Living on boat / sailing the world and tax residency?

TechnoD

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Hello, Im in the research phase for the idea of living on a catamaran and sailing the world for the next few years and I have a question about tax residency.

Currently I am a UK citizen and resident but I also have residency in the UAE, Ideally Id like to be a non resident of the UK and run my self employment through the UAE as they have no income tax, on paper this is 100% legal as long as i no longer live in the UK or have any ties, but if my boat is registered and flying a UK flag does this change things?

For example, say I have been outside the UK for more than 180 days and i'm currently in the Caribbean with no intention to return to the UK, am i deemed a none UK resident?


Does a UK registered boat effect tax residency, would I be better flying under the UAE or another nation?

Thanks
 

Tranona

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No, the flag of the boat is irrelevant to your personal tax status. You qualify for registering your boat on the UK Part1 register through your UK citizenship. Tax status depends on your personal situation, and as you might expect HMRC are reluctant to let you escape paying tax in the UK! Just being outrside the Uk for 180 days is nowhere near enough. You need to do some research on the actual rules by contacting HMRC or taking professional advice to see if you can meet them.
 

TechnoD

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No, the flag of the boat is irrelevant to your personal tax status. You qualify for registering your boat on the UK Part1 register through your UK citizenship. Tax status depends on your personal situation, and as you might expect HMRC are reluctant to let you escape paying tax in the UK! Just being outrside the Uk for 180 days is nowhere near enough. You need to do some research on the actual rules by contacting HMRC or taking professional advice to see if you can meet them.

Thank you for the clarification and Ive dived deep into HMRC's rules, ill be meeting all the requirements so this area will be a non issue, thank you tho :)
 

nmeyrick

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If you’re planning to lose your U.K. tax residency the rules are in the statutory residence test:

RDR3 Statutory Residence Test

Having gone through this myself it is a complicated area (I’m an accountant myself although not a tax specialist and would not have felt confident to go it alone)

I got advice from Nick Smith (nick@godivatax.com) and found he was very thorough, very knowledgeable and reasonably priced.
 
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