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Is the UK still a tax haven?

Hi Fellows, please stick to topic or we have to delete posts here! Thanks ;)
 
I would hold of making any decision until UK Governments March 26 2025 budget announcement.

https://international-adviser.com/rachel-reeves-must-clear-up-uncertainty-in-uk-spring-statement/

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Unsurprisingly there has been a huge amount of negative press following the budget and the Government announced in January that they were considering rowing back on the non-dom changes. Again, we don’t know what that means.

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is there any update now we have the first of April ? still the same rules there or unclarified ?
 
Short answer - no, they abolished the non-dom status.

Slightly longer answer - they did introduce some 5-year substitute, but imho it's not worth it anymore. Ireland, Cyprus, Malta have 17 years non-dom regimes and Cyprus has the lowest requirements for the personal tax residence, I would recommend looking into it.
If you decide to go down this path, wouldn't it be advisable to hire an accountant or someone knowledgeable about the UK tax laws to access this 4 + 1 tax exemption?

Would this mean that if I close my UK company and only receive a salary from my Swiss AG, with my salary being transferred monthly from Switzerland to the UK, the income would be tax-free for the next 4 years after I deregister where I currently live and register in the UK?

Do I need to close my UK company, which only receives income from crypto from a foreign company, to avoid any issues?
 
wouldn't it be advisable to hire an accountant or someone knowledgeable
It is always advisable to seek a professional opinion, better more than from one source.
I decided not to play around fast-changing rules with both parties seeing wealthy people only as a walking wallet to tax and left the country before the election. So I can't give any advice on whatever new tax regime they introduced.

In my opinion the UK lost its appeal for a capital relocation unless one is unfairly targeted by a corrupt regime in their own third-world country. The UK laws still work fine for capital protection as long as you have a valid claim on this capital and can afford good lawyers.
 
The UK laws still work fine for capital protection as long as you have a valid claim on this capital and can afford good lawyers.

The UK is a vessel entity of the US. It does whatever its master the US orders it to do. It is not a place for asset protection at all......ask Venezuela government.


Why is Venezuela’s gold still frozen in the Bank of England?​


https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-is-venezuelas-gold-still-frozen-in-the-bank-of-england/

Personally I would not bother with the 4 year tax program. Between now and then you could be hit with changes to exit taxation due to wealth flight. Report below is worth a read.


Wealth Exodus: Stopping Non-Dom Flight​

https://www.adamsmith.org/research/wealth-exodus-stopping-non-dom-flight
 
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Would this mean that if I close my UK company and only receive a salary from my Swiss AG, with my salary being transferred monthly from Switzerland to the UK, the income would be tax-free for the next 4 years after I deregister where I currently live and register in the UK?

Why UK? Just move to Dubai? Less stress and better weather.
In case you care about tax treaties - I believe many (most?) tax treaties with the UK exempt non-dom residents from treaty benefits. This is something you should check.

And I don't think your salary would be tax free - since it would count as earned in the UK? It wouldn't be foreign income?
It could be different if you were paying dividends from the Swiss company and you kept those outside of the UK, probably? But then you pay corporate income tax in Switzerland.
And then you could just set up a holding company outside of Switzerland and even stay in Switzerland?
Or you could move to e.g. Estonia or Malta or Cyprus.

Do I need to close my UK company, which only receives income from crypto from a foreign company, to avoid any issues?

I never researched the non-dom scheme further, but isn't there simply a tax exemption for foreign income/assets? Just because you ALSO have some UK assets, that doesn't change that other assets are offshore?

But I will probably never understand people who move to the UK voluntarily... bad food, bad weather, ugly women, crime.
Ok, maybe in London, you can also find better food, but still. I really don't get why anyone would want to live there...
 
Your and the last 3 posts makes absolute no sense for my question!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned by now, it’s to filter out all the noise and negativity from certain users here on OCT.

None of you are answering the question I actually asked. Instead, you're sharing your personal and political opinions about the UK, and the rest of the world, for that matter, along with what you would do.

I didn’t ask for your personal views, suggestions for other places, or commentary on UK policies.

I asked which model one should use in order to benefit from the 4+1 rule in the UK!
 
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If you're moving to the UK and planning to bring say €100,000 in of your personal wealth while using the remittance basis, whether or not you'll have to pay tax on that money really depends on where it comes from.

If the money is from savings, income, or assets you earned before you became a UK resident, in other words, what’s called “clean capital” then you can bring it into the UK without paying any tax on it. The key is that it needs to have been earned before you moved, and ideally, you should be able to show some documentation that proves where the money came from, just in case HMRC ever asks.

However, if the money comes from income or capital gains that you earned after becoming a UK resident, for example, from running a business abroad or selling investments, then bringing that money into the UK would trigger tax. That income would be taxed as regular income, and gains would be taxed as capital gains.

One thing to be careful about is if the money is coming from a bank account that mixes clean capital with post-residency income or gains. In that case, HMRC tends to assume that the taxable money is the first to come in, so you could end up being taxed even if part of it was originally clean.

That’s why it’s really important to keep clean capital in a separate account and only use that account for transfers into the UK.
 
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The UK is a vessel entity of the US. It does whatever its master the US orders it to do. It is not a place for asset protection at all......ask Venezuela government.
There is no protection from US reach unless you are a citizen of China or maybe Russia or N Korea. There are anecdotal instances of people escaping US prosecution, but most of them live fugitives lives and risk being used as an exchange stock.
Don't mess with yanks.
 
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Personally I would not bother with the 4 year tax program. Between now and then you could be hit with changes to exit taxation due to wealth flight. Report below is worth a read.


Wealth Exodus: Stopping Non-Dom Flight​

https://www.adamsmith.org/research/wealth-exodus-stopping-non-dom-flight

I guess nobody read page 10 of this report.

Anyway the 4 year rule is garbage when you read the details. I stated already clearly not to bother with it. However you can read the 2025 UK Finance act below in regards to the 4 year rule and it is not what it says on the box - but make your own mind up...lol. It is in fact BS legislation designed to fool simple minded headline readers and will not work in practice for everyone planning to move to UK and use this rule.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/8/part/2/enacted

The language in parts is also deliberatly vague i.e cry&¤

"For the purposes of subsection (3), the extent to which qualifying general earnings are in respect of duties performed in the United Kingdom is to be determined on a just and reasonable basis."

....say hello to GAAR and taxmans whim...lol

P.S Sometimes people have to put their emotions aside and read the links I actually post
ange¤%&
.
 
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I remember people say the same once someone here (think it was eliasit or upplana) talked about relocating to Switzerland, same dooms replies as here.
Switzerland is a great place actually, but to achieve a low-tax setup there you need some negotiation power, then you can have a tailored made solution from one of the cantons. Few 100k EUR doesn't cut it, you are better off on Cyprus/Malta/Portugal or in Dubai (or Ireland if you like colder climate). The UK doesn't offer competitive low-tax setup for now and is not recommended as a relocation option with a goal of wealth preservation. It's still a proper place to do business or launch a startup, it's not all gloom and doom.
 
You can do a lot with pre-tax corporate money in the UK. Especially if you work in creative industries like IT. Business flights, hotels, car leasing, personal items like cloths and gadgets, even partial rent can be paid from your LTD pocket, saving you like a half on taxes compared with paying from your post-personal income tax money. You can recover VAT, cut corp tax etc. The rules are being fine-tuned by HMRC annually, so having a smart accountant is a must.
But I assume it's the same in every other country, UK just has a very clear rulebook for it.
 
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