Even if you are resident in Portugal, British expatriates need to keep up to date with UK taxation as it may continue to affect you. Here is a summary of some of the key points of the December Autumn Statement.
If you own property in the UK, then the capital gains tax charge on residential property owned by non-residents will be of particular interest.
An insight to the Autumn Tax Budget by Private Fund Management, including UK Personal Tax Allowances up, Devolvement of certain taxes to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, 'Google' Tax announced, ISA's to remain Tax Free after death, Banks hit with £4bn extra tax bill, Higher Tax band to be raised, UK Borrowing Forecasts revised, and Stamp Duty rates revised.
Flexible Access. From April 2015, total freedom for pension incomes will be allowed, where the whole pension can be taken as a lump sums if required.
An individual may then be able to spend it, invest it or save ot as they require for UK and Non UK residents alike.
This pattern of performance highlights how investors do not like uncertainty. The market reaction has been more restrained since, but conditions are hardly settled. With a general election scheduled for next May they are unlikely to get much better.
On a short-term view, the movements in Equity Markets over the last two weeks have not been pleasant, with markets down and volatility up.
From it's recent peak, the FTSE 100 has fallen by nearly 10%, close to the technical definition of a correction. As a result, all gains made over the last year and a half have been wiped out, leaving many investors nursing short term losses.
Be Financially Independent - Everyone looks forward to being financially independent, and it is possible if you refrain from making some common mistakes. There are times when you can look back and see many things you should have done differently. There may have been decisions that were supposed to bring you happiness but ended up causing you grief.
On 29th October, 51 jurisdictions signed a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on automatic exchange of information. The first exchange of data will take place by September 2017.
The signing ceremony took place at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. All OECD and G20 endorsed the OECD’s global standard for automatic exchange of information. Most of the major international financial centres also signed.
On 29th September, the UK Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the UK government is to abolish the 55% pensions lump sum death tax charge for defined contributions pensions. The measure will come into force in April 2015 alongside the pension reforms outlined in the Budget.
The new rules mean that if a person dies over the age of 75 years, beneficiaries will only pay their marginal tax rate on drawdowns from the pension. A lump sum option is likely to be available, subject to tax charge of 45%.
When an individual dies under the age of 75 years they will be able to give their pension pot to any beneficiary tax free, whether if the pension is already in drawdown or not.
