Hello,
I am hoping someone here will be able to give some sound advice as we have done some research online and are quite confused about our tax status, best ways to save etc.
Our background -
My husband and I will be relocating to Singapore in October. My company is sending me out to open our Singapore office & I will be the first employee there. We have a Singapore entity and at present it looks as though I will be paid in SGD, our company will be paying our rent. My husband will be joining me on a dependents pass, however it looks as though there is a strong chance he will be receiving a job offer in the coming weeks for a recruitment firm with offices in Singapore - at this stage we are unsure what currency he will be paid in but again SGD looks likely. At present we only intend to relocate for 1 year, perhaps 2. If my husband is approved for this job, we would like to put the majority of his earnings into a savings account.
Since we are recently married, we have received some money as a wedding gift (approx 5000 GBP) which we are looking to place into a UK help to buy government scheme account, that we can pay into from Singapore. Our hope is that when we return to the UK we will have saved enough to be a lot closer to the dream of buying our first home.
With this in mind we are a little confused about what our tax situation will look like whilst we are abroad in Singapore, will we be paying SG tax only or still UK or both? Furthermore we have read some information about potentially needing to pay taxes in both countries depending on what time of year we relocate? In addition, is there any paperwork or applications we need to complete in advance to help with this. Another issue we have is that an advisor at our local bank branch mentioned that many UK help to buy government schemes are invalid for young people who have spent time abroad within 3 years from taking out a mortgage - although this is the first time we have heard this.
We are very inexperienced in this area and could really do with a 'dummies guide'. We really appreciate any advice you may have for a young couple starting out and hoping to do some hardcore saving the next 12 months.
Thanks in advance!