British Expat confused

metrob - you are a gem. You can be my accountant anyday mate.

I filled my P85 when I left on 30/06/2006 and only payed tax for April May and June after that I did not earn any money in the UK hence did not pay any tax.

Here a question for you regarding VAT refund.

As we are classified as non-tax payers since we are working abroad, are we entitled VAT refund on purchases in the UK?

Complete form P86 on your final return to UK and you are liable for tax on earnings from that day

Further to my last,

If you complete form P85, you can stop paying the day you leave the UK. After that, providing you remain employed outside the UK for the remainder of that year AND the full tax year beyond that (Apr to Apr) then you will not have to pay any tax back.

eg. Leave UK in July 2013 complete P85, not liable for tax from the day you leave. You must however stay employed overseas until at least Apr 2015 (tax year Apr 2014-Apr2015) to ensure that you wont have to pay the tax on your earnings whilst you were overseas.

You are of course allowed to visit the UK during that period under the normal time restrictions (average 91 days in any year)

londonlad - cool. will do.

metrob - glad to hear it. lets hope you are right. Will see the form. Cheers.

Mad Harry

You are 100% wrong when you say you have to pay tax when you first move out here until April 6th

if you complete P85 (fownloadable form HMRC website) you can stop paying immediately the day you leave.

Natwest Tax sorted me and my refund form Her Majesty quite well.

PM me for more details.

While we are on the Tax topic, any of your friendly folk able to advise me on the following?

I am looking at a job offer and if all goes well in the next couple of months, I will be living in Qatar as a British expat soon. To reduce any Tax implications in the UK I want to know if anyone of the current British expatriates know of a good accounting firm or have good tips on what to do / Not do.

Many thanks in advance for all your help.

H

@Mandilulur - wannabe expats dont appreciate the subtleties of tax regimes before moving. When going gets tough Tax man gets rough lol. They are find ways of sqeezing the exact amount out of existing customers.

For us Brits we can only start benefitting from April 06 of any tax year till April 05 of the next. Move after and you will pay the usual UK tax until next April 06 and that too if you stay the whole of the Tax year.

Hi,that article was awesome !

MadHarry, that is a jaw-dropping article! I think you should post it here in its entirety. (BTW, I'm an American and I pay US federal, state and local taxes.) And yes, some employers pay that much.

Mandi

I am looking at a potential job in Doha and been to a fair few websites and done lots of Calc. Not a merchant of doom and gloom, but trying to be realistic in my post below.

I would love to hear from londonladd and others their current approx annual costs of nice 2 bed apartment, Lease of a decent 4x4, Groceries for a family of 3 or 4.

aisha806 - You have good points but asking for QAR60k/month basic + 2k Transport + 2k (one return flt home for 2) + 17k Accom = QAR 972,000 = £173,000 annual at 5.6

Any employer paying that much?

Also on tax free savings, read this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/expat-money/7987209/The-long-arm-of-the-UK-taxman.html

H

UK must be having all that fun filled outings and dining out..here in Doha not much options to splurge on so u can save a lot over here....

Thanks aisha. All im getting is around 45QAR + bonus and some benefits like furniture maintenance, etc. Taking the total package to roughly £120k per annum. You guys reckon its cheap?

dont have kids now so no school, but will inquire about that.

I would certainly recommended coming to the ME, it's na experience and esp. great if you have kids.

In terms of package, the best thing to do is to get the company to pay for includein your package the following:

Accomodation - get them to provide it but u may be limited to what propertes they have if not then ask for 15K just to cover the accomodation. It is expensive and prices seem to be rising. I have noticed food prices go up in the last few months.

Transport allowance - ask for 2K per month which will cover the rental car or car loan etc.

School fees - ask for this to be coverd even if you dont have kids right now, u may do in the future. Most places pay around 20K per child per year. I would try and get them to pay all the fee for the child. Schools are expensive and the DEMAND is huge and to get ur child a place is not easy at a good school of course. School fees will be at least 25K per year and some are even 60K per year. Preschool yr will be the cheapest yr and then the fee is increased each yr.

Health Insurance - get international health insurance, so u are covered whereever u travel to, say when u go back to the UK. Insurance people usually go t Al Ahli (private hospital) or else the consultation is around 80 pounds per thing u need investigated. There is no real GP system here, u will have to see different doctors for differet issues.

Basic Salary - everything above is what u should ask for extra. The salary itself, dont settle for anyting less then 60K per month, more if u can push it. U are doing well for urself and if u have yrs of experience. Try and make some connections through linkedin with people in ur industry and working in doha. Perhaps they can advise u on what is reasonable in terms of salary.

People get stitiched up here, make sure u get what ur are worth.

No need to buy new long coats, :)

Eyeglasses prescription exams are free!

Mandi

No snow, No Bills coming through the door daily. No traffic jams. No queueing. And best of all - No mother in laws.

Get out here you wooses! Guaranteed sunshine all summer long, cheap petrol, cheep fags, cheap batteries, errrr.... that's all I can think of at the moment. Someone please nudge my memory and list some more benefits below:-

Londonlad,

am in a similar position (different industry though). Worked the numbers to death. Have decided to go for it but am still apprehensive.

Thanks everyone for your comments. You're all a great bunch.

If I decide to make the move, I will let it be known and we can catchup for coffee/dinner somewhere in Doha.

At present, it looks like a good deal. Btw, anyone thinks that there is higher job security in UK, should seriously revisit this place.....those days are gone......

so all being equal, if I can save more than what I save here with relatively comfortable lifestyle then I should be all game for it,,,, right?

londonlad.

In the UK we pay Taxes we get benefits for paying those taxes plus the Employer contributes towards our Pensions etc etc.

Here there are so many stealth Tax as I like to call them and Rent is a typical example and inflated food prices and prices of commodities is another.

So yes we need to get paid much more then we get in the UK to combat these hidden Taxes here in this part of the world. So we do take home some money which will have to pay towards our pensions which we are missing out on by living in this part of the world.

I hope the job is not accountant, or related to numbers :)

I second what deedee said. School fees are another example of why you should be looking at your salary only (rather than combining with it benefits) when trying to get a sense of the offer.

londonlad--it depends on the industry, but I would think before taxes. Although some are willing to come for less or based on post-tax income--depends on how much you want to save and how much incentive you need to move to a place with less job security than the UK. My main point is not to include the added benefits in the total sum, because the numbers will be skewed by how expensive housing is here.

If the school fees are not included then you could be looking at 60,000 a year PER child so factor that as well.

All I would let you know is that the housing is extremely costly also food. I'm leaving for Dubai which comparativly very happening life and cheap. There is no social life in Doha. Dont be penny wise WISE and Pound wise FOOLISH.

The car and I were for her to do with as she pleased. I can still smell her on the seat :o(

... and I thought that the Cuban shot putter was threatening to take the Kia for a drive.....

One of the reasons that the salary is stated in base and allowances separately is that your end-of-service gratuity is on base salary ONLY!

Mandi

Thanks Bachus. When you say salary, should it be 1.2 or 1.3 times of what I take home in UK? or before tax?

Your salary only should be roughly 1.2 or 1.3 times your current salary.

Ignore the benefits in your calculations. They are designed to make life livable and are hard to equate. For example, rent on my villa is the equivalent of 65,000 pounds a year. I cannot fathom spending that on rent anywhere else, and so considering it as part of my regular renumeration is ridiculous.

So based on what you've written, the offer is too low from a financial standpoint.

I thought the same, since I'm confused about most things :O(

Oh...I thought it's about our friend britexpat...

rent for a villa is between 12-15k and a bit less for a a good apartment in a nice block. Car 2k plus for a basic model to rent or for a repayment on a loan. eating out at good restaurants is expensive and other social activities

Real purpose is money.......I am already an established senior management person in an elite investment bank in London and I can always come back (even if a bit lower than where I am). Culture, well I am a Muslim, so I have Islamic culture at home, and don't need to go middle of desert for that............what's left? oh yeah Money..

ok. I agree with you jjj75 that its confusing. I said it in the beginning ......

I dont know what the allowances are, ive been told it is going to be all inclusive round about 50k QAR and adding the bonus dividing total by 12 for monthly and converting to pound the difference is:

UK I take home 5k per month, in QAR I will take 10k per month. The difference would be cost of living, which is a bit less in UK (due to rent differences).

britexpat: I know a little about ME. If I sell my self short before leaving UK finding out that an underling is getting more than me, it would piss me off. Also, in ME once you're looking to switch its very common to ask for salary slips and then they very rarely (almost never) go beyond a 10% increment. I want to hit a sixer on my first ball, rather than four if it makes sense...?

What is your real purpose for coming here ?

Is it to save money, to further your career or just experience a different culture?

If it is money, then just work out how much you would save monthly in the UK compared to Qatar. If you like the figures, then come along. Otherwise stay put.

LL - just trying to get my head around this, forget the allowances for the minute, what is your monthly take home in UK and what will be your monthly take home here in Qatar (without allowances, just pure salary).

Also, what is your actual housing allowance, car allowance etc -you may want to PM me this - I have a bit of knowledge in this area

numbers in annum may look a bit odd cause thats how I think, coming from UK. In Qatar usually ppl talk in monthly terms. So monthly basis, it turns out to be around 50k QAR (including everything) + annual bonus

The tax above 100k gross comes upto around 50%. Same salary ins Qatar then becomes a 100% increase in net take home............

instead of getting 5k pounds per month and paying 1k for rent, I end up getting 10k pounds per month and paying 2k for rent. With all else being equal a saving of 3k in UK becomes saving of 6k in Qatar.......

Hence the bleeding confusion :)

what i meant about recession was that, things have also impacted in Qatar................

confused soul, i mean the british guy ;)

sounds like you are fairly well remunerated in London - I would advise to stay put. The problem with a lot of companies here is that they are tied to salary scales and you will find you cannot be paid more than someone else with the same experience doing the same level of role.

IMHO, you should stay back. You are right with your calculations and yes, housing in Qatar is very costly.

If you think you might be axed because of the recession fever, then jump in.