Hi all,
My UK accountants advised me that my residency start date for "tax purposes" is not the same as the residency start date for "visa purposes." Specifically, they are basing this on the location of where the taxable events occurred. (I had to return to the US for four months after picking up my visa). So when my vignette was stamped, I was here in UK for only two weeks (not working as I was on holiday) during the UK tax year, before returning to the US to tie things up. I then returned to the UK a few months later (new UK tax year) and have remained ever since. The "return to the UK date" is the date that my accountants tell me is my residency start date for purposes of my UK tax return because that date is when taxable events occurred in the UK and were taxable here (as opposed to the US). So my residency start date on my UK tax return is four months after the UKVI vignette date.
However, I'm wondering whether UKVI will get this. For their purposes, my residency started when my vignette was stamped. But for HMRC purposes, my residency started when the taxable event occurred in the UK. My accountants are insistent about this (and they are a US/UK tax service dealing with expats). But they aren't visa experts. So UKVI has my residency start date as one thing (vignette) and HMRC has it as another (taxable events in UK). In terms of taxes paid to the UK and US, this works out with the reciprocity and reporting on both returns.
Will this be an issue with UKVI? Or are they used to this and/or won't care because tax stuff belongs to HMRC? I will disclose my absence from and return to the UK on my visa application and those dates will match my tax returns. At the end of the day, the tax owed and paid to the UK would not be any different, according to my accountants.
If anyone could shed some light on this for me, I would appreciate it a great deal.
