Taxing issues for expats

Currency exchange rates could prove important for expatriates who find themselves hit with a major tax bill from the UK.

Barrister Howard Bilton has highlighted a recent case in which business man Robert Gaines-Cooper was hit with a £30 million tax bill.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Bilton explained that the expat had been a resident of the Seychelles since 1976.

While the businessman argued that this exempt him from UK tax, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) claimed that his ties to the UK made things less than clear.

Under the HMRC's rules, people who spend less than 91 days a year in the UK are classed as non-resident.

Mr Gaines-Cooper's issues arose out of the fact that he still owns a house in England in which his wife and son live.

His counsel told the BBC that HMRC was reinterpreting its own guidance in order to turn it from "a sensible, practical, guide into something meaningless and, which is worse, a devious trap".

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Posted by Eleanor Ward