tax questions -- now in US, considering retiring in UK in ~ 5 years

My wife is US/UK dual citizen, and I have only a US passport.

We've lived in the US for the last 20 years, and were together in the UK before that.

We're in our mid-50s and expect to retire in something like 5 years or so.

We won't stay in the US to retire, and we are considering the UK as well as France and possibly Spain and Portugal.

I'm very familiar with the US tax code and have always done my own returns, even during my two stints working in the UK.

However, I am quite ignorant about the UK tax system, and I would very much like to educate myself now, partly in order to improve tax strategies for making withdrawals during retirement.

Right now we have much more invested in traditional IRAs and other deferred-tax accounts than in Roth-flavored accounts.  It's likely that we should start converting some of the TIRA money to Roth IRAs, since it seems that the UK does respect the favorable tax treatment that the US gives Roth IRA distributions (I'm not so sure about other countries yet in this regard).

Can anyone recommend a book on the UK tax code written for the US expat?

I've made a start by reading posts here, but it would be great to find books or websites.

Thanks.

We converted our IRAs to Roth’s because, as you summarize, HMRC treats them as fully taxed.

We converted our after-tax mutual funds to their HMRC reporting ETF equivalents so they get the favored tax treatment of dividends and capital gains.

No such thing as joint tax returns so all our taxable investments were put into my wife’s name to minimize taxes by maximizing the tax free personal allowances.

I don’t know any books just read up on forums like this.

We are dual citizens and returned to the UK after working in the USA for 29 years.

Thanks, Durhamlad.

Any other websites of particular value for tax planning as a US expat retiring to the UK? I've found some general sites, but I am interested in details.

If there aren't any good books, someone should write one!

PS

Health insurance is also a topic of interest, partly because I had surgery for cancer last year.

I know a bit about the NHS (good and bad), and that I'd pay a few thousand quid for NHS coverage until I get ILR.

But I don't know much at all about private health insurance in the UK, which sounds variable. And maybe not available to cancer survivors.

Anyway, I'll start a different thread about this later.

PS

Health insurance is also a topic of interest, partly because I had surgery for cancer last year.

I know a bit about the NHS (good and bad), and that I'd pay a few thousand quid for NHS coverage until I get ILR.

But I don't know much at all about private health insurance in the UK, which sounds variable. And maybe not available to cancer survivors.

Anyway, I'll start a different thread about this later.

For health insurance I found these folks to be excellent in helping me find a good policy .

https://www.activequote.com/

Martin Lewis moneysavingexpert and also Which?  Money are good resources for money and taxes.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

https://www.which.co.uk/money

Thanks for the links!

I've also been listening to Moneybox whenever I am home when it's on. My wife has insisted on having Radio 4 on in our US home for the last twenty years. Between that and all the British TV we watch, I feel like I've been in both countries since 2001 when we moved to the USA.

Thanks for the links!

I've also been listening to Moneybox whenever I am home when it's on. My wife has insisted on having Radio 4 on in our US home for the last twenty years. Between that and all the British TV we watch, I feel like I've been in both countries since 2001 when we moved to the USA.

Moneybox is available as podcasts and I listened to them for years in the USA. I still listen to them now.

Can anyone recommend a book on the UK tax code written for the US expat?

I've made a start by reading posts here, but it would be great to find books or websites.

Thanks.

Over on some of the related Reddit pages, we started putting together a document that is a primer for US citizens in the UK: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17_EsWL6oD8xqcs4XIalVly4vwhPpzApN3c9MZ7dBulE/edit?usp=sharing

It's a work in progress, and at 40 pages long not quite a book yet, but might be a useful place to get an overview, maybe fill in some gaps for things you weren't aware you should be thinking about, etc. Definitely appreciate any feedback, suggestions, etc.!