Expatriate Tax Saving Advice

Expatriate Tax Saving Advice


The idea of moving abroad and expanding your physical and spiritual horizons is one that appeals to many people but it takes a special kind of individual to actually make the move a reality. These special people fall into the category of ‘expatriate’ and it’s a pretty exclusive club to be a member of!

If you’ve already expatriated – congratulations - and welcome to a world of opportunity and adventure. If on the other hand you’re toying with the idea of international relocation, chances are the experience will be hugely rewarding for you on many levels. At Shelter Offshore we impart advice that we have learned ourselves – and one of the most important pieces of advice that we can give is expatriate tax saving advice. As an expat it’s the first thing you should know about but usually one of the last things you think about!

Ask any expatriate to their face if they find their time abroad to be fun, fascinating, challenging and of value - or read expat forums around the subject and you’re bound to find that the vast majority of those who have chosen to relocate find that having done so, they get so many more rewards and so much more fun from life. There’s simply something amazing about setting yourself such a huge and fascinating challenge and then rising to, and meeting that challenge. After all, if you can change your whole way of life, adapt to another culture, learn another language and make a house away from home really feel like home, then you have to be a special person and chances are, you will personally be rewarded and fulfilled by meeting the goals and challenges that come along with being an expat.

Not everything about being an expat is such challenging hard work though – after all, if it were, why would so many of us stick it?! The reality is that the expatriate world is often one of working hard and playing harder, of meeting new friends, having domestic staff take the strain, of being able to afford an international school education for your children and possibly earning a more impressive salary with greater benefits than if you’d remained ‘back home.’ So, is being an expatriate all about building great memories, amassing fabulous photos of new friends and new horizons and of realising long held dreams of exploration and mind expanding travel?

For some of us it is – but for others who choose only to focus on the fun side of life and who fail to plan properly for the future or who fail to seize their expatriate tax saving advantage, it can be about accruing a financial hangover and wasting an opportunity.

When you leave your country of birth behind and move to live abroad you ‘expatriate’. When you expatriate you gain a certain fiscal advantage that is, to a lesser or greater extent, of benefit to you in the form of legitimate taxation savings presenting themselves and/or of greater and more interesting financial opportunities presenting themselves to you. However, most expats are so focused on the relocation and the experience of living abroad that they fail to embrace the opportunities presented to them and they waste a chance to get ahead financially speaking.

If you want to be in the elite minority and ensure that you embrace all financial and taxation opportunities available to you and you proceed with best advice towards achieving your financial goals and possibilities, our advice to you is that you take time out, explore your new status from a fiscal point of view. To do this you should consider drawing on the services and advice of an international independent financial adviser who can help you discover how you can maximise your expatriate tax saving advantage through the utilisation of offshore services and solutions.