MrBanks

In my case I have too many “ties” to the UK, my wife and I have no children, the lawyers and accountants worked everything out, the best advice was to start selling up in the UK and putting as much as possible into a QNUPS. Anyway, whatever we have both done, I hope it works out for our families, when it happens we will be gone 😊 I think the long and the short of it is, that this is a subject that the OP needs to take professional advice on, depending on the size of his estate, if it is large enough to invoke IHT, he needs to protect it as much as possible.

If your estate is worth more than £325,000, you need to check the position regarding inheritance tax. UNLESS the situation has changed under Rachel Reeves, a wife (spouse ) who is a UK citizen can inherit tax free, however, a spouse who is NOT a UK citizen will pay 40% inheritance tax on any amount in excess of £325,000. Certainly this was the position last year, when I was sorting this out, however, I don’t know if Rachel Reeves or Starmer have made changes that alter this.

Is the harsh criticism of Starmer fair and justified? There is absolutely no need to itemize the reasons why, they are many and varied, but mostly broken promises, coupled with him and Reeves having no understanding whatsoever regarding the economy and budget. Yes it is fair, yes it is justified, the sooner he is gone, together with his cabinet, the better. I have always advocated the rule of democracy, I have always followed and supported the will of the majority, feeling that if that is what the people want, I will do my best to make it work, but reserve my right to try and change other people’s minds. In this case Starmer only has the support of 36% of the voting public, yet a massive majority in parliament, due to this he can pretty much do what he wants, as we have been witnessing. Time for him to be replaced by someone who will represent the will of the people better. Perhaps, more importantly, it is time for a change to a more representative make up of Parliament, where the amount of votes cast nationwide, equals the amount of seats each party wins in an election.

Unfortunately I have now superglued my spectacles to my head! 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Excellent I hope your day gets better. You made mine a happy start, reading this with my morning coffee!

It is my understanding that Mr.Trump is actually talking about illegal immigration. Foreign guest workers are not (generally) illegals, but people who have entered the US with the appropriate visas or permissions.

You say that the lady is your girlfriend, not your wife: It is really very simple, if she is using her own money, on her own body, it’s up to her. If she is asking you to pay and you don’t want to, just say no. As you are not married, there are no joint marital assets, which is why, in this case it is simple. Summary: She wants it, she can pay for it, you have no right to choose what she does with her body. She wants it, but you have to pay, you don’t want to, don’t pay, end of conversation !

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Thank you for your reply. I am in Thailand, so hopefully my application will take less than 6 weeks.

Thank you for this information, it is very helpful, also your follow up comment regarding the agent. Please see my reply to sabaiguy.

Thanks for your reply. I agree with what you say regarding the use of an agent, long story short, this agent offered to do my application free, as a favour to others. I am fast coming to the conclusion, that free is worthless and I will do the process without him.

Hi, does anybody have recent information on how long the process is taking to get a decision on an application for the LTR visa. In the past I have applied for various visas and never used an agent before, but this time, due to being busy, I decided to go with one and he is telling me that I am hearing nothing, due to a huge back log at BOI, caused by too many applications. I am beginning to sniff bull manure, so any up to date information will be appreciated?

Hi, my problem is that I don’t really have the luxury of time, to take a wait and see approach. My thinking is that if the government do change the IHT rules regarding non UK citizen spouses and affords them the same rights as a UK citizen spouse, I can always change the protective moves that I am making. Thank you for your help.

Hi, yes you have got the right impression, thank you for your input.

Hi Mike and Misty and all others who have commented on this part of the chat, thank you for your thoughts, tips and advice, I really do appreciate it. Regarding non domicile, in my case it would be virtually impossible to move my domicile, at the moment. The reason being is that I have too many financial ties to the UK. All of which I am selling, but until I do, my solicitors tell me that I can do everything that shows that I am domiciled in Thailand, however, HMRC will not make the final determination until after I am dead. I am not prepared to take that risk and my benefactors having to pay the 40%. (Perhaps when all is sold and I have no ties my position will change, however, I anticipate that it could take up to 5 years to get into that position and at my age, it is a bit too much of a gamble, adopting a wait and see strategy.) Regarding the QNUPS, I am comfortable that it is an instrument that does allow the contents to be passed on with no inheritance tax. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm17025 Regarding the QNUPS provider, these are only available from Guernsey, Isle of Man and Malta. My main bank is UBS in Zurich, I enquired from them if they offered QNUPS or something similar that would protect my estate from IHT, they had their lawyers in London contact me, they could offer nothing that gave the same guaranteed protection as a QNUPS, their best advice was to go down the non dom route, however, they also accepted the fact that HMRC would only decide upon my death. I have looked at several QNUPS providers and chose OTAP, although I am still in the process of filling in all the paperwork. Next week I will be meeting one of the Co-Founders and CoDirectors of OTAP, here in Thailand. Regarding the platform, the IFA has recommended Capital Investment Group(CIG),however, the IFA has told me that I am free to chose whichever platform I want, I am deciding between Morning Star and CIG. At the moment CIG is looking favourite, mainly because it is the one that the IFA is more familiar with, but Morning Star has the attraction of being regulated by the UK FCA. Regarding the investments made within the QNUPS and on the platform, I am setting it up so that no transactions can take place without my approval, meaning that every recommendation I receive from the IFA can be checked out by myself, or any other advisor I choose to ask for help/guidance. Regarding the IFA, I have done extensive research into the individual (including having a London based detective agency investigate him and report back to me). I have done less research on the company (IIMG Ltd), just google searches. I have had a very good endorsement about them from an acquaintance of mine, who he and his friend have, been dealing with IIMG Ltd for a few years. I fully take on board, your concerns about the IFA, however, UK IFAs cannot offer regulated advise outside of the UK, whereas Mauritius does allow this, and IIMG Ltd have Professional Indemnity insurance, to the same standard as a UK advisor. So, basically I find myself in the position of being happy with OTAP, knowing it is a genuine company. Making the final decision about the platform, which will be used for the investing. Restricting the power of the IFA, meaning once the money is in the QNUPS, nothing can be done with it, without my approval. Once time has passed and I have built a relationship with the IFA, by which I mean trust, then if I choose to, I can relax this. I am now at the stage of filling in all the required paperwork, for OTAP, shortly after the paperwork for the chosen platform. Once all is approved the money I transfer will go straight into OTAP, it never goes into the control of, or the bank of the IFA. During this stage of the process my UK solicitors are reading every document that I am required to sign and going over all the terms and agreements with diligence. After all my caution and checking, I hope that I am not part of some elaborate scam. The only downside that I can identify is that everything is outside the protection of UK FCA, however, as an expat I accept that and I am ensuring that both the the QNUPS provider and the investment platform are reputable solid companies.

Firstly let me start by saying I really appreciated your post about the Thai tax situation, I found it very helpful and has helped me form my plan to deal with the situation. (Step 1, get the LTR Visa) In my case getting involved with an IFA is all based upon the need to set up protection against UK inheritance tax. I was absolutely amazed, when I learnt that if a UK citizen was married to a non UK citizen, then if the UK citizen dies first, the spouse does not inherit tax free. Yes they get the allowance of £325,000, but everything thereafter is taxed at 40%. Whereas if the spouse was a UK citizen, then there would be zero inheritance tax…… a totally unfair situation! After taking advice from both my UK solicitors and accountants, I discovered that there was only 3 alternatives. 1. My wife becomes a UK citizen: Well after being married for 24 years and having spent several of those years in the UK, we are not prepared to go back and live there for 5 years, in order for her to qualify. Our home is in Thailand. It would seem (unless someone knows better) that the UK will not take into consideration the previous years, on an accumulation basis, when she was living there with a resident visa/permit, if they did we could go back for a year and solve the problem. 2. I become non domiciled: In theory easy enough, I have to cut all ties with the UK, declare non domicile etc. The big problem with this is, that in my case, it is virtually impossible to cut all ties with the UK, and HMRC will not give a ruling on me being non domiciled, until after I pop my clogs, therefore making this alternative too risky. 3. Putting as much of my wealth as I can into a QNUPS, the contents of which can pass to my wife tax free. I only found out about QNUPS after approximately 2 years of searching for a solution, my accountants did not know about them, neither did my solicitors, they both do now, because I have had them check the legitimacy. I found out about them from an IFA. He has recommended that I open up a QNUPS with OTAP in Guernsey, so they are regulated by the Guernsey FSCC, the platform that will be used for investment is CIG, regulated by the Isle of Man FSA. The firm of IFAs are registered in Mauritius and regulated by the Mauritius FSC. Once the QNUPS is set up, the IFA cannot make any investments without my approval, also by using the IFAs, many of the OTAP fees are not charged. I have met with the IFA (in Thailand) several times over the last 2 years, next week I will meet with a Co-Founder and Director of OTAP, here in Thailand.