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Foreign Interest

This guide explains how to use the My Tax Digital interface to record and update interest earned from foreign savings, investments, and securities.

1. The Foreign Interest Overview

The Foreign Interest screen provides a centralized view of all international interest income reported for the current tax year.

  • Tax Year Context: Verify the Tax year (e.g., 2025-26) and the date the information was last Submitted on.
  • Prepare Update: Click the Prepare update button to unlock the input fields for the entire page.
  • Summary View: Before editing, you can see a read-only list of your securities and country-specific interest.
  • Delete: Use the red Delete link at the bottom of the page to remove all foreign interest data for this tax year.

2. Securities

This section is for reporting interest and tax associated with foreign bonds, gilts, or other similar securities.

Field Description
Tax taken off The amount of tax already deducted at the source by the foreign provider.
Gross amount The total interest amount earned before any tax was taken off.
Net amount The actual amount received (Gross amount minus Tax taken off).

3. Country-Specific Foreign Interest

For interest arising from specific international jurisdictions (like bank accounts abroad), use this section to handle individual country data and tax credits.

  • Country Selection: Use the multi-select dropdown menu to add countries (e.g., Germany). A dedicated data entry block will appear for each country selected.
  • Income Details:
    • Amount of income arising: The total gross interest received before any tax deductions.
    • Foreign tax taken off or paid: Tax already paid to the foreign tax authority.
    • Special Withholding Tax: Any specific UK or foreign withholding tax taken off at the source.
    • Taxable amount: The final portion of the income subject to UK tax.

4. Foreign Tax Credit Relief (FTCR)

For each country, you must specify how to treat the tax already paid abroad to avoid being taxed twice on the same income.

  • Yes (Claiming Relief): Select this to deduct the foreign tax paid directly from your UK tax liability.
  • No (Not Claiming): Select this if you are not claiming a credit; the foreign tax paid may instead be treated as a deduction from the gross income.

5. Finalising Your Submission

Once you have verified that the figures match your international bank statements or tax certificates:

  • Submit / Update:
    • If this is your first submission for foreign interest this year, the button will be labeled Submit.
    • If you are modifying existing data, the button will be labeled Update.
  • Cancel: Click Cancel to exit the screen and discard any changes made during the session.