UK departure form reflects changes in residence rules
When leaving the UK for good or going to work abroad full time for at least a complete tax year, individuals have to complete a form P85 and submit this to HMRC.
Following changes in the UK residency rules, effective from 6th April 2013, form P85 has been updated to take account of these changes.
At the start of form individuals are directed to the 'Guidance Note: Statutory Residence Test', particularly for the definitions of:
- Resident
- Home
- Full-time work
Section 1 – 'About you'
The first section of the form asks about the taxpayer's nationality and the country they are departing to and their full address in that foreign country. It is important to be able to enter an address here as this will help demonstrate that a person is leaving the UK permanently and making it easier to establish non-UK residence.
Question 15 states.
'Will you, your spouse, civil partner or someone you are living with as a spouse or civil partner, have a home in the UK while you are overseas?'
Where someone does not meet any of the automatic overseas tests or any of the automatic UK tests then individual's should use the sufficient ties test to help them decide their UK residence status for a tax year. This test examines their ties to the UK in the following areas:
- family
- accommodation
- work
- number of days spent in the UK
- whether you spend more time in the UK than elsewhere
and applies rules to determine whether those ties are sufficient for you to be considered UK resident for tax purposes.
Those leaving the UK to work full-time abroad are asked to complete questions 19 and 20.
Section 2 requests details of income an individual will be receiving once they have left the UK, typically rental income from a UK property. Where an individual is in receipt of UK rents and their absence from the UK exceeds 6 months then HMRC will classify them as a non-resident landlord. This will usually mean that income tax will be deducted from the rents before being passed on to the individual.
Section 3 deals with overseas employment.
Download the P85 form (PDF).
Would recommend not answering some of those questions on the form related to what job your going to be doing… frankly that is none of their business and an invasion of privacy. Stick to when your leaving, what income your going to be earning from the UK only and expected days.
Sorry, but someone had to say it: ‘your’ is written three times above when it should read ‘you’re’ (as in short for ‘you are’. ‘Your’ is like ‘my’ or ‘our’ and makes no sense here. Such errors simply detract from the underlying message, which is sound advice.