Returning to the UK

Your guide to taxation

As an expatriate, your financial plans will need to be flexible enough to meet changes in your lifestyle, such as becoming tax resident in the UK.

Careful planning can help you boost your finances by preventing tax eroding your savings and investments unnecessarily, but does not need to be complex.  

When considering your return to the UK, it’s important to understand your UK tax status and how the tax system back home could impact your finances. 

By staying up to date with the latest reliefs and allowances and investing your money in tax-efficient products, you can ensure that you don’t pay any more tax than you need to.

International life plans taken out, while you are an expatriate, can play an important role in your financial planning as they can help you achieve tax efficiency when you return to the UK.

Personal portfolio bond legislation

It is very important that you inform us if you become UK resident, so we can check the fund rules relating to your policy.

If your policy has fund rules allowing you to hold “personalised” assets (such as equities and bonds) it will be subject to a penal annual tax charge based on “deemed gains” equalling 15% of the policy premium, once you return to the UK.  

This annual charge would occur on each policy anniversary however, it is possible to avoid this annual tax charge if you consent to us changing your policy fund rules to allow collective investments only.  

You should also contact your financial adviser to discuss your options.

Please click here to download our guide to taxation in UK

The information provided here does not constitute investment advice or an offer to provide any product or service by Friends Provident International.

Please seek professional advice, taking into account your personal circumstances, before making investment decisions. We can accept no liability for loss of any kind incurred as a result of reliance on the information or opinions provided here.