tax confusion

Hello,
I'm trying to see if moving to the UK for a couple years is economically feasible.  I've been wading through information about tax rates, allowable income, council tax and tax exempt income and am totally confused.

If I make 30,000 in London, what is my monthly take home pay?  I've read that 20% goes to taxes in my income bracket- is that right?  Also, I'll be renting, so am I exempt from council tax?  If I am correct about 20% going to taxes in England, is that true for Wales and Scotland as well?  Is the 20% tax rate consistent across all of England?

Any info or links to websites would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hi there Shudarsana,

Have a look at this site

http://www.pru.co.uk/home/calculator/income_tax/

Seems after tax you'll take home around £22,000 after income tax and national insurance contributions. Those are mandatory and are automatically deducted from your payslip by your employer.

The 22% tax bracket is correct for that salary level, the 40% bracket I think kicks in at the £40K level. I'm pretty certain Wales it's the same, Scotland I believe so, but check on that as they often do have variances.

Council tax you have to pay and the amoutn varies depending on the type of property you live in and where in the country it is. Local authority websites will give you listings on their council tax charges - do a search for London borough authority and check all the different areas of london.

Hope this helps a bit!
Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

The pru calculator will be inaccurate because as a temporary resident you would not be entitled to a UK personal allowance under current UK government proposals.

I hate that you havet o pay council tax if you rent here, but you do.

Hi Guya!

Cheers for that, you know alot more about the tax rules than me! I'm a little rusty now on the intermediate levels I knew a couple years back.

Looking at the income tax calculators online - I haven't delved too deeply but if you were a permanent resident then this is approximatley the level of take home you can expect.

If there are specific immigration aware online tax calculators which take into account variances such as what Guya mentions, I'll be interested in knowing which sites have them! at some point i'll get around to looking for them as well!

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Hey - you are jumping too far ahead - I said proposals - the Budget isn't until 12 March so we won't know for certain until a few weeks after that what Chancellor Darling will be prepared to do on personal allowances for remittance basis taxpayers.

Hey - you are jumping too far ahead - I said proposals - the Budget isn't until 12 March so we won't know for certain until a few weeks after that what Chancellor Darling will be prepared to do on personal allowances for remittance basis taxpayers.

Sorry mate! guess I should take my own advice and 'read' stuff more thoroughly!

for the OP - use the calculators you'll find online to give you a 'ballpark' figure. If the situation changes as per 'proposal' by the UK government as Guya mentions, then once it's announced you may want to find out the amounts/rates and recalculate using those figures in place as well! if there's no change, then it 'seems' on the face of it on this forum and the online tax calculators that they'll be pretty much the amount of tax you'll need to pay!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!