The Old Permanent Residency Scheme In Malta
Posted: 31/05/2011 Filed under: Living in Malta, Non Dom, Working In Malta Leave a comment »
Permanent Residency in Malta was an option that was highly attractive to non-domiciled persons with a high income that want to retire in a warm and friendly place. It was also an option that authors, international consultants and people looking for a vacation home with the right income level found very alluring.
This residency scheme allowed EU citizens and 3rd country nationals with a high net worth to transfer their tax residence overseas. Though they were not allowed to work or own a business on Malta they were given a large tax break with benefits. They enjoyed a flat 15% tax rate on all income brought into Malta, including pensions. The minimum tax due per year is €4,192.50. There were no capital gains taxes to be paid on any capital gains coming from outside of Malta. There is no capital tax, wealth tax or inheritance tax in Malta either, which make Malta especially attractive to those that wish to preserve their wealth instead of paying increasing taxes for benefits of which they do not make use. (This is still the case.)
To Qualify for Permanent Residence:
- You could not be a citizen of Malta.
- Your yearly income must have been at least €23,000 and it must have come from outside of Malta. If you did not have this income you must have had in your possession a capital of no less than €349,000.
- The minimum income amount remitted to Malta must not have been less than €13,950 with an added €2,300 per dependant if applicable.
- You must have bought an apartment costing no less than €69,000 or a house not less than €116,000. You were also allowed to rent non movable property at no less than €4,150 per year. In the case of 3rd country nationals the minimum costs were €105,000 for an apartment and €170,000 for a house.
- You could not work in Malta, nor were you eligible to own a business in Malta.
Unfortunately as of 2011 the Maltese Government has suspended the Permanent Residency Scheme. Though they haven’t given reason they say that a revised Residency Scheme is going to be unveiled in the coming months. Those wishing to apply for this scheme can still go and have their papers stamped while in Malta but no Permanent Residency permits will be issued until the revised scheme is brought forth.
It is likely that some of the same criteria will be applicable in the new laws, but which ones remains to be seen.
UK Immigration Balances Workforce.
Posted: 19/07/2010 Filed under: Non Dom, Small Business, UK Taxation | Tags: business, business concerns, Immigration, Small Business Leave a comment »Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has been defending the coalition governments immigration cap today, claiming it will not be damaging for the British economy.
The restriction will be taking place immediately, reducing the number of immigrants travelling from outside the European Union to 21,100. The temporary restriction has been put in place to ensure large volumes of people don’t try to rush into the UK before the permanent policy is put into place next year.
The cap on immigration was one of the Conservative parties flagship policies during the election campaign, and it is their aim to reduce numbers entering the country from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands.
I believe this is dangerous for the British economy. So do many others but May has completely rejected this idea, she has argued that the cap has not been harmful to business and the competitiveness of other economies.
“I don’t think that anybody would ever suggest that Australia or the United States or New Zealand, in operating an annual limit, weren’t able to get into the country the skilled people that they need and that their economies were somehow suffering from that annual limit” she said.
In fact my information is that Australia as a minimum has indeed suffered from large skilled labor shortages and continues to do so. I don’t know enough about the Australian economy to state that this is a direct result of their immigration policy but I know many who claim it is.
If I know that then why doesn’t May?
If we want to put the ‘Great’, back in Great Britain, we do need skilled people to come into our country; limiting their numbers will not do anything for our prosperity.
Income taxation Abolished For Low Earners
Posted: 22/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Non Dom, Small Business, UK Taxation | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, Tax, Taxation, UK tax, VAT Leave a comment »I thought I would outline some of the things we are expecting from Mr Osbourne’s budget tomorrow so we can evaluate how close our expectations are. Mainly it is about taxation and spending cuts but which taxation and where is the axe likely to fall?
The first thing that jumps out at me from the predictions is the idea that George will be abolishing income taxation for the UK’s lowest earners. I must admit that this has always made sense to me. It seems a convoluted way to do thing giving people money with one hand i.e. child support and other benefits and then taking it away with the other. By all means if people are struggling to get their heads above the poverty line then let them keep the money they work for.
To go along with his tax exemption for low earners the chancellor is also likely to announce a number of money-raising measures, including an increase in capital gains tax, a levy on bank profits, and rises in alcohol and cigarette duties. There is also likely to be a change in aviation tax.
It is interesting about the aviation tax but a rise in taxation on cigarettes and alcohol is to be expected, have we ever had a budget that did not include this move?
Anyway we have not got much longer to wait. Tomorrow will give us all the answers.
Osborne To Steer Us from Road To Ruin
Posted: 20/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Offshore Solutions, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, corporation tax, economy, election promises, Moving to London, moving to UK, Taxation, uk companies Leave a comment »Spending cuts, tax hikes, inflation, unemployment. The way the papers carry on you could sometimes think the the UK was doomed instead of experiencing an economic crisis being endured by most first world countries. Thank goodness Osborne is assuring us that he will be able to avoid complete disaster. Personally I never had any doubt but there you go.
Apparently Osborne is proposing to take us to prosperity via a bit of budget pain. The big questions on his policies are yet to be answered yet of course and we will have the answer to those later in the week. The budget will be released on Tuesday. In the meantime there has been a lot of preparation put into making sure the British people are ready for the worst.
The thing about a change of government is that it is in the new regimes interest to make sure we know just how badly the last lot landed us in it. So it stands to reason that we have been feed a steady diet of doom and gloom, how else could Osborne ride to the rescue on his white charger?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for a tough budget and I am fully expecting one. It is just that I think the pain we are feeling is globally spread rather than Britain localised. Despite what people have been saying recently I believe that the British standard of living is still far higher than many places.
In the meantime if you have taxation issues or are considering the intelligent move of starting a British company then please get in contact. We are experts on that stuff here.
Non Dom Charge A Flea Bite
Posted: 18/06/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Non Dom | Tags: business concerns, moving to UK, Non Dom, non dom tax Leave a comment »Despite the fact that the new non dom tax has now raised 1.3 million in its first year, the Lib Dems are still not describing it in very flattering terms. In fact they have called it a flea bite.
Introduced by the previous labour government the non dom payment which directs non doms to pay a flat rate of thirty thousand each year was originally predicted to raise 650 million a year for the country. The 130 it has bought in is certainly a far cry from that kind of sum.
People who have been resident in the UK but are non domiciled for taxation reasons are liable to pay the fee or they can choose to be taxed in the normal fashion.
Part of the reason the collected figure is so much lower than expected is that we now have fewer non doms. As some people pointed out would happen many non doms have left the country taking their cash with them and many more have been deterred from coming. I think i remember some pretty prominent people predicting that this is exactly what would happen.
Andrew Rodger, executive director of Stonehage, says: “This piece of evidence seems to suggest that less tax is being generated than anticipated by the 2008 changes but we are nonetheless losing tax revenue as a result of the changes.”
Ah, I don’t think that is quite what the xenophobes had in mind.
Retail Sales Up In Good News For British Economy
Posted: 08/06/2010 Filed under: Investment, Non Dom, Small Business, Uncategorized | Tags: business concerns, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Taxation, UK tax Leave a comment »Sometimes people fail to see the fact that all facets of the British economy are connected. What is good for the other guy is indeed often good for you. So news that the retail sector is experiencing strong sales at the moment gives all of us something to cheer about. Some of my clients in small business will be directly feeling the benefits other will be reaping the rewards in a less direct fashion but there is no doubt that money moving around in our economy is good news for us all.
It seems we have two major factors to thank for the renewed interest in retail spending, warm weather and football.
“The sunnier second half of May provided a welcome boost to overall sales,” said the BRC’s director general Stephen Robertson.
It is no big suprise that people like to come out and do a bit of retail therapy in the sunny weather, but last year, at the height of recession, people resisted the temptation and stayed home. It is great to see that we have come out the other side and people are no longer frightened of the consequences of spending a little money.
It is not just small purchases people are making, in fact due to a huge interest in the rapidly approaching soccer world cup, many of us are going home with huge shiny TV’s to watch the action on.
UK Top For European Investors
Posted: 03/06/2010 Filed under: Non Dom, Offshore Solutions, Small Business, UK Immigration | Tags: business, business concerns, Non Dom, non dom tax Leave a comment »Despite what sometimes feels like the best efforts of successive governments and the UK press, the UK is still top of the pile when it comes to European investment. Even though the press seems determined to talk nonsense about non doms owing the UK something more, European investors still see the UK as a very attractive place to spend their money.
In 2009, the UK attracted 678 investment projects, which gave us 2017 jobs. Terrible what all these foreigners are doing to our beloved Britain, hey?
“When seen in the context of 12 months during which the European economy suffered a deep recession, the resilience of the UK in securing FDI [foreign direct investment] is a remarkable economic success story,” said James Close, a partner at Ernst & Young.
Quite and and it is even more remarkable given the attitude of some people toward foreign investment.
Non Dom Issue Rears Head Again, Scaring Investors
Posted: 02/06/2010 Filed under: Non Dom, Offshore Solutions | Tags: corporate tax, corporation tax, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Non Dom, non dom tax Leave a comment »It seems to me whenever a politician needs a boost in popularity or more usually a distraction from the really important things taking place in our economy they turn the talk to the subject of non domiciles. Things that they think may not be as popular as a little non dom bashing. And a couple of weeks ago it happened again.
The idea that non doms should be hunted down and taxed within an inch of their lives came under discussion again. It was a discussion that quite frankly scared the life out of those in the know in the financial industry. Those that have no political barrow to push are fully aware that the UK gets its fair share from non doms in monetary terms. They are dismayed every time some politician ‘pledges to review’ the situation. It makes foreign investors nervous.
Believe it or not this is not a good thing, the UK does very nicely out of non doms and only those that have their own agenda would suggest otherwise.
As an article in the financial times pointed out recently further changes to the non-dom rules would be a “real deterrent for wealth-creating individuals to come from overseas”
Why is it the general public finds this so hard to understand? I think it is because politicians are intent on feeding them misinformation on the subject.
Non Dom Hangs Taxman By His Own Rope
Posted: 16/04/2010 Filed under: Non Dom, Offshore Solutions | Tags: business concerns, Moving to London, moving to the UK, moving to UK, Non Dom, uk investments Leave a comment »A very clever non dom made a fool of the UK taxation laws in court earlier this month. He effectively used the taxman’s most potent rule against him and won. This is not something we see every day and by that i do not mean a non domiciled individual beating the tax man, I mean anyone having a victory over them.
Even if you win on points in a battle with HMRC you usually get battered to within an inch of your life.
To cut a long story short, the non-dom managed to argue eligibility for the one get-out clause to Section 739 of British tax law, which is the UK’s most potent weapon against offshore tax evasion. This section contains the offshore anti-avoidance rules and the non-dom argued in an anonymised case that double taxation relief was necessary. The clever chap or lady or more likely their very clever lawyer argued that remittance rules superseded the argument put forward by the government body and the judge agreed.
You have got to admire anyone that takes on HMRC and wins. It is not for the faint hearted but it is sometimes necessary not least of all because of the ridiculous complexity of the laws governing offshore taxation.
If you are a non dom or you are wondering how that idea works in the UK we would be glad to talk you through it. just get in contact for a chat.
Immigration On the Agenda As Eyes Turn To Domestic Affairs
Posted: 14/04/2010 Filed under: Moving to London, Non Dom, Offshore Solutions | Tags: business, business concerns, Moving to London, moving to UK, uk investments Leave a comment »Up until now there has been a lot of focus on the economy in the lead up to this election but just recently things have started to turn towards domestic affairs and as soon as that happens the question of immigration into Britain comes up. The papers have been filled with news of national insurance hikes and speculation on raises to VAT but just for now they are discussing more closely how each party will deal with immigrants.
I believe it is a tricky area for each party steeped as it is in ignorance and sometimes almost hysteria fueled by the media. In a statement released by the labour party this week it is revealed that there will be higher emphasis placed on the need for fluent English for those applicants looking to obtain work in the public sector. I think it is great they are making this clear to the public but i refuse to believe that reasonable english skill have not always been fairly high on the agenda in this situation. Otherwise the candidate would not be fit for purpose as the saying goes.
I would like to see more said about how we are going to offer support and education regarding English acquisition to our new arrivals. I often work with new members of our community and I can assure you that they would love nothing more than ti improve their English skills. It is a total no brainer, if you as a native speaker encounter one or two people a week who you cannot understand and find that frustrating imagine the motivation of someone who is learning the language to do it quickly so they can communicate with those around them.
If you are thinking of moving to the UK, particularly if it is your desire to set up a company here then please do not hesitate to get in touch. We have been helping people to settle in the UK for many years.
