Possibly moving to work in the UK - with complications!

R

rgunning

Guest
OK, this is a bit complicated, so I'll try to sum it up:

Basically, my wife and I are currently resident in Ireland. I have a job offer in the UK. It would be good for my career, but with a mortgage to pay here, it will probably depend on whether the money works out.

The complication lies here: my wife is pregnant. If we moved to the UK, my wife will be getting her maternity benefit, plus a top up from her employers.

She would intend to possible undertake unpaid maternity leave and holidays to take her to 1 year off, to spend with me in England. My contract would possibly be one year, maybe two, but I would probably return after one year.

Both of us will obviously be resident in the UK (not NI). I am wondering if:

-She will be liable for tax on any of her maternity in the UK, or just in Ireland.
-How will I be taxed? As someone with two dependents?, given that she will not be working in the UK, but will be earning state maternity benefit plus employer top-up in Ireland.

I am not sure how much the job in England will pay (I will find out soon), but I expect it to be slightly less than what I earn here. Given that cost of living will be less, that is not too much of a problem, but at the end of the day, it all needs to add up.

I know that if I go through with this, I will need to visit a professional tax adviser, but as this is only an offer, I am just looking for an outline as to what our situation would be.
 
There are a few complications here -

1) If you do not leave Ireland for long enough, you will remain tax resident in Ireland, but also become tax resident in the UK. You will then have filing obligations in both countires, with tax credits available for foreign tax paid in Ireland

2) In the UK, tax is dealt with separately for married couples. If your wife becomes tax resident in the UK she will be taxed on her income in the UK, but as she is (I would guess) non-domiciled, that could be limited to the amounts of Irish income she remits to the UK rather than all of her income. However, there are added complications to claiming non-UK domicile in the UK which would need to be looked at.

3) What will you be doing with your Irish property? Will you be letting this out? As an overseas landlord there are issues that need to be addressed here also for tax purposes.

You really need to take professional advice, and a lot will depend on the figures involved, and how long is spent in the UK.
 
Thanks Domo. I'll take all that under consideration. In the words of Ned Flanders, it's a dilly of a pickle.
 
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