In Focus News & Insights

Anyone with Gibraltar wealth management concerns will almost certainly be dipping into the very depths of their patience presently as they await resolution of their status during the protracted and uncertain times of Brexit negotiation.

The British Overseas Territory on the south coast of Spain, affectionately referred to as "the Rock", has long been both an idyllic international outpost and a source of contention between the UK and Spain. This fact has been somewhat compounded by Brexit, with Spain using talks as an opportunity to lay down new demands over the headland's status.

While Spain has agreed that it will not seek to push for full sovereignty over the territory during negotiations, the latest development concerns Spain's desire to have the EU make specific provision for the future status of Gibraltar as part of the Withdrawal Agreement.

British expats in the Netherlands are experiencing a difficult time at the moment. Not only do they have to deal with continued uncertainties over Brexit as well as government plans to overhaul the 30% expat tax break, they are also now having to digest news that the Dutch government is readying itself to publish new legislation regarding dual nationality.

However, early news suggests that developments on this final matter could prove to be rather more encouraging – albeit with a number of qualifications – with initial statements indicating that preparations are being made to reduce some of the restrictions on dual-nationality in the Netherlands.

As it stands, expats who wish to remain in the Netherlands and embrace Dutch citizenship are, in the majority of cases, obliged to renounce their nationality of origin. The choice is stark and onerous: go Dutch or stay as you are. This, of course, will prompt a number of British and Netherlands wealth management considerations and must be considered very carefully.

The government has provided further reassurance on the future of expat pensions and other financial products and services post-Brexit, with Brexit secretary Dominic Raab dismissing a Department for Exiting the EU technical paper which had appeared to cast their futures into doubt.

During a press conference, Raab had no hesitation in saying that access to expat pensions was little more than "a practical issue that we will be able to resolve".

Raab's statements were measured and entirely unflustered by some of the more recent sensationalist pronouncements on the subject. For example, he carefully explained that although a no-deal Brexit would have an inevitable impact on Britain's contractual arrangements with EU member states, it was extremely unlikely that individual country to country relationships would suffer.

Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008. With $639 billion in assets and $619 billion in debt. Their bankruptcy filing was the largest in history and prompted an immediate fall in the FTSE 100 of 4%. It was the beginning of a slump that by Christmas of 2008 had resulted in 23% being wiped off the value of Britain’s top 100 companies. As a stock market crash, it ranks alongside the dotcom bubble and the shock of 1987. However, while living standards have flat-lined since that date, the stock market revival has been spectacular. Many investors were, however, spooked by the financial crisis of 2008 and liquidated their investment portfolios. Unfortunately as shown below – they lost out on the bull run of the next 10 years.

Pensions are integral to retirement planning, but what does uncertainty around Brexit mean for expats in France and their options regarding a QROPS or SIPP pension transfer.

Despite the uncertain climate, one thing is clear: QROPS or SIPPs still offer plenty of attractive possibilities for British expats residing in France.

As ever – Brexit or no Brexit, deal or no deal – the best thing to do is to sit down with your wealth manager or financial adviser to discuss your retirement objectives, your legacy plans, your current financial circumstances and your attitudes to investment risk and investment growth.

Time is fast approaching for UK taxpayers and expats with UK tax obligations to ensure they meet the 30 September 2018 deadline laid down by HMRC for the declaration of all UK tax liabilities on overseas income and assets that fall under the auspices of the Requirement to Correct (RTC) legislation, Finance (No 2) Act 2017.

Non-compliance, even if it is inadvertent, has the potential to be met with uncompromising penalties, so anyone who is any doubt about their tax obligations regarding offshore investments – if you have expat regular savings or wealth management concerns outside of the UK – should contact their financial adviser immediately as a matter of urgency.

The penalty for most breaches is 200% of the tax that has been avoided. However this may be reduced to 100% depending on the taxpayer's perceived level of compliance. That said, the minimum is 150% in cases where disclosure has been prompted by HMRC. Larger non-disclosures may be punished by further penalty of 10%

British people are living longer than ever before – according to the Office of National Statistics, life expectancy is likely to rise to 85 by 2040. And this figure is an average; if you are physically healthy you can realistically expect to live one or more decades longer, particularly if you have a family history of longevity.

And what if you live abroad in a warm and agreeable climate? Well, chances are that your life expectancy could be even higher. This is good news of course, but it brings with it important expat wealth management and retirement planning implications.

Perhaps chief among these is the need to ensure that your retirement assets are sufficiently valuable to last you through a long and healthy old age, and this means making sure you factor in the likelihood of inflation eroding the purchasing power of your assets over time.

The collapse of foreign exchange company Premier FX in the Algarve has caused shockwaves throughout the expat investor community in Portugal, with many customers now confused as to where they go from this point.

The death of founder Peter Rextrew on June 16 appears to have precipitated financial meltdown for the firm and on the 13 August administrators were appointed.

Customers who have their expat regular savings in Portugal tied up with the forex company and anyone who has sent money to the firm, should now provide as much information as possible to the administrators.