UK tax whilst living in Oz

[TheHarrisonFamily]

Hi All

 

We emigrated to Oz from the UK on permanent 176 Visa Jan 2011.

We still have a UK house which we are renting out. We cmpleted tax forms before we came so that we do not pay any tax fromour rental income via the rental agent and this has been agreed by the inland revenue.

Now we have had a letter come saying that we need tocomplete a UK self assessment fot tax each year.

Is this right? should we have completed any other tax forms before we left the UK, as this was the only one we completed.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Many thanks

Donna

[catherine.c]

Yes it is right. Rent is an income and needs to be disclosed yearly to the inland revenue. The only way they can work out whether you need to pay tax on your income is via the self assessment.

We fill it in online and it is reasonably easy (though I might not have said that at the beginning!) - just make sure you keep receipts / details of anything you spend on the house (gas checks, letting agent for example) along with all of your rent.

Mortgage payments are deductible and dont forget if it is in joint names to balance out losses and profits between you. This way, hopefully you will not have to pay any tax. In fact, in our first year we were paid back tax that we had overpaid.

Catherine

[catherine.c]

I forgot to say that the form you filled in was so that the agent did not take the tax off each month - it is best to do this as otherwise you would be in the position of having less money each month and having to claim it back. It does not mean however that you do not have to pay tax on it at all.

I cannot remember how much you can 'earn' per year but its probably around £8000 a year each before tax becomes due.

Hope this helps

Catherine