Case Study · When something needs putting right
When Long-Standing UK Advice No Longer Worked Overseas
Jane's UK adviser relationship simply continued after she moved overseas. Moving country had changed whether her arrangements, and her pension's tax treatment, still worked.
- The situation
- Jane, a retired professional who returned to her country of birth after building a career in the UK
- Key areas
- TaxPensionsEstate Planning
- The outcome
- Historic reporting corrected and a properly coordinated international plan put in place
The situation
Jane is a retired professional who built a successful career in the UK before returning to live in her country of birth. She was single, had no children, and following the end of a long-term relationship, wanted her financial affairs to reflect her new circumstances.
Jane had worked with the same UK financial adviser for many years. After she moved overseas, that relationship simply continued. Her investments stayed in place, advice kept being given, and adviser charges kept being taken.
What had not been properly considered was that moving country could fundamentally change whether those arrangements remained right for her.
Where things became complicated
Investments
Investments that had suited her while UK resident were subject to different tax treatment in her new country of residence, for both income and capital gains.
Inheritance tax
Her continuing exposure to UK inheritance tax needed careful review.
Pensions
She received income from a UK final salary pension scheme, but its taxation and reporting had not been dealt with correctly since her move. Tax had been accounted for in the wrong jurisdiction, and historic tax returns needed revisiting.
Coordination across advisers
Her UK accountant and her overseas accountant had not been coordinated around her pensions, investments, residence, tax and estate planning.
The Montfort approach
01 Review
We reviewed Jane's affairs and identified the cross-border issues that had built up since her move.
02 Coordinate
We coordinated with Jane's UK accountant and her accountant overseas, bringing together her pensions, investments, residence, tax and estate planning.
03 Correct
Historic reporting was reviewed, corrective work undertaken where required, and her inheritance tax and estate planning position reconsidered.
04 Explain
Our coordinated approach let us address the issues with the relevant tax authorities and provide the information needed to explain what had happened.
The turning point
An arrangement doesn't stay right just because it worked for years.
Moving overseas should create a series of financial checkpoints: investments, pensions, tax reporting, estate planning and even existing adviser relationships should all be reconsidered against the rules of the new country. In Jane's case, several of those checkpoints had been missed, resulting in unnecessary professional costs, adverse tax consequences and considerable corrective work.
The outcome
Jane now has a properly coordinated international financial plan, with historic reporting corrected and her inheritance tax and estate planning position reconsidered for her actual circumstances. We are also separately examining whether some of the unnecessary costs and losses resulting from the previous advice may be recoverable.
What this case shows
01 Look at the whole picture
Investments, pensions, tax reporting and estate planning all need reconsidering together once residence changes.
02 Timing matters
The checkpoints that moving overseas should trigger are easy to miss when an existing relationship simply continues unchanged.
03 A transaction isn't always a solution
What Jane needed was not another financial product. It was identifying what had gone wrong and correcting it.
Understand your financial life
Montfort combines financial planning with education and coaching, so clients understand not just what to decide, but why. Being an informed client is often what makes the right decision possible in the first place.
Client names and certain identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality. The circumstances and planning challenges described are based on real client experiences.
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