On Friday I was interviewed by HELLO magazine, about Harry and Meghan returning to the UK (link in comments).

They are coming back just after 5 years, which is very important for us tax advisors.

When you sell an assets at a gain when you are non-resident, HMRC has no taxing rights over you*. So an entrepreneur about to sell his business might think he can move to (say) Isle of Man – which has no Capital Gains Tax – sell his business, then move back to the UK the next year with all his untaxed wealth.

However, there is anti-avoidance which states if you sell an asset whilst offshore and return within 5 years then HMRC will tax the gain**.

This is why business owners will stay non-resident for at least 5 years when selling their businesses whilst resident in (say) Dubai.

Regarding Harry and Meghan’s move, I would be very surprised if the timing of the move back here was to avoid the anti-avoidance above. The Capital Gains Tax rates in California – where they were living – are up to 37%, compared to 24% in the UK. They’d likely be better off deferring any sale until they were back here.