What should I check each year on UK tax, pensions and property?

Living in the US doesn’t switch off the UK. If you have UK rent, savings, pensions or property, a short check each year keeps you right with HMRC and the IRS. Once you are a US tax resident, the US taxes your UK income too, so the two systems need to line up.

Your yearly check-up

1. File your UK tax return if you have UK rental income, taxable UK savings interest or other untaxed UK income
2. File your US return including UK income, and claim a foreign tax credit for UK tax paid
3. File the FBAR if your UK and other foreign accounts together topped $10,000 at any point in the year, and Form 8938 if you are over its limits
4. Check your National Insurance record and decide about voluntary contributions
5. Update the Student Loans Company, your UK bank, pension providers and electoral registration office
6. Review your wills and beneficiary forms. See Do we need a US will?

Two tax years, two returns

• As a non-resident with UK rent, you can’t use HMRC’s own online service. Send a paper return, use commercial software or use an accountant, and include the residence pages (SA109)
• British citizens keep the UK Personal Allowance against UK income. Non-residents claim it each year; GOV.UK points to form R43
• If last year’s UK bill was £1,000 or more, you may need to make payments on account on 31 January and 31 July
• You don’t need to report income to HMRC if you have already claimed relief on it under the treaty

Renting out your UK home

If you live abroad for 6 months or more a year, HMRC treats you as a non-resident landlord. Your letting agent (or your tenant, if the rent is over £100 a week and there is no agent) takes basic-rate tax off the rent, after expenses, unless HMRC approves your application on form NRL1i to get the rent in full. HMRC won’t approve it if your tax affairs aren’t up to date. Either way you declare the rent on a UK return.

The US also taxes a resident’s UK rent. It goes on Schedule E of your federal return, converted to dollars, with depreciation worked out under US rules, and you claim a foreign tax credit for UK tax on it. Your state may tax it too. See Should I rent out or sell my UK home?

Your State Pension and National Insurance

• State Pension: you can have it paid in the US, and it rises each year because the USA is on GOV.UK’s list of countries that get the increase. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27
• Tax: under the treaty, social security payments from the UK to a US resident are taxable only in the US. GOV.UK says non-residents don’t usually pay UK tax on the State Pension
• Voluntary NI: from the 2026/27 tax year you can’t pay Class 2 for time abroad. You can pay Class 3 (£18.40 a week) if you lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or paid 10 years of qualifying contributions. If you applied before 6 April 2026, the old 3-year rule may still apply, as long as you apply for 2026/27 and pay by 5 April 2027
• Apply with form CF83. Check your forecast on GOV.UK first to see whether it would raise your pension

UK workplace and personal pensions

• Under the treaty, pensions paid to a US resident are generally taxable only in the US. Ask HMRC for relief at source with form US-Individual 2002, so the UK provider pays without UK tax
• Pensions for UK government service (such as civil service, NHS, teachers’ and armed forces pensions) are generally taxable only in the UK, unless you are a US national (such as a US citizen) living in the US
• Growth inside a UK pension is generally not taxed in the US until it is paid out
• Lump sums have special treaty rules, including for the part the UK would treat as tax-free. This is technical: get advice before you take one
• From 6 April 2027, most unused UK pension funds and death benefits count towards your estate for UK inheritance tax
• See What happens to my UK pension?

ISAs, UK funds and the US

You can keep your ISA and it stays tax-free in the UK, but you can’t pay in once you’re not UK resident. Tell your provider when you leave. The US doesn’t recognise ISAs, and the treaty’s pension articles don’t cover them: interest, dividends and gains inside an ISA go on your US return.

• A UK fund (unit trust, OEIC or UK-listed ETF), inside or outside an ISA, is usually a PFIC (passive foreign investment company) for the US. Each one generally needs a Form 8621 each year, and without an election, gains are taxed at ordinary rates with an extra interest charge
• There is a small-holder exception for part of the reporting when your PFICs total $25,000 or less
• A child born in the US is a US citizen from birth, so any UK account in their name, such as a Junior ISA, falls under US rules too
• See How do I move money from the UK?

UK accounts when you are a US person

Under FATCA, the UK–US agreement requires UK financial institutions to report to HMRC on US customers who hold accounts with them. Some UK providers limit what they offer to people living in the US:

• Vanguard UK says it doesn’t offer its services to US persons: if you move to the US you need to close your account or transfer it
• interactive investor began writing to US-resident customers from 11 November 2025, giving them 60 days to move or close their accounts
• Nationwide’s app can only be downloaded from UK app stores and its one-time passcodes go only to UK phone numbers, so set things up before you leave
• Keep at least one UK current account that works from abroad for pensions, refunds and UK bills, and add each account to your FBAR list

Selling UK property

• Report any sale of UK property to HMRC within 60 days of completion through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, even if there is no tax or you made a loss
• The US taxes a resident’s gain too, in dollars, with credit for UK tax. You may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of gain on a former main home if you meet the US ownership and use tests
• Exchange-rate moves can create a US gain even when the pound price didn’t rise: ask your adviser before you exchange contracts

Voting from abroad

British citizens who have lived in the UK can register as overseas voters for UK Parliament elections. You must renew your registration every 3 years. If you are registered in England, Scotland or Wales you can vote by post or by proxy; if you are registered in Northern Ireland you can’t vote by post, but you can vote by proxy or in person.

Your UK home, student loan and inheritance tax

If you keep a UK home empty or as a second home in England, councils can charge up to double council tax. Tell the Student Loans Company if you leave the UK for more than 3 months. Since 6 April 2025, UK inheritance tax depends on long-term UK residence (10 of the last 20 tax years), and you stay in scope for 3 to 10 tax years after leaving. UK property is always in scope.