davee58

51 minutes ago, topt said:

Thanks for highlighting that as I was also not aware. Do you have a specific link you can share at all? 

In fact, here is an up to date link to Deloitte:  Deloitte

37 minutes ago, topt said:

Thanks for highlighting that as I was also not aware. Do you have a specific link you can share at all? 

This HMRC document is about ten years old: HMRC document

The end of the first page states:
 

Quote

Where the spouse or civil partner to whom the assets are transferred does not have a UK domicile there is a lifetime limit (cap) on the value of the assets that can be transferred free of IHT. The cap is currently £55,000 - section 18(2) Inheritance Tax Act 1984.

Quote

Proposed revisions
Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2013 to reform the IHT treatment of transfers between UK-domiciled individuals and their non-UK domiciled spouse or civil partners in two ways: • the cap will be increased to the level of the prevailing nil-rate band level; and, • under a new election regime, individuals domiciled other than in the UK and who are married or in a civil partnership with a UK domiciled person will be able to elec...

The lifetime limit was revised to £325,000 the current nil-band limit. 

If you have had several non domiciled wives the assets transferred are cumulative so your wife at the time of your death will potentially face paying 40% tax on money transferred to earlier wives.

We are not married...

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Qualified UK accountant or anonymous, semi-literate, unqualified Asean Now posters flitting between guessing and googling for IHT advice?   What?  Difficult decision..seriously.

Good point, however there is no decision involved.  I will be discussing this with a UK accountant and might well see if he would be an executor for me rather than dumping a total mess on my sister or other surviving relatives.

What I am interested in is how others have handled this situation, what action can be taken to minimise the impact and how a worst case scenario can be avoided.

Hi.
Following the recent death of my Mother in the UK I became aware of UK Inheritance tax and started to investigate how it will apply in the case of a foreign domiciled spouse or Girlfriend.

Me and my Girlfriend have been together over 15 years, we are not married and spend the majority of the year apart due to my UK commitments.  She has never visited the UK. When I am away I send an allowance through Western Union as "Family Support".

As things stand I will be liable to IHT on my death due to my UK property and savings.

It seems that after my death the UK tax authorities could class all my years worth of family support as "Gifts" and demand 40% IHT on the whole lot.  The seven year exemption rule for gifts does not apply for gifts made to a non-UK domiciled person. 

Also if we were to marry, IHT exempt transfer to my wife would be limited to the first £325,000, this would include the value of all "Gifts" made prior to our wedding.
 

Does anybody have experience in this area, I intend to discuss this with a UK accountant however feel that I might get better advice and different insights here.

2 hours ago, James7001 said:

If you have been vaccinated and you also have had a recent negative Covid  test you cannot spread or carry the virus. 

Just wash your hands,

for 100 percent certainty. ????

39 minutes ago, desert dueller said:

You are right - and I stand corrected on that one. So, in that case quarantine would still apply to -  and be useful for -  all vaccinated and non-vaccinated arrivals (certified or not). It just underlines my point that unless the host population is fully - or close to fully - vaccinated, any opening of borders is a risk, with or without quarantine. Any vaccination obtained by a foreign arrival is therefore -  under present circumstances - of no benefit. I need to underline that the underlying premise of my comment is the current level of scientific knowledge (as disseminated by Pfizer itself) as to the vaccine's efficacy being limited to blocking symptoms and illness, and not extending to actually fully or partially limiting the vaccinated person's contagious effect on persons in contact. 

My understanding is that the scientists need to prove that vaccinated people cannot spread Covid-19 rather than just assume.

Once vaccination becomes widespread the statistics will become available, and international guidance issued for some or all vaccines.

At that point Covid-19 may well be treated like yellow fever, once you have proof of vaccination you should be free to travel.

On 09/02/2017 at 1:06 PM, Sheryl said:

No. Ask the doctor if there is any reason why you cannot instead take losaratan, same family and chemically very close, and inexpensive - several local generic brands.

 

I was originally on Amlodopine / Valsartan 5/160, then my GP in the UK moved me onto Amlodopine / Losartan 5/100 due to a shortage of Valsartan in the UK last September.

Losartan was the correct replacement, there should have been no problems, and when I saw my GP again after the first four weeks I reported that all was well, but already I sensed weight gain, bloating, and a hard swollen stomach at night, even after drinking just a couple of beers.  I did not immediately link it to my medication.

After that my symptoms got progressively worse, I felt bad, and drinking beer no longer seemed like a good idea, though I did have a few.

I was in Cambodia at the time.  I replaced the Losartan with some over the counter Valsartan and within a few days felt much improved.

I have a similar situation in that I have been non-UK resident for many years, but have recently moved my savings into UK based P2P loans. 

My understanding is that:

• P2P loans are classed as UK based savings income.
• I need to declare the income, even though it is well below the level at which UK tax is applied.
• I need to claim a personal UK tax allowance.

This can be done using form R43. (R43 form and guidance notes) The taxman might request completion of a tax return if appropriate.

Closer to the end of the tax year I will confirm this by sending an online enquiry to HMRC's  Non-UK residents: Income Tax and Capital Gains enquiry

silly statement, the EU is not German it consists of 27 countries all with voting rights, Junker is president of the EU commission and he comes from the little country of Luxembourg.

Luxembourg is a principality

Why can't it be both? definition of country: a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.

Luxembourg is also a Grand Duchy.

Before you claim that 55% of UK Laws are dictated by the EU Commission please supply proof. The University of Liverpool Law School Professor Michael Dougan the leading EU lawyer says otherwise. This was one of the big lies thrown up by Brexiters. However do feel free to contradict Professor Michael Dougan I look forward to you substantiating that statement. I have already posted two of his videos explaining this but then I doubt you really want to base your opinion on evidence.

It was a Jeremy Paxman BBC Documentary, and he counted the laws made in 3 years (2010-2013), 59% were created by the EU.

Reported here

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/672141/six-out-of-every-10-UK-laws-come-from-European-Union-bureaucrats-Brexit-EU-Jeremy-Paxman

Well he is wrong and Professor Michael Dougan who specializes in EU Law states that quite clearly in his two videos so I will go along with a professor in EU law as opposed to someone on the box.

Mr. Paxman (watched closely by the BBC) is more likely to be truthful than a Professor with a vested interest in the EU.

Dougan is one of many people paid by the EU to spread pro EU propoganda through our educational establishments, that is his job.

He is a Monnet Professor, so how can he not have a "vested interest".

Prof Michael Dougan M.A. (Cantab),

Ph.D (Cantab). Professor of European Law and Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law.

Please see a non-biased EU definition of a >> Monnet Professor <<

Don't get stressed about it, I can never understand why people have such a defeatist, negative attitude.

Exit might cause some minor short term weakness in the value of GBP during the initial days after exit, this will most certainly be short term.

Can I suggest you type the following words into your browser and read any of the pages of links to news articles on this subject,: "how long will brexit cause the Pound to crash"

I am quite aware of the various scenarios for Brexit.

The only issue with leaving the EU is "fear of change", propogated by those who make most from Britain being in the EU.

That presumably includes UK pensioners in Thailand reliant on remittances in sterling.

UK expat Pensioners are not supported by the EU, nor should they be.

The British Pound is a strong, very important, world currency, most certainly losing further financial control, as will happen if we remain in the EU will not strengthen that position.

GBP agains THB is currently about 49.8, one year ago it was about 48, what difference, currency fluctuates.

Back to Pensions, I most certainly do not want the prospect of the EU seizing control of my UK pension.

Missing the point as well the BREXIT team always do. The point is that exit from the EU will drive down sterling. Those on sterling pensions will suffer from that exit if it happens. Blathering on about the British Pound being a world currency is just so much King Canute fluttering at the beach.

Don't get stressed about it, I can never understand why people have such a defeatist, negative attitude.

Exit might cause some minor short term weakness in the value of GBP during the initial days after exit, this will most certainly be short term.

Last piece for today and this is really excellent, it's Moody's view of the UK and Brexit and supports the earlier view that debt is the issue, surely Moody's doesn't have an axe to grind on this issue! What they say in part is:

"The economic costs of Britain exiting the European Union would “outweigh the potential benefits” and

may put the UK’s Aa1 credit rating at risk, Moody’s has warned. The ratings agency has cautioned that it

could potentially put the UK’s rating on “negative outlook” if British voters back the UK leaving the EU at a referendum in June. This would mean the rating

could potentially be at risk of a downgrade,

which could in turn have ramifications for the cost of Britain servicing its debt. Moody’s said Britain quitting the EU would lead to “heightened uncertainty” which would result in

“modestly weaker” economic growth in the UK over the medium term".

Unfortunately your link does not work without enrolment on the FT website.

However the benefits of exit from the EU would certainly outweigh the "modestly weaker economic growth over the medium term" anticipated by the writer of the article.

The only issue with leaving the EU is "fear of change", propogated by those who make most from Britain being in the EU.

That presumably includes UK pensioners in Thailand reliant on remittances in sterling.

UK expat Pensioners are not supported by the EU, nor should they be.

The British Pound is a strong, very important, world currency, most certainly losing further financial control, as will happen if we remain in the EU will not strengthen that position.

GBP agains THB is currently about 49.8, one year ago it was about 48, what difference, currency fluctuates.

Back to Pensions, I most certainly do not want the prospect of the EU seizing control of my UK pension.

The only issue with leaving the EU is "fear of change", propogated by those who make most from Britain being in the EU.

Since August last year I have stayed in 43 hotels and apartments, all booked online.

Hotels.com is my preferred booking site nowadays, when I have completed ten stays I get the average value back as credit against a future booking, they are a professional site, no messing around, and their prices are generally decent.

Booked with Agoda on a few occasions, too many games, bad experience.

• After several bookings with no points accrued, Agoda told me that they were not accepting new registrations when I had registered several weeks earlier, so tough luck.
• You never see the full price till you get to the final page.
• Agoda blocked my account after I booked three hotels in one day, they demanded I upload a scanned copy of my passport and credit card (no way!). After many e-mails and several phone calls it took three weeks before they unblocked my account. Never used the jokers again.

Bookings.com has been OK on the couple of occasions I used them.

For an apartment, Google pointed me to the homepage of a nice place I rented in Mexico.

I always check the hotels own website before booking, might get a better price, might get more information about the hotel or the room.

Accor hotels (IBIS, Mercure, Sofitel) are often better booked direct well in advance of the stay.

Aggregators such as "HotelsCombined" seem to be returning higher prices than the sites they aggregate these days?

Why not just close the schools?

When I worked in Bangkok many years ago, I was forced to wear a big badge saying "VIP".

No way would I trust a hotel safe.

My "stash" of cash is kept in a locked bag inside my locked suitcase, every day I count my "stash" and the amount in my wallet, and write it down,

The only time my figures were out, I was missing 100 US dollars exactly. That was the only occasion in the past few years that I have used the hotel safe, it was a respectable hotel that lulled me into stupidity.

If my "stash" is stolen there will be a damaged suitcase and broken lock from the money bag as evidence, if items go "missing" from the safe there is no evidence.

I stay in hotels and apartments for about 300 nights per year.

Can someone tell me what is draining the battery the most?

This shows you the time active on the battery, and the percentage of battery used by each application during this time.

If you have the GPS model and do not use GPS then turn it off as this can drain the battery.

Likewise a weak WiFi signal can drain the battery, found this out in a couple of hotels recently.

The occasional restart is also a good idea as it will clear active applications. I recently had a hotel booking app that was using a high percentage of the battery, restart fixed that.

Turn down the screen brightness, sit in the shade.

Had mine for just over a year, I charge once a day, use for e-mail, news, and occasional web browsing and it normally stays above 50% battery.

Anybody know if the Londoner is still scheduled to re-open, or have they given up?

The November 2014 opening date for the new premises slipped to February 2015, and there is still no news.

The Cambodian e-visa if you don't have a credit card is there another way to pay?

Payment methods are shown at the bottom of the official online application page: https://www.evisa.gov.kh/ , I see no way to proceed without a payment card of some kind.

Use the "Visa on Arrival" method, you will lose a full page in your passport due to the visa sticker, but save the online processing fee.

Feather DE blades, purchased today from the ISETAN supermarket on level 5 of the Central world plaza (World Trade Centre) in Bangkok. They are hanging on a stand by the cashier tills.

These are my favourite blade and give an excellent shave used in my Muhle R89 closed comb razor, though I do tend to bleed a bit on the first shave with a new blade. Not tried the yellow ones before, only the blacks so I don't know what the difference is.

I have previously got them from Pratunam market, and a couple of other places.

For the record I use Geo.F.Trumpers shave cream (currently coconut) and a Muhle silvertip badger brush, finishing with Trumpers extract of Lime skin food All of these were purchased in Europe, I doubt they can be found locally.

http://www.boontengoptical.com/contactlensesboo.html

Says they stock speciality lenses like multifocal. 

I tried Boonteng optical this morning.

They only offer one type of progressive lens - Proclear Monthly, and they need to order them specially.