By Lynette Chaudhary, Tax Director, Sovereign Trust (Gibraltar) Limited

The new legislation (UK Finance Act 2025) which came into effect on the 6th April, is radically overhauling and modernising the UK’s tax system, significantly impacting the UK tax position for individuals moving from, or to, the UK.

This regime change may benefit Gibraltar residents, other non-UK residents, and those who could become UK resident in the future.

Liability to UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) on non-UK assets now determined by a new concept of ‘Long Term UK Resident’, replacing ‘Domicile’

IHT is a tax on transfers of value from an individual’s estate. It is principally charged on transfers on death but is also charged on transfers made within 7 years of death, some other lifetime transfers and on trusts within the UK’s relevant property regime.

Long-Term UK Resident (LTR)

Up until the 5th April 2025, the general law concept of domicile was fundamental to the scope of IHT, with UK domiciled individuals being liable to IHT on their worldwide assets, and non-UK domiciled individuals being liable to IHT on their UK sited assets only.

However, from the 6th April, the IHT, domicile has been replaced by the concept of Long-Term UK Resident (LTR).

• An individual is a LTR if they were UK resident for 10 or more of the previous 20 UK tax years.
• LTRs are liable to IHT on their worldwide assets.
• Non-LTRs are liable to IHT on their UK sited assets only

The general rule is that a LTR will retain this status (an IHT ‘tail’) until they have been non-UK resident for 10 consecutive UK tax years (i.e. not a LTR from the 11th UK tax year). A shorter tail applies for those who were UK resident for 10-19 UK tax years and different rules apply for individuals under the age of 20.

This makes it much easier for UK expats’ non-UK assets to fall outside the scope of IHT. Previously, UK domiciled individuals who left the UK may have struggled, for various reasons, to displace their UK domicile of origin with a non-UK domicile of choice, and if so, would have remained liable to IHT on a worldwide basis. Now, once non-UK resident for 10 consecutive UK tax years, their non-UK assets fall outside the scope of IHT.

IHT is levied at a 40% rate after the nilrate band and available exemptions/reliefs, so narrowing its scope from worldwide to UK sited assets could result in considerable succession tax savings.

The tax position in the individual’s country of residence and country of asset location should also be considered. For Gibraltar resident, non-LTRs, with all assets located in Gibraltar, assets can be transferred free of IHT (in UK and Gibraltar).

How this affects trusts needs to be considered separately, but it’s fundamental to note that assets in trust may (controversially) come in and out of the IHT regime based on the settlor’s residence status at the time of an event, which will be critical for trustees to monitor.

Abolition of the remittance basis and replacement with a UK tax exemption FIG

Additionally, from the 6th April, the UK’s remittance basis of taxation for non-UK domiciled individuals has been abolished and replaced with a new time-limited Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime linked to the number of years of UK residency.

This is a valuable regime for non-UK resident individuals considering moving to the UK.

This FIG regime is open to anyone (including those who would otherwise have been considered UK domiciled) who meets the Qualifying New Resident (QNR) conditions. This generally entails being UK resident after a period of 10 consecutive UK tax years of non-UK residence.

Crucially, QNRs will not be taxed in the UK on their qualifying FIG for the first 4 tax years of UK residency, even if the FIG is remitted to the UK.

This could be very beneficial for Gibraltar residents who have been non-UK resident for over 10 UK tax years and decide to move to the UK for a period (e.g. because of an elderly relative or child attending university).

Qualifying FIG includes non-UK: dividends; interest; pension income; property income; trust income; gains accruing on the disposal of non-UK assets etc. Specific types of income/gain should be checked for qualifying status.

Following this 4-year period, all UK residents are taxable in the UK on their worldwide income/gains.

UK’s Statutory Residence Test (SRT)

Under this regime, residency is determined using the SRT, the UK’s first formal tax residency test which took effect in 2013.

Following these 6th April changes, the SRT has a much broader application in assessing an individual’s UK tax position, making it even more important for internationally mobile individuals to understand their SRT position and monitor it on an annual basis. Up to date advice, specific to individual circumstances, could be crucial.