Expat Tax

Original Post:

Blackford Biz

Free Member
May 23, 2021
35
7
I have worked in Bahrain for 12 years. For 10 years I worked here and paid no tax. I retired 2 years ago. I didn't let HMRC know I was leaving UK in 2012. I have had resident visas up to June 2023, then have used renewable visit visas until now.

Last year I withdrew £25k in March from my IOM SIPP and received a net of tax amount, wrote to HMRC and they refunded tax retained but asked me to complete a Double Tax Form, then gave me a tax code 2207L (PA £12570+DTR £9505). I withdrew a further £25k and they retained £1.7k. I've tried to call on several occasions, sometimes getting through then line goes dead and I've written several times.

Firstly, I believe I should be tax exempt as I live in Bahrain and spent 7 days, 17 days & 23 days in the last 3 years. Secondly, my understanding was Bahrain was tax exempt so the DTR form should have been a formality. Lastly, because I'm not working, does that mean I'm still UK resident for tax purposes?

Can anyone shed any light on this please? (There's no-one in Bahrain that I can get sensible advice on UK tax. It should be straightforward but it's not.
 

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