Simple, clean and reliable to use for landlords self assessment tax return when living overseas. This is my 3rd year of using it. It saves, totals and keeps all the data while you are completing the return, alerts you to any potential errors and upload to the HMRC website is completed without a hitch. You can also switch between current and previous years’ returns very easily
Declaring UK Investment Income When You Live Overseas with GoSimpleTax
Filing a UK tax return from overseas should not mean decoding HMRC forms alone.
Living abroad doesn’t always end your UK tax obligations. If you’re a UK expat or non-resident who still earns investment income from UK sources, you may need to report it to HMRC through Self Assessment — including dividends, share sales, and interest.
Navigating tax residency rules while making sure you don’t pay tax twice can be a stressful balancing act. Miss a detail or submit the wrong form, and you risk penalties, interest charges, or follow-up enquiries from HMRC. GoSimpleTax makes it straightforward to declare UK investment income from anywhere in the world, file securely online, and stay compliant without posting a single form.
Do I Pay UK Tax on UK Investment Income if I Live Abroad?
In many cases, yes — but not always, and the detail matters.
If you live outside the UK, you may still owe UK tax on certain income that arises here. This typically includes:
- Dividends from UK companies and UK-based funds
- Interest from UK bank or building society accounts
- Income from UK unit trusts and investment trusts
- National Savings and Investments income
- Gains and distributions tied to UK assets, such as the sale of UK shares
Whether each source is taxable depends on your residency status and any Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between the UK and your country of residence. In some situations, HMRC may treat untaxed UK savings and dividend income as “disregarded income,” which can restrict the UK tax due to the amount already deducted at source — sometimes resulting in little or no further UK tax. Even so, you may still need to declare and pay tax on the same income in your country of residence.
Because these rules hinge on your personal circumstances, it’s always worth checking HMRC guidance or taking professional advice. GoSimpleTax helps you record these figures correctly and apply relief where it’s due.
How Do I Declare UK Investment Income if I Live Abroad?
To report UK investment income from overseas, you complete a Self Assessment tax return. The important point many people miss is this: non-residents cannot use HMRC’s standard free online filing service to submit the residence pages. Instead, you must either use commercial, HMRC-recognised software like GoSimpleTax, or file a paper return by post.
This matters for deadlines, too. Paper returns are due by 31 October, while filing online through approved software gives you until 31 January — an extra three months.
When filing from overseas, your return brings together the core tax return and specific supplementary pages depending on your income:
- SA100 (Main return): The core Self Assessment tax return.
- SA109 (Residence, remittance basis etc.): The essential page for declaring your non-resident status, claiming split-year treatment, and claiming personal allowances as a non-UK resident.
- Investment and savings pages: Used to report your UK dividends and interest.
- SA101 (Additional Information): Used for certain investment income, such as income from UK trusts or particular share schemes.
- SA105 (Property Income): If you’re also an overseas landlord earning money from UK rental property alongside your investments.
GoSimpleTax brings these forms together in one place and pulls in the right pages based on a few simple questions, so you don’t have to work out which sections apply on your own.
What Information Do Overseas Taxpayers Need to Declare Investment Income?
Overseas taxpayers usually need more than a simple list of interest or dividends. HMRC may also need details about your UK residence position, your entitlement to allowances, and whether any tax has already been deducted.
You may need to gather:
- Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
- Your UK bank interest for the tax year
- Dividend statements from UK companies or funds
- Details of unit trusts or other investment income
- Tax deducted at source, if any
- Your overseas address and contact details
- Your UK residence status for the tax year
- Any claim to personal allowances as a non-UK resident
- The details needed for the SA109 form, where residence pages apply
- Details of any foreign tax paid, where relevant
GoSimpleTax turns these details into a guided process. Instead of working through HMRC forms from scratch, you answer simple questions and enter figures you already have.
Do Non-UK Residents Need the SA109 Form?
The SA109 form is the Self Assessment supplementary page for residence, remittance basis, and related overseas tax positions. It’s typically relevant if you are not UK resident, usually live overseas, are claiming split-year treatment, or want to claim personal allowances as a non-UK resident.
Crucially, HMRC’s own online filing system does not support the SA109, which is why non-residents can’t simply use the free Government Gateway return. GoSimpleTax adds the SA109 to your return automatically when you flag your non-resident status, then organises the rest of the return behind the scenes.
Do Non-Residents Get a UK Personal Allowance on Investment Income?
It depends on your circumstances. UK citizens living abroad, citizens of EEA countries, and residents of certain countries with specific Double Taxation Agreements are usually entitled to the standard UK Personal Allowance. GoSimpleTax uses your SA109 answers to determine whether you qualify and applies it automatically.
How Does GoSimpleTax Make Declaring Investment Income Easier?
Manual Self Assessment can be stressful when you’re overseas — working across time zones, relying on digital statements, and trying to understand whether HMRC treats your income differently because you’re non-resident. GoSimpleTax is built to simplify that process.
The Right Forms, Added Automatically
When you set up your account and state that you live abroad, the software automatically unlocks and includes the SA109 residency form, along with the correct investment pages for your dividends and interest. As you log your dividend certificates or investment statements, the system maps the data onto the correct lines. This reduces guesswork and helps your submission meet HMRC’s rules on tax residency.
Guided Income Selection
GoSimpleTax asks what income you received during the tax year — savings, dividends, investment income, property income, pension income, or other sources — and then shows only the sections that apply. This reduces the risk of missing a section or entering investment income in the wrong place.
Clear Prompts for Overseas Taxpayers
If you live abroad, the residence part of your return matters. GoSimpleTax helps you work through the information HMRC may need, including your overseas position and whether residence-related pages are required. This is especially useful for expats, non-residents, overseas landlords, and people who have recently moved abroad but still receive UK income.
See Your Tax Estimate in Real Time
As you enter your UK dividends and interest, your estimated tax updates instantly, taking your residency status into account. If your country of residence has a Double Taxation Agreement with the UK, the software helps you correctly claim relief so you aren’t taxed twice on the same investment income. You’ll always know roughly what you owe before you file.
Built-In Validation Checks
Before you submit, GoSimpleTax flags missing figures, incomplete sections, or entries that may need another look. This helps you avoid common errors and reduces the risk of penalties or follow-up letters from HMRC.
Direct, Secure Submission to HMRC
Whether you’re in Spain, Singapore, or South Africa, GoSimpleTax lets you log in, review your investment income, and submit your complete return — including the SA109 non-resident pages — directly to HMRC online. There are no downloads, no printing, and no postal delays.
What Our Users Say
Why Overseas Investors Choose GoSimpleTax
- No paper forms. File everything online, securely, from any country.
- The right forms, automatically. The SA109 and relevant investment pages are added for you.
- Clear guidance. Plain-English prompts explain terms like SA109, disregarded income, foreign tax credit relief, and personal allowances — and tell you what to declare and where.
- Real-time tax visibility. See your estimated bill as you go, useful when planning to move funds from an overseas account before the deadline.
- HMRC-recognised. Submit directly to HMRC through a trusted connection.
- Everything in one place. Manage investment income, residence details, property income, and pensions together, with searchable records you can revisit.
- Support when you need it. Access help if you’re unsure about a section, so you’re not left guessing.
Example: Declaring UK dividends and shares from overseas
Sarah, a UK citizen, moved to Spain three years ago. She still holds a portfolio of shares with a UK broker that pays regular dividends and a UK savings account, and she recently sold a block of shares, resulting in a capital gain.
When she tried HMRC’s standard online portal, she discovered it doesn’t support the SA109 form required to declare her Spanish residency status — and she was worried about being double-taxed by both Spain and the UK.
Sarah signed up for GoSimpleTax and marked herself as a non-resident. The platform automatically added her SA109 and the relevant investment pages, then guided her through logging her dividend vouchers, interest, and capital gain. As she entered her figures, her tax estimate updated in real time, applying the correct non-resident treatment and relief. Validation checks confirmed nothing was missing, and she filed her complete return directly to HMRC from home in Spain — well ahead of the 31 January deadline, without printing or posting a single document.
Frequently asked questions
Start Declaring Your UK Investment Income Today
Living overseas should not make your UK tax return harder than it needs to be. GoSimpleTax helps overseas taxpayers declare UK savings, dividends, and investment income with less confusion. It guides you through the relevant sections, adds the right forms automatically, checks your return, calculates your tax, and lets you file directly with HMRC.