Can I use my saving abroad for living due to redundancy? And will I be taxed?

I got a job back in Nov 2022 at last but was made redundant at end of Aug 2023. Since I have no income, I have made a few cash transfers from the Hong Kong account (as I was working in there until moving back in July 2021 and had left some saving, not income/gains nor investments) to my UK account to keep my living going, but I have just received a letter from HMRC, about I might have received overseas income or gains, saying that I might have to pay UK tax. Now, I am not sure how I should fill in the 'Your tax position' . I thought as I am unemployed and without a job, also I am simply using my saving. I certainly have not gained income from overseas, but not sure whether these are covered by personal allowances/reliefs, or whether liable to UK tax. Thank you

Hi
If you are UK tax resident and domiciled, you need to declare your worldwide income.
If not domiciled, you can claim the remittance basis - see Paying tax on the remittance basis (Self Assessment helpsheet HS264)
If you have transferred income from abroad to use in the UK, you need to declare it.

Hi Admin, Thank you for your reply. When you mentioned ‘income’, it means capital gains from investments or similar means, is this correct? What I am referring here is, it is my cash saving only, not from any form of gains. Does this still regard as ‘income’? And at the end you also mentioned there is a need to declare, how to do that please?

Hi AF

As long as the savings transferred from your Hong Kong bank to your UK bank account, are not made up of overseas income or gains arising when resident in the UK, then they can be treated as capital and would not be taxable.

Thank you

Hi Admin, Thank you for the clear explanation. Really helpful. After this, I am exploring ways to try to transfer all my savings back to the country, as you might imagine this can be complicated after spending so many years in there, but I fear whether this might subject to tax liability if I do that. Is there any limit if I make such transfer, or do I need to make some sort of declaration or take any action if the amount exceeds a certain limit? Thank you so much again

Hi
If you mean transferring the income to the UK then there is no limit.
You may want to advise your bank of where the funds are from.
If you mean to transfer back to Hong Kong, we cannot advise you on that and you may wish to speak to a financial adviser.