# Relocating back to UK from Gibraltar



## Gibdees (Aug 9, 2017)

Hi
I was born in the UK in the 60's and lived and worked there until 2000 when I transferred to Gibraltar with work. I have recently taken voluntary redundancy/early retirement and plan to sell my property here in Gibraltar and move back to the UK to retire and be nearer family. 
I am fortunate enough to have c.£300k savings (cash and equities) and a c.£450k QROPS pot. I will use my property equity in Gib to purchase a house in the UK without a mortgage.
My query is about my UK tax liability in the year I return. Assuming I return in the autumn of this year, given I have no UK property currently, and no UK income, I should I think be treated on split year basis for 2017/2018?
I want to make sure that a) I will have no UK CGT liability on my Gib property (there is no CGT in Gibraltar) and that b) if I am simply drawing down on my savings earned in Gib say at 30k pa for the next 10 years in the UK when I return, how would I be taxed?
Any info would be greatly appreciated as I find the ukgov site very confusing in that I won't have foreign income as such, it will merely be drawing down on savings for the next 10 years.
Basically my aim is to return to UK and live off purely savings for the next 10 years before I drawdown my QROPS from age 65 and I'd like to better understand my UK tax liability if I do this.
Cheers


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## Dunedin (Aug 12, 2013)

Residence in the UK is now determined under the Statutory Residence Test (SRT). SRT is surprisingly detailed. However the crucial details will be full time work abroad and the number of days of presence in the UK. Split year treatment is a variant of the main SRT rules.

If you sell a property after resuming residence in the UK, then in principle any gain made is taxable in the UK. There is not a provision under which only the gain from the date of residence is taxable. However, the main residence relief should be available. This should fully exempt the gain, but best to check out the details.

Once you are UK resident, income and gains from savings would be taxed in the UK. The rates of tax on dividend income are lower than on other income and there is now a dividend allowance.

The taxation of QROPS is a specialist matter; it is difficult to obtain reliable and reasonably priced advice in this area. If you are now over 55, you should explore whether it might be possible to take the entire fund in a lump sum before resuming UK residence without incurring any UK tax. It may take some time to obtain advice, so start soon on this area.


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