The remittance basis is an alternative tax treatment available to non-doms who are resident but not domiciled in the UK and have foreign income or gains.
Now the taxman is contacting UK tax residents claiming a non-UK domicile status, with ‘nudge’ letters about the remittance base charge (RBC).
The letters will be sent to those who have been tax resident in the UK for seven out of the preceding nine years and 12 out of the proceeding 14 years.
A ‘less formal’ approach
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has a strategy of sending targeted communications to taxpayers and offering an opportunity to talk to HMRC less formally and outside the normal enquiry process.
The letter will state the steps that may be required, allowing taxpayers time to amend their 2020-21 tax returns.
Recipients must make any amendments to last year’s return within 60 days to avoid a tax enquiry.
What are the costs of RBC?
The RBC allows many families living in the UK to not pay direct taxation because they make the bulk of their income abroad.
Being a non-dom does incur charges, but these are usually offset by the tax savings.
Data from self-assessment returns indicates that there are around 100,000 individuals who benefit from the remittance basis of whom 65,000 are non-doms who pay the RBC.
The Government levies £30,000 on those who have been living in the UK for at least seven of the previous nine tax years.
This rises to £60,000 for those who have lived in the UK for 12 of the previous 14 tax years.
The guidance has been clarified making the residence domicile and remittance basis manual (RDRM32220) clearer for customers regarding the year count for remittance basis purposes.
The guidance is intended to reinforce the fact that taxpayers must be tax resident in the year of arrival, departure and split year (or both) to count as a year of residence for remittance basis charge purposes.
In addition, updates will be made to the notes that accompany the Self-Assessment tax return (SA109) to inform taxpayers before they file their 2021/2022 tax returns.
Help with declaring overseas income
Even if you aren’t liable to the RBC, if you are non-domiciled in the UK and have overseas income that you haven’t declared to HMRC you need to check if it must be declared.
If you are concerned about this latest HMRC campaign or you believe you have undeclared taxable income, please contact your Seymour Taylor representative today or email our experienced team enquiries@stca.co.uk or call 01494552100.
This blog is for guidance only, professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein. The information was correct at the time of publishing 18th July 2022.