# Tax free allowance for ex pats under threat



## The Grocer (May 30, 2010)

This item also concerns freedom of movement within the EU 
This item also affects all those with UK income living in Australia Canada etc whose State pensions are already frozen by the UK.

If you have income from Britain - property or investments, --- or your private pension is taxed in Britain - read carefully...
* n.b. in theory bank interest can be paid gross.
The UK Government has a mind to tax you rather more.
They have it in mind to remove your personal allowances against tax. In that manner the expatriate is greatly discriminated against compared to the citizen at home.
This may not (hopefully) affect ex-government workers (see paragraph 6.6 in the report) - But the suggestion is raised and it cannot be discounted.
The consultation paper can be accessed here.

http://goo.gl/Jj5D2j
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The personal allowance represents the amount of your UK income which is exempt from tax. The allowance is currently worth £10,000 for people born after 5 April 1948, and £10,500 or £10,660 for older people. 

The proposals could affect UK citizens who are treated as not resident in the UK for tax purposes, but continue to receive income from the UK such as rent, interest, dividends or pensions. 
examples:---
1. Mr Smith is 65, but only gets the ordinary level of personal allowance for 2014/15: £10,000
Lets say his gross( before tax deducted) UK income is:
UK pensions: £12,000 
rent: £12,000
interest (gross): £1000
total £25,000
Less allowance of £10,000 = £15,000 all taxed at 20%
tax payable: £3000.
If Mr Smith did not have the use of the personal allowance he will pay tax of £5,000 on that income - an increase of £2,000.

2. Mrs Jones who is now 78. She has a personal allowance of £10,660, as she was born before 6 April 1938.
Her income is 
UK pensions: £20,000 
rent: £21,000
interest (gross): £1000
total £42,000
Less allowance of £10,660 = £31,340 all taxed at 20% 
tax payable £6268.
If Mrs Jones does not have her personal allowance of £10660 her income is taxed as: 
£31,865 @20%= £6373
£10,135 @40% = £4054
total tax payable = £10,427
A tax increase of £4,159, as her personal allowance is keeping her out of the 40% band.

The figures in the above paper suggest that each non-resident who currently benefits from the UK personal allowance will pay on average an extra £1000 per year in UK tax if these proposals go through.
This is a consultation paper, if sufficient numbers of people object to the proposals (and provide good reasons why), those changes may not happen. The deadline for responses is 9 October 2014. Any one can respond. You may provide comments other than answers to the questions posed. The Govt tends to count the numbers of responders as an indication of how sensitive a change would be. So do just that!

Remember further the added effect of the Double Taxation Convention ---- and understand fully the situation if you do not already know.

for example under the Double Taxation Convention between the UK and Greece.........
Greece does not give tax relief of the amount of actual tax paid in the UK but of the amount that would be paid if the income were only taxed in Greece
Many British Citizens already lose out considerably. It could get worse. Consider the effect on those in Australia and Canada etc whose State pensions are frozen.
The concept is appalling - enough to start a revolution as it did in 1776. The expatriate is so powerless - unless we act in unison.

Email responses to:-
nonresidentspersonalallowanceconsultati ... gsi.gov.uk
***************
It is surely so obvious that UK citizens abroad need protection from the excesses of the British Government.
That is why we need to encourage signatures to ---- Create MPs for expatriates similar to the French model - e-petitions


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

An MP responsible for expatriate issues is a fine idea, but I cannot see it happening. Perhaps a better tack would be to start a petition aimed directly at these proposals. That way it gets shared on Facebook and Twitter and could grow to a large number. A rough estimate suggests there could be 13 million British people living outside the UK!


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

A quick search of UK Government petitions seems to indicate that no such petition has yet been started. If 100,000 signatures has been reached by the end of the consultation period (9th October) the Government has a duty to debate the issue in Parliament.


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## The Grocer (May 30, 2010)

In my mail I did include a direct e-mail address

nonresidentspersonalallowanceconsultati ... gsi.gov.uk unfortunately the site seems to shorten address and hence does not read correctly, please highlight, copy and paste full address to e-mail UK Government direct your comments, as they requested in the consultation document.


[email protected]




A direct letter I find would carry far more weight, after all that is what the consultative document referred to requests.....


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

I did see the email address, but I just wonder how many people are going to go to the bother of composing an email. I think a petition is a simple way to register a protest. However, why not do both?


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## narco a (Sep 20, 2013)

Thanks Grocer for pointing this out. Go to the front of the checkout and collect the free mangers offer of the week! I have had a quick read of the document and think it needs a very thorough going through. I agree with Jolly Roger that a campaign made easy would be good. So some good reading for you with a glass of vino under an olive tree.


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

Because I consider this to be such an important issue, I have searched the UK Government Petitions website and have been unable to find any reference. Therefore, (with HM Treasuries consent!) I have started a petition. Please sign the petition, send an email to The Treasury and share on Facebook.

Restriction of personal allowances for non residents - e-petitions


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## The Grocer (May 30, 2010)

Hi Jolly Roger,
I did take on board your suggestion earlier of a petition however it is only a consultation paper at this stage and would not go through parliament before the general election next May. It is one that needs to be held onto in case it starts to move. *Under the conditions that govern petitions, since this is only in the consultation process it is only possible to petition once*. To do so now would make it easy for the people who will later draft the actual legislation to tweak it enough to circumvent the petition, so that what comes out at the end of the process can no longer be challenged at all and is set in stone.


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## brittleware (Oct 3, 2013)

Disappointingly, that petition has so far garnered only some 28 votes. A problem might be that it seems that these petitions require UK residence(!). Or am I wrong?


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## Jolly Roger (Dec 4, 2011)

I did use my UK address to set up this petition, but there is the option of entering any country in the world when signing. Following the Grocer's comments, I havn't been actively pushing this petition. Once it gets shared on facebook or whatever, it should get spread far and wide. So I might give it another push when I have more time!


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