From April 6th this year (2015), individuals who do not spend sufficient time in the UK, or have insufficient ties with the UK to be resident there for tax purposes, but who nonetheless own a home in the UK, may now need to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on any gains arising on the eventual sale of the property.
Plenty of news to read currently – some not so good - the loss of life following the German airline going down is extremely distressing; then you have the press going mad over the likes of Jeremy ‘Top Gear’ Clarkson being sacked and even Zayne leaving One Direction – not so interesting or important on the scale of things.
What many of my peers have been commenting on recently is all around the subject of Pensions and the Pensions reforms coming into the UK from 6th April.
We have been inundated with enquires from many British Nationals who have major concerns about their Trust and its taxation in Portugal. We have either allayed their fears or resolved these tax issues. So if there is anything that concerns you with your financial affairs either in Portugal or the UK, please do not hesitate to contact us for a "no obligation" discussion.
In this weeks 'Tax Insight', we cover the UK Budget and a few other important issues...
As suspected in an election year, the UK Budget had little in the way of surprises. The Chancellor made it clear that ‘we are all in this together’ and it is essential that we continue to follow a clear, cautious financial strategy.
Key changes are Personal Allowances and Income tax rate bands, New personal savings allowance,,Capital gains tax, Inheritance tax, Pension lifetime allowance Pension freedom extended to annuities and County by country reporting.
Earlier this month (March 2015), the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and 50 other media outlets reveal that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities. The HSBC files consist of thousands of pages made available via the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
I’ve spent the last 40 years working and saving – so what’s next? Should I remain in the UK or consider pastures new? Well someone once said, “The grass is not any greener on the other side” – but what if it was?
Expats may be able to benefit from generous tax legislation in some popular retirement destinations if they decide to make use of new flexible pension rules.
Investing is not for everyone! Sometimes we actively discourage people from investing, it might seem a bit strange for us to say this but you should only invest when its right for you. Here are the three main reasons why you shouldn't invest ...
In this week's issue, we cover:
- the EU v Greece "goes into extra time" on the deliberations over the extension to the bailout,
- Greenspan states that a Greece exit (Grexit) is inevitable,
- the political concerns in Spain are more of an issue than the Greek problems, and,
- UK inflation hits a record low.
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