Year End Tax Review 2009/2010 Contents Lead articles The year ahead... This year, next year Pension hit Employees Too much NIC NIC and pensions Company cars Tax-free benefits Business - General Time to incorporate? His and hers Family bonus Profit and loss Show me the money Can't pay, won't pay? Turning back the clock Business - VAT Standard VAT or flat VAT? VAT goes down - must come up? European revolution A good start for VAT Happy returns? Investments Top-up savings Rainy day money Capital Gains Gains favoured Splitting gains A place in the country Holiday lets end Families Family fortunes Where there's a Will Credits and debits Piggy banks Still trustworthy? Administration Penalty shoot-out Paperwork, paperwork Pay tax later Opportunity knocks again Charity Give and save Non-Domiciled People Home and away Interest Interesting times

Home and away For many years, foreign domiciled people enjoyed a tax break in the UK on their foreign income and gains - if they left the money overseas, they didn't have to declare it here. Since 2008, people who have lived in the UK for 7 years have a choice: pay tax here on your worldwide income and gains, or pay a flat-rate charge of £30,000 a year and forgo your tax-free allowances in the UK. The only exception is if your total amount of foreign income and gains is under £2,000. Short-term UK residents such as expats on a secondment of less than 7 years still enjoy the tax break. A rough-and-ready calculation shows you will be better off paying £30,000 if your overseas income is more than £75,000 - of course, it's more complicated than that with different tax rates applying to income and gains, but that's a starting figure. However, many people with substantial foreign assets and connections may do the even easier calculation and decide it's cheaper to live somewhere else. Anyone who has been using the "remittance basis" and has lived in the UK for 7 years should already have reviewed their plans; anyone who is approaching the 7 year limit should think about it as a matter of urgency. Action Point! Do you currently pay tax on remittances of foreign income?