This is something that I know I'll have to worry about someday, and I wish I could find out just enough to set my mind at ease without hiring a professional (yet).
My family lives in the U.S., but one of us is a UK citizen. We plan to start investing seriously in 2010, after we pay off a ton of debt. We are going to try our darnedest to move to the UK in 5 to 10 years and live there permanently.
What I worry about is the best way to save for retirement that will sting the least, taxwise. I assume we're going to get taxed coming and going no matter what, or is there a UK/US tax agreement where the UK wouldn't tax your retirement funds from the US?
I've thought for a long time that I'd invest a great deal in Roth IRAs for all of us, paying the upfront tax but being able to withdraw the money tax-free. But what if the UK is able to tax the withdrawals? Then is there any benefit to the Roth IRA for me?
Maybe there's a way to start moving our money overseas ahead of us?
Ugh, it's going to cost us so much either way, and be such a complicated nightmare headache! The wages of true love, I guess.
That's not to mention the headache I'm about to get when I try to figure out NT's UK taxes now that he has a job in the U.S.! The UK tax year ends in April, so I'd better start stocking up on Aleve.
Any thrifty expats out there?
