Who we help

British people in the US

You're a UK national who has moved to, or regularly does business in, the US. You may face US filing obligations alongside your UK ones — and UK pensions, ISAs, and property need to be reported or planned for.

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British people in the US — TaxStone
British executive reviewing US tax position with adviser
Why this matters

Day one in the US, your UK pension and ISA become US tax problems.

Most British executives arriving in the US assume their UK financial life can carry on unchanged. It can't. SIPPs and workplace pensions need treaty disclosure to keep their tax-deferred status. ISAs lose their UK shelter the moment you cross the substantial presence threshold. UK rental property triggers FIRPTA-adjacent reporting on disposal. The work to do isn't dramatic — but it has to happen in the right order, and most of it should be done before the move, not after.

  • Substantial presence test mapped against your travel history, not just calendar days
  • Pre-arrival year planning so the dual-status return is clean
  • Treaty disclosure on UK pensions to keep them out of US ordinary income
  • State residency call — California, New York, and Massachusetts all have edge cases
  • 183
    day count for the substantial presence test
  • $200k
    Form 8938 threshold (single, abroad)
  • Form 8833
    treaty disclosure that protects UK pensions
  • 30%
    default US withholding before treaty applied
British people in the US — inside the work
Inside the work

Most British executives we work with arrive in the US with at least one UK ISA, one UK pension, and a tenant in their old flat — every one of those becomes a US filing item.

Key issues

What we look at first.

  • Substantial presence test and day-counting
  • Dual-status filings in the year of arrival or departure
  • UK pensions, ISAs, and property under US rules
  • State tax — which state do you 'reside' in for US purposes?
Typical filings

The forms we’ll likely prepare.

  • Form 1040 (once resident) or 1040NR
  • Form 8833 treaty disclosures
  • Form 8938 and FBAR on UK accounts
  • Form 8621 for ISAs / UK funds
How we work with you

Four steps from intake to filed return.

  1. 01

    Day-count audit

    Map your physical presence — UK, US, third countries — over the last 3 years. Confirm whether you've crossed the substantial presence threshold and when.

  2. 02

    Account & pension audit

    Catalogue UK pensions, ISAs, brokerage, and rental property. Identify what needs treaty disclosure, what triggers FBAR / 8938, and what should be restructured before US residency.

  3. 03

    Filing strategy

    Decide on dual-status vs. resident return for the arrival year, and document the treaty positions on Form 8833.

  4. 04

    Annual maintenance

    Carry the same positions forward each year, watch for state residency changes, and reconcile to your UK self-assessment.

I moved to New York thinking I'd just file a 1040 like a US colleague. TaxStone walked me through the treaty positions on my UK pension that kept it out of the US ordinary income net — saved me five figures in the first year alone.
— British executive, New York
What we catch

Common mistakes we see — and fix.

These are the four positions that most often get filed wrong before clients come to us. Sometimes it’s a prior preparer’s call we’d disagree with; sometimes it’s a default election that compounded for years. Either way, we work backwards through them before drafting your return.

  • Filing a resident 1040 in the arrival year when a dual-status return is more advantageous
  • Ignoring UK ISA gains because they were tax-free at home
  • Missing the FBAR deadline because UK accounts felt 'separate'
  • Letting state residency default to the place of employment without analysing alternatives
Clients like you

Three snapshots from our practice.

Anonymised, paraphrased, but representative — three of the shapes the work tends to take for british people in the us.

  • NYC consultant — British people in the USNYC consultant

    Two-year posting from London to New York, kept UK SIPP and one rental property. Dual-status arrival year + treaty disclosure on the pension; FIRPTA planning before the eventual flat sale.

  • Boston researcher — British people in the USBoston researcher

    UK academic on a five-year fellowship. NIH grants, UK ISA still earning, US-resident from year 2. PFIC restructuring before residency, then annual joint return with US spouse.

  • LA exec — British people in the USLA exec

    British executive at a US studio with stock comp on both sides. Form 8833 on the UK pension treaty position, dual taxation relief on RSU vesting events that straddle residency change.

Services we’ll likely run

The filings that come up most for british people in the us.

Each links to the dedicated service page with scope, forms, and a fee quote you can request directly.

See if british people in the us describes your situation.

We'll confirm what you need to file — and just as importantly, what you don't.

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