The writer is a partner at law firm Maurice Turnor Gardner
Lunching in late February with clients who had announced they were leaving the UK was hard, particularly because one of the couple had had a life-threatening illness and the other seemed very reluctant to go. They told me that the principal drivers were tax and fear of the direction of travel of the current government. I did not see it as my job to deter them from departing, but I did see it as my responsibility to challenge their decision and their choice of destination.
Most clients identify tax as the most important consideration when weighing up a move, smitten by the allure of no tax or low tax. But, for me, there are two fundamental questions: can you see yourselves living your life, not just existing, in your chosen jurisdiction? And, contrarily, are you prepared to live your life constrained by the UK’s tax rules? Or, as I put it to my clients, when you have had a brush with death, why abandon family, friends and home to save tax?
If you are considering relocating to a new jurisdiction, there are plenty of questions to ask that are not tax-based. The lawyer will focus on the structure of legal relationships, the economist on geopolitics and the generalist on whether this is a lifestyle you will enjoy. Moving is costly both in financial terms and also emotionally so should be carefully analysed.
