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clientservices@lsrpartners.comThe Tax Compass Podcast is officially 1 year old! To celebrate, Simon Roue and Laura Sant from LSR Partners look back on some of the most powerful stories and lessons from the past 12 months.
As The Tax Compass Podcast reaches its first birthday, we’ve pulled together real client stories from the past year. These clips show how unexpectedly human tax really is, and how the right decisions can give you back time, money, and peace of mind.
One listener’s return from Asia highlights how easy it is to underestimate the admin involved in coming back to the UK.
A decade away, children changing schools, COVID interruptions, and an empty apartment overseas created a messy mix of uncertainty.
The surprising part?
Even as a chartered accountant, he found that forgetting to disclose non-residency properly and mis-timing share disposals carried tax impacts he hadn’t anticipated. Add increasing global information-sharing rules and HMRC’s interest in foreign income, and the stakes quickly rise.
If you assume your return to the UK is 'just a move,' you may be setting yourself up for unnecessary exposure.
Pension rules look simple, until they aren’t.
One client discovered that a seemingly sensible extra contribution pushed her beyond her available allowance. A previous year’s allowance had expired without her realising. The result?
It’s a reminder that even well-intentioned planning can trigger a disclosure. The rules are rolling, not static, and HMRC rarely gives the benefit of the doubt.
Principal Private Residence (PPR) relief depends heavily on whether the property genuinely became your home, not how many nights you stayed there.
One client who had spent 20+ years abroad for work still secured relief after returning to the UK because she genuinely moved back into the property immediately.
Contrast that with someone popping back for a week 'to qualify', HMRC will look straight through it.
If you're moving internationally, assumptions like 'I’ll just live there for a bit' can be dangerously optimistic.
Gifting property to a spouse is CGT-free.
But Stamp Duty Land Tax? Different story.
Where a mortgage exists, HMRC treats the transfer of mortgage liability as consideration.
Example:
Enough to trigger SDLT, even though it’s a 'gift.'
And since SDLT thresholds dropped again this year, more people get caught out.
Remote working has exploded, but HMRC hasn’t adjusted gracefully.
Clients working abroad for UK employers often discover:
A UTR can be your fastest route to getting money back, but getting one opened can feel like a siege.
One of the most heartening stories from the year involved a client travelling frequently to the UK to care for her elderly mother. She feared becoming UK tax resident, and losing large slices of her US income.
Treaty analysis showed she remained treaty-resident in the US regardless.
The result?
She gained the confidence to spend meaningful time with her mum during her final years, without worrying about HMRC.
Sometimes tax planning gives people time, not just lower bills.
Rising employer NI, frozen allowances, pension rule tweaks, remote working, and global mobility have all created an environment where:
If you think policy decisions don’t shape behaviour, you might be giving the system more credit than it deserves.
If these stories feel familiar, it’s because they mirror real life.
Whether you’re moving house, changing country, or planning retirement, your tax position follows you.
👉 Listen here: The Tax Compass Podcast, Year One: Real Stories, Real Decisions
When you understand the rules and how they apply to your life, you pay the right tax in the right place at the right time.
If your situation involves moving abroad, returning to the UK, sharing property, pensions, or working remotely across borders, you’ll get a personalised plan that matches your reality, not a theoretical model.
Contact LSR Partners today to speak with our expert team and pay the right tax, in the right place, at the right time.
