Thinking of possibly returning to UK next year (next tax year), which means I need to plan now for a tax-efficient exit strategy. Primary concerns are: stock investments in my IB and HSBC accounts and my ORSO.

Stock investments: I think this is relatively straightforward – as long as I dispose of my assets before becoming "resident in UK for tax purposes", I am not liable for CGT / div tax in UK. Do you agree? My main open question is – do I need to make sure I dispose of my assets in the tax year prior to moving to UK? Put another way, if I dispose of them in the same tax year that I become UK resident, am I still liable for CGT in the UK?

ORSO: This I am more confused about. Do I treat this exactly the same as above – i.e. as long as my account is closed and I take the money before I move back to UK, I avoid CGT? My concern is that it can take weeks to get this sorted by which time I will probably be back in the UK. If there is no special tax-exemption arrangement for ORSO (and MPF) made by the UK, is there anything I can do now to minimize my tax liability? For example, if I switch between funds offered by my ORSO provider now, will this harvest the taxable gains I've made up to now and therefore remove tax liability?