Hey folk,

I’m lucky enough to be heading over to Whistler in a couple of weeks on a 1 year working holiday visa. I’ve got a short term job lined up but the pay isn’t great and I want to avoid getting taxed twice.

From what I’ve read I’m still resident in the UK for tax purposes so any money I earn over there is liable for UK income tax as well as the local Canadian and BC taxes? Anyone here been in a similar situation and avoided double taxation?

You’ve been told/read wrong. If you are out of the country living/working you’ll pay no UK tax on your foreign earnings. There is a form to fill in to tell the UK you are gone but in your case you can just leave, I assume you will be paid directly in Canada.

EDIT – read the following, you should fill in a form contrary to what I said (although I suspect most people do not). You might get some tax back in the UK as you get the full personal allowance even for a part year.

HMRC Website

Right, I’m maybe just misunderstanding what’s what then. Yeah, I’ll get paid directly into a Canadian bank. So it looks like fill in the “leaving the UK form” P85 and then just let them work it out.

Yes, should be quite simple. It only gets complicated if you leave for short periods and/or you return for more than 90 days over any given tax year.

Good luck and have fun !

If you’re out of the country for a full tax year then you get away scott free, but it doesnt sound like you will so you don’t need to worry about the rules about being in/out of the UK, but you will still have involvement with the HMRC. Tax years run April-April, so you’d need to stay till May 2016 to do that.

Some countries have tax equeivelance treaties with the UK which mean you only pay the local tax, I’d be supprised if Cannada isn’t one of them, the rules are mostly setup to catch people working in tax havens but still ‘living’ in the UK, not to catch travelers with bar/hotel jobs in resorts.

Also, If you have had a job in the uk since April that was PAYE you would have been paying tax direct from your payslip at a rate that assumes that you were going to stay for the whole year , if so you can get a refund.

So your earnings in the UK for this tax year (between April 2014 and March 2015) was only what you earnt April2014-Oct2014. This may or may not be a big amount depending on how you fall in the tax brackets. Probably best case is earning £20k and working 6 months of the year as your earning for the year would be less than the personal allowance so you would get all of your income tax back.

My daughter works in Romania as a teacher, she says she isn’t allowed to stay in the UK more than 90 days a year (I though it was just because she doesn’t like us) 😉 I think her wages are paid into a bank in Cyprus or something like that.

I did the same in 2005. worked for Intrawest in Vancouver in a BUNAC visa. – free pass for Whistler.

There is a tax treaty. I managed to claim a load of Canadian tax back when I came home. think it was about 1000 quid in the end.
I used taxback.com

HMRC website has loads of advice and they are usually very helpful when you ring them. To go non resident you need to prove that you have an overseas contract for 1 year or more. Even then you still pay tax on any UK earnings eg rental income from your property. Make sure that you keep really good records of all earnings and expenditure as tax people love paper trails.

Also, If you have had a job in the uk since April that was PAYE you would have been paying tax direct from your payslip at a rate that assumes that you were going to stay for the whole year , if so you can get a refund.

Yup, been working here since before April, so due a wee bit of Tax back. I guess that gets sorted when I give them P85.

With a bit of luck I’ll be able to stay for 2 whole years but that requires another visa which isn’t guaranteed. It also relies on my getting more work after my initial contract expires.

Sounds like the best thing to do is give HMRC a ring and tell them what’s what. Canadian tax year run with the calendar year so I’ll be dealing with them almost straight away.

You might want to check up on National Insurance payments, too: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/work/abroad-index.htm

You might want to check up on National Insurance payments, too: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/work/abroad-index.htm

Cheers. Looks like Canada has an agreement with the UK so I only make payments to them.

This whole thing would be a lot easier if I pretend I’m not working and just on holiday :p

You would still need to declare any foreign income on both UK and Canadian tax returns along with the amount of local tax you paid on that respective foreign income.
I’ve been resident in Canada for 7 years, citizen for 1.. I still complete UK and Canadian tax returns. PITA.
There are LOTS of people in your situation and whistler Blackcomb offer a free tax seminar in the new year and have tax advisers available.

@petersmit – post reported for advertising

There are LOTS of people in your situation and whistler Blackcomb offer a free tax seminar in the new year and have tax advisers available.

Aye, I figured as much. Not working for the mountain though. The guy I’m working for has been out there for about 7 years or so I think so he should, in theory, know what he’s doing.

Apart from that I think a call to HMRC to thrash out the details will sort things out.

When I was in Australia I paid no UK tax, and as far as I understand it should be fine in your situation too.

The wife has to fill out a tax return for the US every year unless she renounces citizenship though! Crackers.

Like Dirksdiggler I’ve lived in Canada for around 7 years. Being lazy I’ve not quite gotten around to telling Britain that I’ve left yet…. Maybe I should but I’m not planning on moving back any time soon ever.

@walleater – if you where PAYE only, ie didn’t fill in a tax return, you don’t really have to fill in the P85.

@walleater – if you where PAYE only, ie didn’t fill in a tax return, you don’t really have to fill in the P85.

This is the situ I’m in. But I quite fancy the small tax rebate

Thanks Jambalaya. Yes, I was PAYE and also moved here a week and a half into a tax year so figured the UK and I were all squared up 🙂