Singapore The Best Place For Expats
Singapore is ranked the best place for expats for the second year in a row, in a new survey. Expats in Singapore enjoy some of the world’s best financial rewards and career opportunities, while benefiting from an excellent quality of life and a safe, family-friendly environment, found HSBC’s Expat Explorer country league table. More...
UK Tax On Guernsey Portfolio?
I have a query regarding my tax situation. I am British and have been working in Austria for the past 18 months or so. I have quite a large sum invested through an asset manager in Guernsey – in investment trusts, exchange traded funds, real estate investment trusts etc. Could you possibly tell me if...
Buying Property In Germany
Make sure you follow the correct procedures to smooth the process of buying property in Germany. By Christopher Nye To buy or not to buy, that has been the question in Germany in recent years. It was a country where most people rented, protected by strong pro-tenant laws, and where property price rises were...
Currencies: No Such Thing As A Free Transfer
When making a transfer most people focus solely on getting the best exchange rate. However, hidden extras and commission fees make it hard to know whether that means you have got the best deal. By World First If you are ever promised a ‘free transfer’, you should know that there’s really no such thing. All...
Brexit: The Bank Of England View
The Bank of England has quickly responded to financial questions raised by the UK’s referendum result on leaving the EU, in a handy Q&A format. What do any financial market movements after the vote mean? The economy will need to adjust to whatever new trading relationships are put in place in the future. These decisions...
More IT Specialists Opt For Self-Employment
The number of information technology specialists moving into self-employment has increased by 48% in five years, up from 143,000 211,000. According to research by professional services firm Procorre, the number of contractors in IT is growing at one of the fastest rates of any sector. The increase is being driven by rapidly growing business investment...
Contractors’ Disguised Remuneration Attacked
The latest UKBudget contained an attack on disguised remuneration avoidance schemes with a new charge on outstanding loans. The new scheme outlines how income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) will be imposed on employee loans which are outstanding on 5 April 2019, irrespective of when the loan was advanced to the employee or individual....
Currency Woes Hit Expat Pensioners
The majority of expat pensioners are now living off an income which is worth at least 11% less than a decade ago, according to Equiniti Group plc which manages the payment of over 60,000 expat pensioners. Of the 60,000 pensioners the largest group is receiving their pension in the Eurozone, where market uncertainty and the...
How UK Inheritance Tax Affects Expats
One of the most important financial tasks you have as an expatriate is to plan how and to whom you will leave your assets. It can be a complex process, involving inheritance taxes and succession law of more than one country, but it is vital to have a solid ‘estate plan’ so your estate is...
Computing the Benefits Of Internet Finance
As an expat, the internet has made managing your finances much easier, but make sure you are doing it safely, says Iain Yule. As expats become more prepared to trust the internet as a means of handling their financial transactions so the banks are developing more and more exclusively online offerings. This is potentially of great...
Dream Over For Expat Retirees?
A third of British people who have retired abroad intend to return to the UK, according to findings from the eighth annual NatWest International Personal Banking (IPB) Quality of Life Index. While ‘retired expats’ retiring to warm European countries is an enduring cliché, the index has found that younger expats (aged 25-35) are actually increasing...
PROMOTED: Cutting Ties With Home…
When moving overseas, either permanently or temporarily, most of us will keep some kind of base/connection with the UK – whether that’s renting out a property, having post forwarded to friends and family or keeping our UK bank account. Apart from practical and financial reasons, for a lot of us, keeping that link to the...