[scotia]

Hi Folks
i know this topic has been discussed before but I wondered if anyone could add any advice. I am Scottish and married to a Kiwi who has been living in the Uk for 30 years but we are now moving permanently to NZ in Feb. Our financial advisor who is very good, has advised us that we should cut all our financial ties with the UK and open up a bank account within the Isle of Man to avoid possible problems with inheritance/capital gains tax issues in the future. It appears that although my husband is NZ born and he will be returning back to NZ to live permanently, he could still be clobbered for the above taxes by the UK government if it could be proved that he is still considered to be domiciled in the UK. I have also been advised to close my UK bank accounts and transfer them over to the new account offshore. It all seems quite drastic but I would be interested if anyone has any experience in this. Cheers Scotia

[diforsyth]

There are certain benefits of moving your money offshore but it really depends on what you have and what you want to do with it. Offshore banking is based around long term deposits with attractive interest rates. Remember, you are still obliged to declare your earnings/income in your taxation jurisdiction - failure to do so is likely to end up in criminal proceedings.

The recently introduced EUSTD forces offshore banks to either retain a withholding tax or declare income to the countries of EU residents for tax purposes. If the bank has an NZ residential address associated with the account then this will not apply (at least at present).

David.

[Trigirl]

its quite hard to change your domicile and because of that your husband is very very likely to be considered still domiciled in NZ. you on the other hand are likely to be considered still domiciled in the UK even once you've moved.

this is completely irrelevant for capital gains tax which is decided entirely on residence criteria.

it is relevant however for inheritance tax. but if you are considered domiciled in the uk then you would be liable for inheritance tax on your worldwide assets so transferring them to an offshore bank wouldn't help.

if you are transferring them in order to show that you are also domiciled in NZ then yes that may help - you have to show strong evidence that you intend to move and live in your new country permanently. moving your money to NZ is therefore more likely to help than moving it "offshore"

[scotia]

Thanks for the advice David and Trigirl-you both sound very knowlegeable! Will have to think about this more before making any decisions.
Cheers
Scotia