• you DO NOT have a family in the UK

• you DO NOT have children attending schools or universities in the UK

• you DO NOT have social club or sports memberships back home

• you DO NOT have a mobile phone contract in the UK

• you DO NOT make regular visits back to the UK.

Otherwise, you will be liable to UK taxes on any or all the above.

Residents of the UK have to pay British taxes on their global assets and income, but normally non-residents only pay UK tax on income that originates from UK sources. The changes to the UK tax regulations, as can be seen from the above, are likely to change the previous exempt status for expats. Now, your supposed non-resident status is likely to be challenged, rendering you liable to British taxes, according to international accounting and consultancy companies. Don’t attempt to disappear off the radar, either, the UK taxmen can always reach you when your passport runs out; a situation that is already more difficult as UK nationals now have to go back home or to Hong Kong or other states out of Thailand as the passport renewal facility is no longer available here as it used to be until recently.

The best and least painful way of proving to the UK taxman that you are indeed non-resident is to do as many of the following as possible:

• Establish an offshore bank account

• Transfer a British company pension outside the UK

• Sell non-investment property back home

• If you lease out your property back in the UK, ensure that you have a lease contract to support the lease

• If you are working abroad, i.e. in Thailand, make certain you have a bona fide employment contract.

These are the first steps, but to be really sure, these more extreme steps might be worth considering:

• sever as many connections to the UK as possible, including making regular return trips back home.

• change your approach to tax-planning.

As can well be imagined from the above, what you might have thought put you in an advantageous position by living in Thailand, may no longer be the case. For a start, having to pay increased UK taxes will diminish your liquid resources and mean you don’t have as much to spend here in Thailand. Those planning to retire here, may also have to reconsider as the cost of living here is relatively high and rising daily, especially with the currently unfavourable exchange rate with the pound sterling ,and what you previously considered would allow you a comfortable income, may leave you somewhat strapped for cash and liable to suffer relative hardship. This particularly applies to benefits that back home you would receive under the National Health scheme, like medical and dental care, both of which are already higher than comparative private treatment back home. It will also negatively affect any property investments you might have thought of making.

If you planned to start a business here in Thailand and bring UK nationals over to staff it full time, the new tax regulations may hinder this, for the reasons cited above. It may even also impact business contracts with UK companies that require their staff to make extended visits abroad.

The new firmer tax policies are not confined to the UK, however, certain other Western countries are intent on filling their coffers at the expense of their expats, moving more in the direction of the United States, where all their citizens are liable to tax on worldwide gains and income, irrespective of their residency status.

This article is necessarily short on the full details of the new tax regulations which have already come into effect. Those wishing to have a more detailed knowledge are advised to contact the British Embassy in Bangkok to obtain more authoritative information.

The future may not appear as rosy as it did before you read this article. It would be appreciated, therefore, if disgruntled UK expats didn’t attempt to ‘shoot the messenger of the bad news’, so to speak.