issues. Ex-pats, non-doms, and foreign nationals living in the UK are all affected by international tax law too.
Staying legally compliant while taking advantage of all tax efficiency opportunities is complicated, time-consuming, and requires deep technical knowledge. Our dedicated international tax lawyers can advise on bespoke international tax strategies and manage them on your behalf, contact our team.
What can Irwin Mitchell help me with?
We can advise on:
- Cross-border tax planning
- UK tax matters for individuals and families moving to or from the UK
- Tax domicile and residence for you and your trusts, foundations and companies
- Tax-efficient structuring of UK and cross-border investment
- Using international tax treaties and conventions
- Tax compliance and completing UK tax returns
- Your obligations for disclosing financial information under the Common Reporting Standard
- HMRC disclosures and enquiries.
As well as our own expertise in these areas, you’ll also benefit from our extensive worldwide network of industry contacts. We’re well-known in all major offshore financial hubs and can get you access to the products and services you need.
Why choose Irwin Mitchell’s international tax solicitors?
We’re well known for our international tax expertise and our team includes numerous renowned industry experts.
We have excellent contacts with the offshore finance world and with the banks, wealth managers and third-party service providers who you need to structure their assets effectively.
We have structured tens of billions of assets for a wide range of clients all over the world including entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and families with inherited wealth.
International tax often involves a wide range of related legal issues such as corporate law, property, trusts, and estates. We work closely with colleagues specialising in all these areas and more, so you’ll always get a fully comprehensive strategy, whatever your situation.
We have offices across the UK and can also advise and accept instruction via phone or email so wherever you are, we’re here for you.
For general enquiries
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More Information – International Tax
Everyone must pay UK tax on UK income, but your tax residence and domicile determine how much UK tax you pay on foreign income and capital gains.
UK tax residents who are UK domiciled pay UK tax on foreign income and capital gains.
Non-domiciled UK tax residents don’t pay UK tax on foreign income or capital gains if they’re less than £2,000 in the tax year.
- They chose to pay tax on a remittance basis - this when you’re taxed only on your UK income and gains. Foreign income and gains you keep out of the country won’t be taxed.
- Certain tax reliefs or allowances apply to them.
Non-UK residents don’t pay UK tax on any foreign income. They only pay capital gains tax:
- On UK residential property
- In some cases, if they have previously had UK tax residence and become UK tax resident again after a limited time.
Most countries tax you differently depending on whether or not you’re considered ‘tax resident’.
Tax residence is a different concept to actual residence. This means that you might legally be tax resident somewhere even if you don’t consider it to be your home.
Tax residence is usually based on:
- How long you’re in the country
- Where your family live
- Where you work
- If you own a home in the country
- How much money and assets you own in the country
- Where the centre of your life is.
The different tax laws in different countries can sometimes conflict, which could mean that you’re a tax resident in multiple countries or that you pay tax on the same income twice.
Under English law, your domicile is the country or state of your permanent home which may be different to the place where you currently live. It can have an impact on the UK income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax that you pay.
You are automatically given your parents’ domicile when you are born. This is known as your domicile of origin.
You keep your domicile of origin until you get a new one. Even if you move abroad, your domicile probably won’t change unless you specifically change it.
You need to meet certain criteria if you want to change your domicile. As a minimum, under English law you’ll have to:
- Move to another country
- Prove that you plan to live there permanently.
The UK has a special rate for long term UK residents who are not domiciled in the UK. Once they’ve been a UK tax-resident for 15 out of the previous 20 UK tax years they are treated as domiciled in the UK (‘deemed domicile’).
We can explain how your move will affect your UK tax situation for any UK and international wealth you own. We’ll tell you about any new rules and regulations that you’ll face and help you with any new reporting responsibilities.
We’ll advise on how you can keep your taxes as efficiently as possible using a variety of laws and treaties rather than artificial schemes or tax engineering. We can also suggest the best way to structure your global assets to ensure full compliance with UK tax law.
Of course, moving to a new country involves far more than taxes. You may also need to:
- Buy a new home
- Get a visa or apply for citizenship
- Amend your Will
- Invest in a business.
Our solicitors can help with all these issues and more.
We can help with a wide range of issues that might come up if you own property or assets in multiple countries, including:
- UK tax returns, particularly Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) returns for UK properties
- Will writing and estate planning
- Forced heirship laws in certain countries that restrict who can inherit your assets.
Frank Clayton, clientIrwin Mitchell are a very professional, trustworthy and straightforward company to deal with. I would recommend them to anyone."
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