Tax Planning News & Insights

Linking probate fees to the size of a person’s estate is effectively a tax on bereavement. Families with large estates in the UK will now have to start considering ways to reduce the size of their estate before they die. 

Under new plans proposed by the Government, and included in Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement, British expatriates with offshore pensions will face a higher income tax rate.

The plans say that those with QROPS (qualifying registered overseas pension schemes) will be subject to the same tax treatment as those with UK pensions, meaning that they will pay 100 per cent instead of their current 90 per cent. There will also be further measures taken to make setting up a QROPS more complex in the future.

As retirement draws near, many of us begin to think about how we want our hard-earned earthly possessions to be distributed amongst our nearest and dearest. Making a will, of course, is a good starting point, but you also might want to think about the slice of the pie that the taxman will take from our relatives’ inheritance.

Plans have been released by Brussels to introduce a travel tax on post-Brexit UK travellers. British people will no longer be able to travel freely to Europe without paying a "travel tax" and being forced to fill out a form under plans unveiled by Brussels.  The US-style visa waiver scheme is one of the first concrete signs UK citizens will not be permitted the privileges they once had, to move across European borders unhindered.

Finally, some good news for British expats in France who are clients of expat financial services providers; the French government has said that it will look to make its expat tax regime Europe's most favourable – a move that is clearly designed to take advantage of uncertainty in London created by Britain's decision to exit the EU.

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the favourable tax regime for expats in France would be extended from the first five to the first eight years of residence; the move goes some way to redress perceptions of an overly regulated and unfairly taxed financial sector in France.

Now that it is almost settled that the U.S. presidential nominees are known - barring any huge U-turns or assassinations - both candidates have been setting out their plans for economic transformation to make the USA great again. What is very interesting is that both Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are aiming their reforms at the super-rich.

As we all know we have been told time and time again that, because of the world´s economic state, we all have to pay as much tax to the governments as humanly possible and that, if we try to hide any money, we will be heavily penalised. Well, yet again it has been proved that there is one rule for us and another rule for them - by them I mean the 1% that are super wealthy, politicians, or large corporations. 

Governments, tax authorities, journalists and experts on tax evasion and avoidance on Monday were digesting news of a major leak of confidential and reportedly revealing documents from a Panamanian law firm. Some are calling it the biggest leak of confidential information ever to hit the global financial services industry.

Dot com boom, dot com bust!  High Interest rates low interest rates, Strong Euro, weak Euro.  What was a good thing last year is the worst thing this year.  ‘The only thing certain in Life is death and Taxes’ quote made famous by Benjamin Franklin 1789.