Non-UK Citizen Transferring Money to UK

[johnformby]

Hello,

I have been Googling for hours and am still no clearer about this. If anything, I just have a headache and need a coffee

I am a British Citizen and my wife is Ghanaian. We married in Ghana whilst I was working there and recently moved to the UK (November 2016). My wife had some business interests in Ghana which she has now sold and would like to transfer the funds to the UK. She is here on a Spouse (Settlement) Visa and intends to stay here permanently with me and our kids.

What I can't work out is whether she will be taxed on the money she is transferring here, or because it relates to business that was conducted when she was in Ghana, it would be exempt. We want to be very clear on this as the amount is quite significant.

Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

John

[AmanSood]

Hi John

There are a few different considerations and scenarios which could apply. The simplest if all the gains/interest/income overseas arose before she became UK tax resident. In this case there would be no UK tax implications if she brought the income into the UK. However, if your wife sold the interests whilst UK tax resident then she would be taxable on her worldwide income on an arising basis including any foreign gains. But if she claims to be non-UK domiciled then she would only be taxed on foreign income if this is brought into the UK. An additional consideration if she claims to be non-UK domiciled and only taxed on income she brings into the UK is that she would lose any entitlement to her UK tax free personal allowance/capital gains allowance.

There's therefore a lot to consider depending on your wife's particular circumstances (so not surprised you needed a coffee after doing your research)! I'd be happy to have an initial call to talk through this in further detail with you if it would be helpful.

Aman