Why the Future of Tax Advice Is International, Digital, and Personal

By Emma McDermott ATT, Founder of Global Tax Consulting

While, in the UK, HMRC are in full swing with their Making Tax Digital programme, digital technology also promises much for the provision of tax advice.

Although today’s world offers a huge range of possibilities for those who would work in more than one country, one significant stumbling block is the necessity of dealing with multifarious tax regimes, possibly simultaneously. However, as Emma McDermott of Global Tax Consulting describes here, digital technology is at hand to offer efficient and, indeed, personalised support in that regard.

The way people live and work has changed considerably over the past decade. It’s now perfectly normal for someone to work for a UK company while living in Spain, run an online business from Dubai, or divide their year between several countries. Yet the tax systems they deal with haven’t necessarily kept pace.

Most countries have their own rules for determining tax residence, taxing employment income, and reporting overseas earnings. Those rules don’t disappear simply because someone can work from anywhere. In my experience, this has created a growing disconnect between how internationally mobile people live and the advice available to them.

I believe the future of tax advice needs to address that disconnect. It needs to be international in its outlook, digital in how it operates, and, perhaps most importantly, personal in the advice it delivers.

From traditional tax advice to a global client base

Before founding Global Tax Consulting in 2023, I worked at Deloitte, where I gained experience in UK and international tax. That experience gave me a strong technical foundation, but it also helped shape my view of how tax advice could be delivered differently.

Traditional advisory firms often provide a broad range of services to clients living and operating in one country. That model works well for many individuals and businesses, but internationally mobile clients can have very different requirements.

A remote employee working abroad for a UK company may have questions about where their salary is taxable and whether UK PAYE should continue.

Someone leaving the UK may need advice on the Statutory Residence Test, split-year treatment, continuing UK income, and the tax implications of returning several years later. An individual moving to the UK may need to understand how their overseas investments, pensions, and employment income will be treated. A remote employee working abroad for a UK company may have questions about where their salary is taxable and whether UK PAYE should continue.

These are not always questions that fit neatly into a traditional annual tax-return process. I founded Global Tax Consulting to focus specifically on these situations.

Today, we support clients in more than 50 countries, providing UK personal tax advice entirely online. Our work includes SRT residency planning, non-resident planning, FIG planning, and HMRC reporting obligations. The objective has always been to make specialist advice easier to access, regardless of where someone happens to live.

That means clear communication, a defined process, and fixed fees agreed upfront. Clients should understand what advice they’re receiving, what it will cost, and what they need to do next.

International mobility has created a new kind of tax challenge

One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding international taxation is that spending fewer than 183 days in a country automatically means someone is not tax resident there. In the UK, that simply isn’t how the rules work.

The Statutory Residence Test considers several factors, including time spent in the UK, work patterns, and an individual’s connections to the country. Someone who spends relatively little time in the UK may still be UK resident, depending on their circumstances.

Someone who spends relatively little time in the UK may still be UK resident, depending on their circumstances.

Other countries have different tests. Some tax worldwide income, others focus primarily on locally sourced earnings, and certain jurisdictions offer specific regimes for new residents. For individuals moving between several countries, understanding how these systems interact can become particularly complicated.

This is no longer an issue affecting only senior executives on international assignments. Freelancers, digital nomads, entrepreneurs, and ordinary employees now face similar questions.

Consider a British professional who moves to Thailand but continues working remotely for a UK employer. They may need to understand their UK residence position, where their employment duties are performed, whether UK tax deductions remain appropriate, and what obligations arise in Thailand.

Or consider an entrepreneur moving from London to Dubai before selling shares in their company. The timing of the move, UK residence status, and any subsequent return to Britain could materially affect their UK tax position.

International mobility creates opportunities, but the consequences need to be considered before decisions are made. That is why international tax advice will increasingly become part of the relocation process itself, rather than something people seek only when a tax return is due.

Why technology needs to be part of the solution

As more people move internationally, accessing accurate information is becoming a challenge in its own right. A digital nomad considering several countries might need to compare residence rules, income tax rates, special tax regimes, treaty arrangements, and filing deadlines. Much of that information is available publicly, but it is spread across government websites, technical legislation, and guidance that isn’t always easy to interpret. It can also change quickly.

This was part of the thinking behind TaxPilot, a digital tax companion designed for expats, remote workers, and digital nomads. TaxPilot brings together personal tax information covering more than 150 countries, including tax rates, residence rules, and special regimes. It also provides educational guidance and access to a network of international tax professionals.

The aim is to make it easier for internationally mobile individuals to understand the questions they should be asking before making decisions. Someone considering a move abroad should be able to explore the basic tax environment of their destination without spending hours searching through different government websites. They should also be able to recognise when their circumstances require professional advice.

However, technology shouldn’t attempt to replace qualified tax advisers. An app can provide information about residence thresholds, for example, but it cannot automatically determine the correct outcome of every individual’s circumstances. Tax treaties, personal history, the nature of income, and domestic tax legislation all need to be considered together.

Technology works best when it makes reliable information easier to access and helps people identify when specialist advice is necessary.

Digital doesn’t mean impersonal

There is sometimes an assumption that moving professional services online means sacrificing personal attention. In practice, the opposite can be true. When information, documents, and communication are handled digitally, advisers can spend less time on administrative processes and more time understanding their clients’ circumstances.

A client living in Singapore should not need to visit an office in the UK to obtain UK tax advice. Equally, someone relocating between countries should be able to access their documents and communicate with their adviser without relying on postal correspondence or traditional office hours.

Clients will benefit from access to professionals who understand their own jurisdictions and can work together when advice crosses borders.

The real value of an adviser isn’t the physical location of their office. It’s their technical knowledge, their ability to explain complicated rules, and their understanding of how those rules apply to an individual’s circumstances. This is particularly important in international tax, where two people moving to the same country can have entirely different outcomes.

One might be employed, another self-employed. One might own UK property, while another has overseas investments or a pension. Their residence histories could also be different.

A standardised online answer may be a useful starting point, but it cannot replace a detailed assessment. For me, the ideal approach combines accessible digital resources with the reassurance of speaking to a specialist who understands the individual’s position.

What the next generation of tax advice should look like

I expect three developments to shape international tax advice over the coming years.

First, people will increasingly expect advice before they relocate, rather than after the event. Tax residence, employment arrangements, and the timing of major transactions can all be difficult to correct retrospectively.

Second, technology will make it easier to compare international tax systems and manage information across borders. This should help individuals arrive at consultations better informed and allow advisers to focus on complex planning rather than basic administration.

Third, specialist advice will become increasingly important. International tax is too broad for any one adviser to be an expert in every country’s domestic rules. Clients will benefit from access to professionals who understand their own jurisdictions and can work together when advice crosses borders. That principle is central to both my work at Global Tax Consulting and the wider international approach behind TaxPilot.

The goal isn’t to make tax planning entirely automated or to suggest that international taxation can ever be reduced to a single calculation. It’s to make the process more understandable and accessible, while recognising the importance of professional judgement.

People now have more freedom than ever to decide where they live, work, and build businesses, and the tax profession needs to be able to support that freedom. I believe the firms that succeed will be those that combine technical expertise with modern technology, international collaboration, and a genuinely personal approach to their clients.

After all, people may live and work across borders, but their tax circumstances will always be individual.

About the Author

Emma McDermott is the founder of Global Tax Consulting, a UK tax advisory firm specialising in international tax advice for expats and digital nomads.

Emma is also the co-founder of TaxPilot, a tax residency tracking tool and educational guide that helps digital nomads understand international tax rules, manage their global resident status, and connect with qualified tax experts around the world.