US Debit card

Perhaps it's different for everyone then. I specifically contacted my local JobCenterPlus to ask about applying for a National Insurance number and also whether or not myself or my British husband needed to file a tax return. I was told that as my husband is a teacher, his employer would file his return for him. This was also backed up by my husband's school who told him the same thing. For myself, I was told that as I had only worked in the UK for 2 months and earned very little, then I did not have to file either. However, I will be filing a US tax return for the first 6 months of 2005 when I was still living in the US.

Finally, my US bank account doesn't earn my any interest. I've had the account for 14 year and all I ever get is about .50 cents a year from it. I doubt anyone would call that income.

Thanks for your advice though. It's always good to have extra information.

There is nothing at all wrong with using your US money over here.

However, lets imagine your savings account has $1,000 in it and pays you interest of 2% a year.  After a year you'll have earned $20 of interest income.  If you spend anything from the account in the UK then the UK will say you have FIRST brought to the UK the $20 of interest income you have earned, so you'll have to file a UK tax return reporting the interest income as taxable.

The UK tax system is quite different from the US, so only about one-third of folks file taxes each year; but the responsibility remains on each individual to tell the tax folks if they need to report (or claim) anything.  Sorry kwilkins79, but the information you were told is not correct; yes the self-employed do have to file tax returns - but so do several million who are employed as well...

Also about filing tax returns - when is it necessary?  My uncle (tax accountant here) told me I was not required to do so unless I had earned an inordinate amount of income (don't remember the figure but it was a lot higher than what I had earned) or some other scenario that did not apply to me so there was no need for me to do a self assessment tax return.  Naturally guya you don't know my situation but it just sounded like we were all expected to do the self assessment thing from your post....

I use my US Visa debit card over here all the time with no problems and have also used it since the chip and pin started with no problems. I deal with an Credit Union though for Military and Government so don't have any weird charges except for the horrible exchange rate.  My mom and dad put money in it for me to help with studies. 

Not sure about the tax thing, but I have to file anyways as I am classed as self employed in the UK, but it's good to know to put it down.  (*wonders off to find BIL who knows about these things....)

i'm not a tax guru by any stretch of the imigination.  but since i need to do self-assessment this year i've learned mroe about it.  every tax situation is unique and is down to many many specifics.  here's mine and why i need to do self-assessment.  i moved here three years ago.  my UK employer has been in essence paying my UK taxes through the Pay as you Earn scheme (PAYE).  this is where the uk inland revenue assigns a code to you, and uses that to take out the correct amount from each paycheck.  now, according to the inland revenue, the only income i have is from this UK employer.

but... in oct 2005, i sold a bunch of stocks in the US, and brought the money to the UK to buy a house.  now, i need to pay US capital gains taxes on that income (which i will do in april 2006).  but since i've remitted or brought that money from the US to the UK, and I am living in the UK and am a resident of the UK, i need to declare that EXTRA income to the UK inland revenue.  this is why I need to file self-assessment.  i have already paid taxes on my regular UK income, but this extra UK income needs to be taxes.

now- that's the simple story.  it gets more complicated into how much capital gains, exchange rates etc....

what i think guya is getting at is that if you remit funds from your US bank account (by using yoru US debit card), you are in essence remitting those funds to the UK.  now, it's a teeney tiny amount.  but officially you should declare it and pay taxes on it. 

hope this clarifies a bit for someone.  i found the which guide to self-assessment the most useful.  www.which.co.uk

OK - the booklet produced by HMRC on residence and domicile and tax is known as IR20 (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ir20.pdf).

In summary:
1. vnicepeeps does not appear to have savings income in the States since the money in the account comes from gifts from parents so it is OK to bring this to the UK.

2. If Kwilkins79 is a US citizen then the 2005 US tax return needs to report worldwide income for the entire year, not just the first half.  You may want to file in the UK for 2005/06 if you have paid any tax so as to get it refunded.

3. meggles has a problem because remittances of capital gains are taxable in the UK at rates of up to 40%.  US taxes are (generally) only 15% on long-term gains, so the UK may want taxes on the difference between US and UK taxes.  In addition conversion to Sterling needs to be figured on dates of each purchase and sale (which is a pain) and the killer is that the UK gives no tax deduction for proceeds of stocks sold at a loss that are remitted. 

Short answer - and my original message - is that using US credit/debit cards in the UK for those of us here for a while can just turn out to be a pain when UK taxes are taken into account.

If Kwilkins79 is a US citizen then the 2005 US tax return needs to report worldwide income for the entire year, not just the first half.  You may want to file in the UK for 2005/06 if you have paid any tax so as to get it refunded.

My parents are actually filing my US 2005 taxes for me. I've never actually done my own taxes before. However, my mom told me that she spoke with the accountant that's doing my taxes and he said it's fine so I'm not going to worry about it. If something has been left out I'm sure the IRS will let me know.

OK - the booklet produced by HMRC on residence and domicile and tax is known as IR20 (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ir20.pdf).

Thanks I will go read this pdf now...