News & Insights

Although the country may not have had much success in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Spain has many other reasons to celebrate.

For instance, there is one very strong factor that makes Spain such a popular destination for many holidaymakers and expats (other than its music scene): it is home to many glorious beaches.

If you’re planning to leave your home country and set yourself up in a brand new location, then you will need to put a lot of thought into where that destination will be. Luckily, there are numerous resources to help with this. For instance, the world’s largest HR consulting firm, Mercer, releases an annual Quality […]

Nordic countries have a very good reputation with international students, and Sweden is no exception. But where in the country offers the best environment for study?

The Swedish National Union of Students (SFS) has recently announced the winner of its 2017/2018 Student City of the Year award. The award goes to the city that actively works to improve the welfare of students, and this year it went to the city of Gävle.

Gävle is the capital of the Gävleborg County, located at the very lower end of Norrland. It's the country's 13th most populated city and is perhaps best known to the public for its unique Christmas tradition. Every year, a large straw goat, known as the Gävleblocken (or "the Gävle Goat"), is erected in the centre of the city and then, in a more unofficial tradition, tends to get destroyed by the locals.

Following Theresa May's shock announcement that there will be a general election on June 8, many long-term expats were left wondering if they would get the chance to vote.

Britons who have lived abroad for more than 15 years were previously denied the right to vote in the 2015 general election as well as the EU referendum last year. The latter was viewed as particularly unfair by many seeing as the result of the referendum, Brexit, is likely to have major impact on the future for many British expats.

On April 6, many new regulations for QROPS came into effect. These changes were made to make the taxation of foreign pensions more in line with UK pensions. Any QROPS not registered as being compliant with the new rules by April 5 could be delisted by HMRC.

One significant change means that, as long as they qualify under the other requirements, it's no longer compulsory for schemes to adhere to the "70 per cent" rule. This is a rule that ensures providers ring fence 70 per cent of the pension contributions transferred into the QROPS in order to provide the saver with income for life.

Italy has introduced a new 'non-dom' tax incentive which may see many wealthy British expats relocating to its shores, as well as convincing rich Italian expats to return. The new measure was approved by the Italian parliament in December as part of Italy's Finance Bill 2017.

It ensures that foreign residents will be exempt from Italian tax on all offshore income and gains for a flat-rate tax charge of €100,000 (about £84,000). For a further €25,000, the tax exemption can be extended to family members.