Potential Uk bureaucracy issues if you sail off for a few years?

[steve yates]

Wansy’s thread about failed ocean wandering got me thinking about this. What problems have folk found with this when you have gone off on extended cruising trips? (as opposed to leaving for good and living aboard abroad)
And what are the work arounds?
One potential issue seems to be it could be very easy to become non tax resident, and I don’t particularly want that to be the case!
I am self employed but mainly would be supported by uk rental income when away.
I would ideally still have a home address but may have to rent it out, depends on what I buy after downsizing.
One issue of being declared non resident for tax would appear to be a provision for letting agents to remit 50% of rents to customs if the landlord is not uk resident, thats a bit of a fly in the ointment!
Another potential issue could be the making tax digital requirements, which would impact me from april 2027, when quarterly returns are required,, I would have to ensure I had internet access etc for the due dates to process the accounts and submit them.
There is obviously the issue of mail, though I know there are companies who can forward this by scanning etc, any reccomendations?
And then there are health issues, whther the go deregisters you or not, that appears to be a bot of a lottery?
What else is likely to crop up to make the simple life complicated

 

[Sea Change]

We've remained resident in the UK, and our house is still our residence and postal address, even though we rent it out. We're still registered with our GP and we're on the voters' roll. We pay council tax at that address- it would save us quite a bit if we registered it as a business instead.

Despite being out of the UK for over two years at one point, and several times more than a year, we've encountered no problems.

I wouldn't worry about internet access, almost everybody has Starlink now and even if you don't, local SIMs and VPNs will see you right.