Working abroad....Taxes!

[petop]

If any of you may of seen previous posts by myself im out the Army in July after 25 years and moving on to the big civilian world!
Had a job offer in Democratic Republic of Congo of all places in the same line of work i do in the mil. Now money tax free is fine but if the job starts for instance in May this year is it a full year before i get the tax free perk?
Ive heard depending when you start in the new financial year (Apr to Apr) will decide how much tax i pay the Chancellor.
Is there a way around this, without incurring the wrath of typical Daily Mail readers as im not the head of Starbucks and if anyone else wants to come out to DRC, via the excellent airlines that service that country and fly around in helicopters that should be in a museum then feel free!
Help would be appreciated.

[SLCZ3]

petop said:

If any of you may of seen previous posts by myself im out the Army in July after 25 years and moving on to the big civilian world!
Had a job offer in Democratic Republic of Congo of all places in the same line of work i do in the mil. Now money tax free is fine but if the job starts for instance in May this year is it a full year before i get the tax free perk?
Ive heard depending when you start in the new financial year (Apr to Apr) will decide how much tax i pay the Chancellor.
Is there a way around this, without incurring the wrath of typical Daily Mail readers as im not the head of Starbucks and if anyone else wants to come out to DRC, via the excellent airlines that service that country and fly around in helicopters that should be in a museum then feel free!
Help would be appreciated.

Technicaly there is no "tax free" but the UK tax authorities will give you a concession in this respect.
There are some changes from this coming April on the "non resident for tax" domicile or similar designation.

It was generally, dependent on who paid you, from where to where it was recevied, and also on the number of days your were regarded as "resident" in the UK.

There is now a resident for tax purposes test that is applied, which in reaity is several conditions that have to be met.
Roughly it is still mainly dependent on the number of days you are in country (UK), but other condition such as do you have property/family/regular trips back to/in the UK.
Check out the UK gov website for the detail on it.

Make sure the rate you are going out there for is net of any local tax, and get a good UK expat tax accountant, remember to pay the relevant NI to cover for your UK pension rights as well.
All the best in the game.

[petop]

Many thanks for that. I'll do some researching. It will only be me going over with the family staying here with a 9-10 week rotation give or take.
Although being used to 6-7 month tours ill happily do longer stints!

[GT03ROB]

It's not always straightforward but if you are going abroad to work full time & you spend less than 90 days in the UK, you don't have a UK tax liability. Your non-residency (zero tax liability) can start & finish part way through a tax year, but you must complete a full tax year working full time out of the UK (maximum 90 days in the UK). For the partial tax years thenumber of days you are allowed in the UK reduces. Watch the local taxes though as you will likely have a liability there.

HMRC have recently published some rules on the subject which have clarified the area, where previously there was only interpretation.

[petop]

Cheers again for info.

[TurricanII]

Don't forget that if you stop paying National Insurance in the UK then you lose entitlement to benefits (NHS service/drugs and pension being biggies) after a period. I don't know the finer details but would recommend that you check it out.