Split residency throughout tax year

[Becca1]

Hi
I had been registered self employed in Spain and was resident there until end December 2013 and paid tax/social security in Spain on my earnings to the end of the Spanish tax year ie 31st December. I have effectively moved back to UK from beginning January 2014 and registered self-employed on 14th January 2014. I still own a home in Spain ( crisis means not being able to viably sell plus ex owns jointly) there is no income from this property and I still use it frequently. I'm UK national,born and lived/worked in the UK until about 5 years ago when I moved to Spain.

The Self Assessment form asks if any time of the tax year I was non-resident...Whilst I was, this was before being Self Employed in the UK. Surely the information I need to put on the form is for my income since the time I registered SE in UK and not the income I earned 6th April 2013 - 31st December 2013 whilst I was registered/resident and all paid up in Spain?

Any advice appreciated!

[GlobalTaxAdviser]

Hi Becca

Without all the facts it would be difficult to guage if you were resident or non resident in the tax year or if split year applies.

Under the Statutory Residency Test (SRT) there are eight cases and case 5 & 8 would apply to you to decide if you were resident or non resident

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... dr3_1_.pdf

First though you may need to look at the other tests under the SRT and then go to the split year cases

Possibly if you are non resident / resident in both countries then the double tax treaty will become relevant under the Tie breaker. Since you have a home in Spain you could be deemed to be resident in Spain as well. The spanish angle should be looked into under the domestic residency laws

Sorry if it sounds complex

Kind Regards

Sash

[maths]

The first issue is to ascertain if under UK law you would for the relevant tax year be UK resident.

If so then you would need to consider if the tax year could be split.

If you were resident in Spain under Spanish law and also resident in the UK under UK law for the same time period the terms of the double tax agreement would need to be considered.