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| I am a UK citizen. I have worked in Switzerland (Zurich) since April 2010 for a UK company.
From April 2010 to November 2010 I worked in Swizterland full-time under a Short Term Assignment (STA) and was paid on the UK payroll in GBP and paid PAYE UK taxes. From November 2010 until now I do the same role for the company but I moved to an indefinate (perm.) Swiss contract paid by the Swiss subsiduary of the UK company and pay swiss taxes.
Can the UK make me pay UK tax on my Nov 2010-Dec 2011 or Nov 2010-April 2011 Swiss income? | |
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UK tax typically works on intention and it would seem for this period you would still be counted as a resident for the UK as you had not been - or intended to be - absent for a full fiscal year or enough time to typically break residence. The UK will likely seek tax, but may not if you can show that your intention going forward is to remain non-resident for a full fiscal year and if your employer applied an NT code to your payments. If they do seek tax then you may be able to claim foreign tax credits against what you have paid in Switzerland, but that usually only covers the portion you have paid across and you could still be liable for the amount on top that would be considered your normal tax liability in the UK.
To be honest, I would expect that your employer should be providing you tax assistance in such a case as it is not a clear or easy transistion that you have made due to time already spent between UK and Ch and then moving on to a permanent contract here (there will be travel days, significant presence and economic employer tests to potentially consider too). If they are offering it, I would cetainly be requesting it. Alternatively, I would strongly recommend that you engage a tax consultant on your own behalf if it is not being provided.
Obviously, this is all based on my personal knowledge of tax and is in no way formal advice and is being provided in the spirit of the Forum; so I would not suggest that you act on anything written here without taking formal advice from a registered tax consultant and can not accept any liability if you do
Hope it helps though.