Transatlantic Married Couple

Dear All,

I am new to the forum. I am also relatively new to the UK (I arrived here about 18 months ago). While I came here with a job (an academic job) my wife is still in the US (also an academic job). I was informed by the HR people at my university that I needed to do nothing regarding taxes, since they are taken automatically from my paycheck. But reading this forum leads me to think otherwise. In addition to my wife's salary in the US, we also have income from interests and dividends etc in the US. We declared all that in the US and paid whatever taxes they generated. (I also reported my UK salary and my UK taxes on our US Taxes - we file "Married Filing Jointly").

So, the question is: do I need to report our income from the US here? If so, I assume that the rates are probably similar, and that then whatever we have paid in the US would cover whatever we may have owed here, right?

Many thanks in advance! (I really am utterly clueless.)

People residing in the UK are taxed as individuals so your wife’s income is not taxed by HMRC but any other foreign income you receive including dividends and interests from joint accounts will almost certainly be reportable and possibly taxable. Best to collect the details and contact HMRC.

Try reading about it below to see if it might apply to you.

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/who-must-send-a-tax-return

Many thanks - very helpful. I will follow that link you kindly shared and see what I find out.

Thanks again!

529 plans are generally not recommended for UK residents because of the risk that HMRC may consider a 529 plan a foreign trust.

Even if you do not take the view it is a trust, Income and gains within a plan will be taxed whether or not distributed. If the investments are in non-UK reporting funds, the gains would charged to UK income tax, rather than CGT.

As a UK resident the UK has the primary right to charge tax on worldwide income & gains. Because  you have non-UK income/ gains you would register for self-assessment and report these items to HMRC.