Brit Expat Earnings Overseas Attract HMRC Attention

British expats with offshore investments and bank accounts need to ensure HMRC is aware of them.

All financial advisors who’ve referred clients to offshore advice, offshore services or an overseas financial institution are required to inform HM Revenue and Customs before the end of this month. Also, all IFAs who’ve pointed expat clients towards offshore services or advice since the year 2015 must warn them the UK taxman now has new powers to investigate information concerning overseas investments and cash.

According to the Inland Revenue, the assumption that British expatriates are no longer tax-resident in the UK is incorrect, as earnings overseas often attract British tax liabilities. The compulsory IFA warning needs to be presented using the HMRC template with its explanation of the authority’s sharing of financial information with over 100 countries worldwide, and the list includes British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Over the past five years, the clawing back from expats of British tax liabilities has increased eightfold and is now totalling £6.5 million as against the £796,835 collected in 2013. According to one source, British contractors either working overseas at the present time or having done so recently are very likely not to have paid the right amount of taxes. Due to the use of new technologies and updated laws, the chance of HMRC catching up with these expatriates is far greater than at any time over the past decade.