Cash gifts/dividends received by unemployed for supporting living and Self Assessment

My wife and I are BN(O) visa holder. We arrived in the UK on 5 Dec 2022 and have lived in a house since then. In the last tax year (2022/23) in the UK, I received cash gift £2,000 from my brother in Hong Kong. I also got £4,410 dividend from selling the insurance policies in Hong Kong. I transferred these money to my UK bank accounts for supporting our living. My wife also got cash gift HK$50,000 (i.e. ~£5,100) from his sister in Hong Kong. However, she did not transfer the sum to the UK. She retained the money in her Hong Kong bank account for supporting her other family members in Hong Kong. Both of these cash gifts/dividends generated some interests in our bank accounts but within £1,000 for each of us respectively. Both my wife and I were unemployed and had no salary income in the tax year 2022/23 in the UK. While I had salary income when I was in Hong Kong but not for my wife (she is a housewife), may I know if my wife and I are eligible to apply for split-year treatment of the tax year 2022/23? On top of that, based on our case as mentioned above, do we need to do self assessment for the tax year 2022/23? Thanks.

Hi,

There are no income tax implications on the receipt of a cash gift unless the cash gift generates interest or dividends.

These would then potentially be subject to tax.  Further guidance can be found here Tax on savings interest and

Tax on dividends

You will need to declare the dividend (in pounds sterling) on the foreign section of your self assessment tax return (SA106).  

You can declare the interest in the main part of the tax return and in the foreign section, if you wish to claim foreign tax credit relief.  

Both you and your wife will need to review the guidance on residence here Residence, domicile and the remittance basis: RDR1

and take the take the residence tests at RDR3 here RDR3 Statutory Residence Test

You will then be able to determine if split year treatment applies.  If it does, this should be shown on your self assessment tax return, in the supplementary section 'Resodence' or SA109

Residence, remittance basis etc (Self Assessment SA109)

Thank you.