Tax & Accounting, Clearly Explained

UK Private Residence Relief is uncapped; the US section 121 exclusion is not. How a tax-free London sale still produces a US bill with nothing to credit.

The Statutory Residence Test decides whether the UK can tax you. It does not touch your US filing duty. The three parts, in order, with the day counts.

A loss that shelters tax in one country can be a taxable gain in the other. The offset rules, the currency mismatch, and how to harvest safely.

TRS is a transparency register, not a tax return, and a US revocable trust can fall into it by buying UK property. The gateways and the privacy cost.

UK and offshore investment bonds rest on UK reliefs the IRS does not recognise. The section 7702 analysis, PFIC risk, excise tax and reporting, explained.

How the three PFIC regimes work in practice, why QEF is rarely available on UK funds, and what the section 1291 interest charge does to a long holding.

The US caps collectibles gains at 28%. The UK treats the same objects as chattels and exempts some entirely. How the two systems diverge for collectors.

Married filing separately, head of household or the election: what each does to a British spouse's worldwide income, and why revoking is permanent.

The US tax on converting a traditional IRA or 401(k) is clear. Whether HMRC taxes the same conversion is not. The treaty analysis, article by article.

Section 1202 can make a US founder's exit tax-free in America and fully taxable in Britain. How the QSBS exclusion collides with UK capital gains tax.

Late K-1s, reporting versus non-reporting fund status, offshore income gains taxed as income, and the PFIC trap sitting inside most offshore funds.

Your P11D is a UK measure, not a US one. How company cars, medical cover, pensions, loans, relocation and childcare land on a US return, one by one.

Section 409A follows US citizens wherever they work, so an ordinary UK deferred bonus or cash LTIP can fail it. What a failure costs, and what to check.

A US family trust is paying out and you are UK resident. How HMRC characterises what reaches you, matched gains, and the supplementary charge.

The unlimited marital deduction generally fails where the surviving spouse is not a US citizen. How a QDOT works, what it costs, and the alternatives.

UK income tax relief and a CGT-free exit mean nothing to the IRS, and often leave no credit to absorb the US bill. The PFIC test, stated precisely.

The Windfall Elimination Provision and GPO are gone. What changed, who gains, what the SSA has already paid out, and why a bigger benefit is still taxed.

The UK now caps full Business and Agricultural Property Relief. Neither relief exists in US law, so transatlantic owners must check both sides.

What is already law, what has only been announced, and why a UK rate change moves your US bill through the foreign tax credit rather than leaving it.

File anyway, then pick your route. IRS payment plans, offers in compromise, currently not collectible status and penalty relief for Americans abroad who cannot fund the balance.

Funding your own UK limited company is a transfer of property to a foreign corporation. When Form 926 is required, how the 10% and $100,000 cash tests work, and what the penalty really costs.

Cannot pay your Self Assessment bill? How a Time to Pay arrangement works, who can set one up online without calling, and which penalties it stops.

Class 2 for time abroad ended on 6 April 2026. What expats can still pay, the new 10-year Class 3 gate, CF83, the deadlines, and whether buying UK State Pension years is worth it.

How to check your accountant is registered with HMRC, AML-supervised and genuinely qualified, and what the staged registration windows mean for you.

What the SA109 residence pages cover, why HMRC's own online service cannot file them, and which supplementary pages an American in the UK needs too.

The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April and the US year is the calendar year, so one UK year straddles two US returns. How to sequence them, apportion correctly and time the foreign tax credit.

Why income between £100,000 and £125,140 is taxed at about 60% in the UK, how to reduce adjusted net income, and why the obvious fix can raise a US citizen's IRS bill.

How the foreign earned income exclusion cuts adjusted gross income — and with it your income-driven student loan payment — plus the trade-off against the foreign tax credit, under the 2026 rules.

If you work in the UK for a US company with no UK presence, you operate PAYE yourself under a DPNI direct payment scheme. Which scheme applies, who owes employer's NIC, and how to register.

A UK limited company with no US presence generally has no Form 1099-NEC duty. What does bite: worker classification, W-9 records, permanent establishment, VAT reverse charge and corporation tax.

The five IRS transcript types, how far back each goes, and every way to get them from outside the US when ID.me, a foreign address and a non-US phone stand in the way.

Interest on a UK mortgage is deductible on a Form 1040 — but only if you itemise, and council tax never is. The acquisition-debt limits, the standard deduction maths and the housing exclusion.

Work done in the UK for a US client is foreign-source: no US tax, no 1099-NEC. Why your client needs a W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E rather than a W-9, and what changes when you work in the US.

Why UK banks, brokers and pension providers write asking about US status, exactly what is reported to HMRC and the IRS, and what accidental Americans should do before signing anything.

A qualified Roth distribution should be exempt in the UK under Article 17(1)(b), and the saving clause cannot claw it back. What HMRC has published, what it has not, and where conversions stand.

A UK company stays UK resident by incorporation. What a US-based director changes is US permanent establishment risk — and, in harder cases, dual residence the treaty sends to both authorities.

A US citizen owning a UK limited company can elect under section 962 to be taxed on the CFC inclusion at corporate rates and credit UK corporation tax. When that helps, and when it costs you.

HMRC letters about overseas income come from CRS and FATCA data. What the certificate of tax position really is, how the Worldwide Disclosure Facility works, and the penalties that apply.

Every way to pay US federal tax from overseas, compared: international wires, approved card processors, checks, penalties, payment plans and what happens to refunds when you have no US account.

Form 8833 discloses a treaty position that overrules the Internal Revenue Code. When it is required, the long list of waivers, the $1,000 penalty, and the green card tie-breaker trap.

The buyer withholds a slice of your gross US sale price. How Form 8288-B cuts it before completion, how the refund works, and how the UK taxes the gain.

UK residents who are not US citizens face US estate tax above just $60,000 of US-situated assets. How situs works, what the 1978 treaty exempts, and how to claim it in time.

The US treats most LLCs as transparent; HMRC treats them as companies. That mismatch can break double tax relief. What Anson decided, what HMRC says, and the reform now consulted on.

When UK dividends get the lower US rates, how UK tax becomes a credit on Form 1116, and why the net investment income tax still reaches Americans abroad.

Moving to Britain with a US brokerage account? How the UK taxes US shares and ETFs, W-9 vs W-8BEN, treaty withholding, reporting funds and the PFIC mirror trap.

How the US-UK treaty taxes US Social Security for UK residents, including US citizens, how to stop 25.5% withholding, and how a UK State Pension is taxed in the US.

US parents in the UK can claim up to $2,200 per child, $1,700 refundable, but not if they file Form 2555. How the Foreign Tax Credit route can unlock a refund.

A UK pension can only go overseas to a QROPS, a 25% charge may apply, and US plans are rarely a clean destination. Often the answer is to leave it.

The UK small-salary-plus-dividends mix is built for UK tax. For a US citizen, CFC rules and credit limits can make it the costlier choice.

A US home can trigger higher rates, a day count can trigger the non-resident surcharge, and the US treats SDLT as basis, not a deduction.

The Lifetime ISA's bonus and tax-free growth are UK-only. For a US citizen, the account is taxable, reportable and costly to leave behind.

UK residence switches on worldwide taxation from a date the statute fixes. The choices that exist only in the months before you land, in order.

Closing a solvent UK company converts retained profit into capital. For a US shareholder it is a second taxable event, with anti-avoidance rules on both sides.

A UK purchase of own shares can be capital for HMRC and a dividend for the IRS. Two systems, two tests, one payment - and a broken foreign tax credit.

The UK exempts part of a termination payment. The US does not mirror it, and with no UK tax behind that slice there is nothing to credit.

The UK taxes a directorship as an office, through PAYE and National Insurance. The US treats the same fee as self-employment income. Both can be right.

An annual UK charge on enveloped homes - and for an American owner, a foreign corporation the IRS wants reported. What the structure now costs on both sides.

EOT relief is a UK exemption. The US taxes its citizens on the whole gain - and where the UK charges nothing, there is no UK tax to credit against it.

The child owns a bare trust absolutely and is normally taxed on it - but who funded it decides the UK answer, and a US-citizen child brings a filing history of their own.

Britain does not tax the punter. America taxes the winnings - and because HMRC collected nothing, there is no foreign tax credit to soften it.