Looking for tax prep / financial advisor

Hi all, I'm a US citizen, resident in the UK. I'm looking for a tax and financial advisor to help me sort through some planning issues, including (1) capital gains tax, as I've just sold my house in the US (hooray!), (2) investing options and taxes (i.e., I'm just putting the house-sale cash in my US bank account for now, but ideally I'd like to invest it / put in a pension plan), and (3) sorting out freelance income and taxes from clients in the US and the UK.

Does anyone have someone they'd recommend who has specific knowledge of US-UK tax and financial matters? I know there are tax preparation services like H&R Block that have some specific US-UK tax prep options, but for at least this year I'm really hoping to find someone who can offer a more personalised approach and combine tax prep and financial planning.

Thanks!
Erin

Genuinely, you won't find anyone has that knowledge of both taxes AND financial planning.  Not from a tax preparation perspective, if you know what I mean. 

Knock out the taxes with someone who knows US/UK tax treaties.

Then use one of the very few US/UK financial planners for the rest.  I use Tanager Wealth Management and am happy with their services.  Sadly you will find that no UK IFA will touch you due to your US citizenship, so you will have to pay a slight premium for someone with the right knowledge.  Tanager DOES have the knowledge of what is the best investments from a UK/US tax perspective but they won't prepare your actual tax returns for you, if that makes sense.  They have people they recommend though (no personal experience, I do my own taxes). 

I agree that UK US planning with tax in one person is rare. In a normal situation you would have a choice of three or four good UK-based USA tax firms who work with their chosen CFP (USA) licensees. There are five USA CFP licensees in the UK according to the Denver based registry. Only one of these has a UK tax qualification (CTA) too. 

Tanager is competent,  Maseco is competent if in my view expensive, the Royal Bank of Canada (also expensive unless you have 20m)... Deltec is the only private bank I know positioned outside the US and outside the UK willing to take on UK-USA clients at fairly low minimums.

Perhaps if you can explain what service you want from your adviser I could narrow it down to three for you to interview.

Most people on this forum do their own thing, and they do it well. Although they are probably not able to get an efficient frontier performance on their investments using UK recognised US funds, what they lose in volatility and performance is more than made up by their direct control and confidence (and saved fees). That's always an option.

Hee Hee, I'm one of those CFA's.  That being said, I do corporate finance.   

That's helpful, thanks so much! I'll look into these as separate steps, then. My priority is sorting out tax issues - ideally I'd like that person to be able to handle both my US and UK taxes. On the US side, my situation with capital gains is pretty complicated, and will require some research most likely to figure out my case re: partial exclusion. On the UK side, I haven't done UK taxes at all until this year (I've been a PhD student and my stipend was tax-free), so I'd simply like a bit of help from someone who can walk me through it. I'm going to have freelance income to report in 2022 (both from US and UK clients), and hopefully before too long I'll be on payroll of a UK employer as well. And of course, I'd like someone who understands US/UK tax treaties well and can advise me where I'm going to be double taxed and where I can avoid it.

...but maybe I should consider finding two separate tax preparers, one in the US and one in the UK??

That's helpful, thanks so much! I'll look into these as separate steps, then. My priority is sorting out tax issues - ideally I'd like that person to be able to handle both my US and UK taxes. On the US side, my situation with capital gains is pretty complicated, and will require some research most likely to figure out my case re: partial exclusion. On the UK side, I haven't done UK taxes at all until this year (I've been a PhD student and my stipend was tax-free), so I'd simply like a bit of help from someone who can walk me through it. I'm going to have freelance income to report in 2022 (both from US and UK clients), and hopefully before too long I'll be on payroll of a UK employer as well. And of course, I'd like someone who understands US/UK tax treaties well and can advise me where I'm going to be double taxed and where I can avoid it.

...but maybe I should consider finding two separate tax preparers, one in the US and one in the UK??

On the tax side of things here is a list of possible firms to research.

https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=97064.0

For sure you are going to have to do a Self Assessment tax return in the UK so regardless of which service you choose you will need to register for Self Assessment and get a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) which is for life and necessary for filing.  It can take many weeks to get one, starting with getting an HMRC online account.  You might want to start this process well in advance.

https://www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services/register

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

That's helpful, thanks so much! I'll look into these as separate steps, then. My priority is sorting out tax issues - ideally I'd like that person to be able to handle both my US and UK taxes. On the US side, my situation with capital gains is pretty complicated, and will require some research most likely to figure out my case re: partial exclusion. On the UK side, I haven't done UK taxes at all until this year (I've been a PhD student and my stipend was tax-free), so I'd simply like a bit of help from someone who can walk me through it. I'm going to have freelance income to report in 2022 (both from US and UK clients), and hopefully before too long I'll be on payroll of a UK employer as well. And of course, I'd like someone who understands US/UK tax treaties well and can advise me where I'm going to be double taxed and where I can avoid it.

...but maybe I should consider finding two separate tax preparers, one in the US and one in the UK??

When you move to traditional employment, the UK side of things is SUPER easy.  Especially if all your income is in the UK.  Even if you need to do a self-assessment, you won't need a professional.

And if your income is UK sourced, you won't have an issue with double taxation as UK taxes are much higher than US taxes, so the treaty will give you credit for everything you've paid in the UK and the US will not require any additional payments.

Do you have any children?

i agree with the assessments so far, financial advice on going and tax are separate things.
I use Tanager wealth for all of my family investments (30 year expat, 2 dual national kids) 
I used TAX ADVISORY PARTNERSHIP for my UK and USA taxes when i inherited and some complexities...   £1600 for USA tax prep and £800 for UK... i am now doing my own UK ones, pretty easy.... but the USA ones are still too hard for me.  I am hoping this year will be the last one.

When you move to traditional employment, the UK side of things is SUPER easy.  Especially if all your income is in the UK.  Even if you need to do a self-assessment, you won't need a professional.

And if your income is UK sourced, you won't have an issue with double taxation as UK taxes are much higher than US taxes, so the treaty will give you credit for everything you've paid in the UK and the US will not require any additional payments.

Do you have any children?

Nope, I file as single with no dependents. Very much looking forward to having a simpler tax situation!