Sending money to the UK from a UK non-resident/non-domiciled donor

[RSKUK]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and would greatly appreciate your expertise.

My UK non-resident/non-domiciled spouse lives in South Korea. I am her British spouse husband- I am UK non-resident (My domicile -not sure/could still be UK domiciled or maybe that became 'changed domicile' to non-domiciled because I have lived in Korea for so long.). I have lived and worked in South Korea for 17 years and paid all Korean taxes on my income. My Korean spouse wishes to sell a property comprising land on which two houses are built. One is our principal primary residence, the other house is used to private tutor-business use. The entire property is in my Korean spouse's ownership.

We plan to relocate to the UK. My wife wants to send the money from the sale of the house in Korea to my UK bank account. We intend to use this money to purchase a new family home in the UK.

How to send the money under our circumstances?

Ideally, we would like to send the entire amount of money from the house sale in Korea in one lump to my UK bank account.
However, this will not be possible because my wife requires a spouse visa to show the Korean bank and tax office that her intention to move to the UK is a permanent one. In order for her to get a UK spouse entry visa I must be resident in the UK when she applies for the visa. So, at this point I will be UK resident and UK domiciled (though to be honest I'm not 100% sure of this ) and my wife will still be UK non-resident and UK non-domiciled because she is still in South Korea. She can gift money to me in Korea up to a limit of 400,000 pounds sterling (according to Korean Spouse Gifting Tax Law). I must have documents of my total income earnings for my 17 years Korean taxed employment- I already have the documents from the Korean tax office. It is under the 400,000 pounds sterling limit.

So we have some different options to send the property sale money as follows in two transactions:

1st transaction : Send just over half the property sale money from her Korean bank account to my Korean bank account then send to my UK account. At the time of transaction we will both be UK-non resident and I believe UK non-domiciled. I can show the source of funds is a gift from my wife made in Korea the amount being equal to my total Korean taxed income for the 17 years I have lived in South Korea.

2nd transaction : Send the remaining property sale money to my UK bank account from my wife's Korean bank account. At this point I will be in the UK. Therefore I will be UK resident and UK domiciled again. My wife will still be in South Korea and UK non-resident and UK non-domiciled. The Korean bank and tax office will allow her to send an unlimited amount if she likes because at this point she will have received her UK spouse visa which shows the Korean authorities of her intention to permanently relocate to the UK.

Question : Will I need to pay any tax on the 1st transaction and 2nd transaction ? Are there any tax liabilities with a spouse overseas sending money from Korea to the UK under our circumstances. Just to reiterate, we plan to use the property sale money in Korea to buy a new family home as part of our UK relocation.

I'm sorry this is so long winded but I tried my utmost to keep the explanation of our circumstances as concise as possible.

Eagerly waiting for your ideas and responses,

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[RMC]

The answer is No – non-residents are taxed only on income arising in the UK, and you say that your earnings arose in S Korea at the time when you were not resident in the UK.
BTW as you did not intend to stay in Korea permanently, you have not lost your UK domicile. But this is not relevant here.

[RSKUK]

Is there are chance HMRC would question my domicile status and consider me UK non-dom returning expat?
I never told HMRC I wanted to be considered UK non- dom while here. I have kept open a UK bank account and continued paying nat ins contributions during my 17 years in Korea. We always planned to move back to the UK permanently after spending some time in Korea..but never actively sought non- dom status because i wanted to keep my uk domiciled status.

Thank you for your reply RMC..

[RMC]

Presumably you were UK-domiliced at birth and did not také steps during your stay abroad to claim non-UK-domiciled status. In which case as I already mentioned you remained UK-domiciled throughout.

[bd6759]

Being domiciled in UK gives the UK more taxing rights, so HMRC will rarely, is ever, argue that you are not domicled. There would ne no reason for them to do so. In any event, your domicile is irrelvant in your circumstances.

[RSKUK]

Once again, thank you for your response RMC. I was born in the UK and UK domiciled.
I have a query relating to the gift from my spouse. As mentioned in my first post, we will likely send money to the UK in two transactions. All the money is from the sale of our property in my wife's sole ownership.

1st transaction: I will send just over half the money from her Korean account to my Korean account then sent to my UK account (the transfer of money between our Korean accounts was legally performed according to Korean law which needs to see any transfers between spouses fully accounted for, in our case my earnings/savings documentation in Korea). The Korean bank and tax office says this is the only way a foreigner can send money out of Korea to the UK, i.e by proving savings/money earned whilst in Korea and non-UK resident. This transaction will take place when both my spouse and I are non-UK resident and still in Korea. Also, I am UK domiciled my wife Korean domiciled/but this is irrelevant in this case, as you said.

Question: Your previous answer to the first transaction seems to be that no tax liability will arise? Is this correct? Just want to be sure.

2nd transaction : The Korean bank/tax office requires my wife proves her intention to permanently leave Korea to take up resident in the UK with me her spouse and our children. This she will do with her spouse visa. She may send money from her Korean account to my UK account. This transaction will take place when I am resident in the UK again and my wife still in Korea/non -UK resident

Question: Does this transaction fall under the gift category or is there a category that allows a spouse to transfer money to their UK resident spouse for the reason of relocating/purchasing a family home? I wonder if any tax liabilities will apply if it is deemed a gift or a relocation money transfer, if indeed this category exists. Also, would there be any tax implications arising from my wife sending it to me in the UK, then her moving to the UK? The money transferred to my account will be used to purchase our new home. Could HMRC then claim that my wife could be seen to "enjoy" this money....something about me or her being a relevant person, something which I do not fully understand?

So sorry for the extent of this letter and sorry if I seem repetitious. I asked many separate questions. May I just express my gratitude for your time RMC. Naturally, this is very important to us as I'm sure it is for many others seeking to relocate to the UK.

Kind regards,
RSKUK

[RSKUK]

Thank you for your advice bd6759. Much appreciated. I feel sure my domicile is not an issue now.