BUZZ ACCOUNTINGThe leaving-the-UK tax checklist
Ten jobs, in the order the deadlines arrive: day budget, split year, the P85, the NRL1, the April 2015 valuation, your National Insurance and the dates to diarise.
Leaving the UK: the ten tax jobs worth doing early
Each one costs almost nothing done in the right month and four figures done in the wrong tax year. Three pages, in the order the deadlines actually arrive — day budget, split year, the P85, the NRL1, the April 2015 valuation, the ISA, your National Insurance and the two dates to diarise.
The download opens on the next page — no waiting for an email, no sequence, no sales calls.
What is in it
Three pages, ten jobs, in the order the deadlines actually arrive rather than in order of how interesting they are. It is the list we work through on a departure review, written out so you can do the easy ones yourself.
The reason it exists: almost everything that decides your UK tax position for the next decade is settled in the twelve months around your move, and most of it is trivial to get right in advance and genuinely expensive to fix afterwards. A P85 filed in the right month produces a refund; the same form a year later produces a query. An NRL1 in before the tenancy starts means you never lose 20% of the rent; the same form six months later means a year of waiting to claim it back.
Who it is for
Anyone leaving the UK in the next year or two, and anyone who left recently and has a nagging feeling they missed something. It assumes no tax knowledge and does not try to sell you anything on the way through — the tools and the fees are on the last page and that is the whole of it.
If you have already left and several of these are undone, that is normal and mostly recoverable. Split-year treatment, a P85 refund and voluntary National Insurance can all be picked up retrospectively within limits. The two that are genuinely time-critical are the 60-day property return and the six-year National Insurance window, which is why they are on the list.
What happens after you download it
Nothing, unless you want it to. The PDF downloads on the next page, so there is no waiting for an email. We keep your address only for the occasional piece worth reading, one click unsubscribes, and nobody rings you.
Guides to the rules that catch expats out
The Statutory Residence Test, explained properly
Whether the UK taxes your worldwide income comes down to a mechanical test of days, ties and work.
Voluntary National Insurance from abroad: £3.50 a week for a bigger State Pension
For £3.50 a week, most working expats can keep their UK State Pension growing while they're away.
Letting your home when you move abroad
The most common expat property story isn't an investor with a portfolio — it's a family who moved for work and kept the house.