================================================= Expat Worlds Bi-Monthly Digest ================================================= 11 January, 2005 Vol. 7, Issue 01 .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== THE STORY =================== -=Foreigners can live in London pracrically Tax-Free=- ==== OTHER EZINES ================ ==== EW SPECIAL ================== -=Need a Second Nationality/Passport?=- ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... == -=Trivia=- -=News Story=- -=Traveller's Tales=- -=Jokes=- ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============= -=Winguard Pro 2005=- ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD == -=Table of Content=- ==== THE STORY ================================== FOREIGNERS CAN LIVE IN LONDON PRACTICALLY TAX-FREE The Unite Kingdom is a tax hell" for most of its residents - but not if you are a wealthy immigrant. Given sufficient assets and a clever lawyer/accountant, you can live in London or anywhere else in the UK, practically tax free. This tax system is a relic of Britain's colonial past, and originally had nothing to do with taxes. As Britain created and administered its empire, millions of British subjects left to find fame and fortune in its colonies. But no matter how distant British subjects were from their mother country, they retained British domicile, unless they demonstrated clear intent to establish a permanent home, or domicile, overseas. Conversely, individuals not born in Britain were not entitled to British domicile. This discrimination extended to individuals from British colonies relocated to Britain; even as residents, they continued as "non-domiciles." It was not until 1914 that this arrangement came to have tax consequences. The Finance Act established the premise that all overseas income was taxable, whether or not it was actually conveyed ("remitted") to the United Kingdom. However, this premise applies only to individuals resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom. Non-domiciled residents of the United Kingdom ("non-doms") are taxed on foreign income only on a remittance basis. In addition, non-doms are exempt from inheritance tax on their non-U.K. property. However, individuals are deemed U.K. domiciled for inheritance tax purposes if they have been resident for 17 out of the preceding 20 tax years. Since non-doms pay U.K. tax on income earned within the United Kingdom, as a practical matter, these benefits are limited to persons with substantial non-U.K. assets who can arrange their affairs so that all or most of their income originates outside the United Kingdom. Even absent attacks from the left and from Brussels, the tax advantages for non-doms are not as straightforward as they might appear at first glance. To begin with, the Inland Revenue is constantly expanding the concept of "remittance." Transferring funds from a foreign account to the United Kingdom is obviously a remittance, but so is using a credit card in the United Kingdom if the bill will be paid outside the country. Borrowing on non-U.K. assets to fund a U.K. property purchase is also a remittance. As a result of this fiscal regime, an estimated 60,000 wealthy foreigners have moved to the United Kingdom. Many of them have settled in London. Here their obvious wealth and tax-free status has led to increasing publicity and criticism of what the press calls the non-domiciled "loop-hole," which is said to cost the Treasury US$3.2 billion annually. This has particularly been true since the Labour party assumed control of the U.K. government in 1997. In 2001, the U.K. Treasury commissioned a study of the tax treatment of non-doms. The results of this study were "leaked" to the media in early 2002. While the current budget did not address the issue directly, the government is said to be considering an Internal Revenue proposal that individuals living in the United Kingdom for extended periods (possibly as few as four years) would lose the tax advantages of non-dom status after this period. But what may finally end the happy circumstances in which non-doms live is the EU's continuing crackdown on "harmful tax practices" by its members. It is claimed by one authority that U.K. non-dom status is the #1 "harmful tax practice" that the EU has vowed to eliminate. The EU Treaty ratified by the U.K. government requires member states "to take all requisite measures to prevent infringements of national law and regulations, in particular in the field of taxation." Depending on how this clause is interpreted in the future, it could potentially force the U.K. government to end or restrict non-dom status. If you have several million dollars or more of accumulated wealth, sufficient to live off of without working, non-dom status may be worth investigating. If the rules are changed, they may not take effect for a few years. In addition, whatever new rules are enacted may not be retroactive and would apply only to new applications for non-dom status from a future date. This "resident but not domiciled"status is viewed with increasing disfavor by both leftist U.K. politicians and by European Union bureaucrats in Brussels. But for the moment, it survives ==== OTHER EZINES =============================== ASIAN TIMES ONLINE Asia most trusted source for news, business,commentary and analysis from throughout Asia and our world. (www.atimes.com). ----- Subscribe now to the "Timely Time Management Tips" newsletter. Free tips sent to you to help you get more done in less time, with less stress. Send your email now to: mailto:timemanagement-subscribe@topica.com ----- japan-guide.com Extensive, up to date online guide on Japan living and travel related information. http://www.japan-guide.com/ ==== EW SPECIAL ================================= NEED A SECOND NATIONALTY/PASSPORT? Expat World knows of a program that has been running for over 4 years now and has added many new citizens and passport holders. We have heard nothing but good reports about it. In our humble opinion, it is the best value for money today in securing a second pp/nationality that is in all the computer data bases and comes from a government source. IT has all the additional bells and whistles, is time-proven to be hassle free. It also has very good visa free entry to most of the world's countries. No matter what your reasons for seeking second citizenship, you won't find a better deal. The time it takes is about 3 weeks from the time application, photos and payment is in hand. Want to know more? Email: office@expatworld.net with pp/nat in the subject heading. Note: EW does not sell pps, we act only as the advertiser for companies working directly with gov authorities to provide what is on offer. ==== HUMOR, TRIVIA, NEWS AND MORE... ================ NEWS STORIES And the Fattest City Is... HOUSTON (Reuters) - Houston tops a U.S. magazine's annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities waddling into the top 25. Fast food restaurants -- Houston has twice the national per capita average -- are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men's Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said. "Americans ... work long hours, don't take vacations, and when you're faced with the worst nutritional choices, you indulge in those," he said. High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation's longest commute times also helped Texas' most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2004 heavyweight champion, the magazine said. Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major grocer to promote healthy food and the city's public schools superintendent to improve lunch menus, called the survey "mostly voodoo and fraud." "On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to address," his spokesman, Frank Michel, said. The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs. Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise. "It's pure big indulgence, just living big, and that's part of the culture," said Boulton. Seattle ranked as the fittest city, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii, Colorado Springs, Colorado, San Francisco and Denver. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25. --- Tsunami conspiracy theorists come out JUST 11 days after Asia's tsunami disaster, conspiracy theorists are out in force, accusing governments of a cover-up, blaming the military for testing top-secret eco-weapons or aliens trying to correct the Earth's "wobbly" rotation. In bars and Internet chat rooms around the world questions are being asked, with knowing nods and winks, about who caused the undersea earthquake off Sumatra on December 26, and why governments did not act in the minutes and hours before tsunamis slammed into their shores, killing almost 150,000. "There's a lot more to this. Why is the US sending a warship? Why is a senior commander who was in Iraq going there?" whispered designer Mark Tyler, drinking a pint of beer at a bar in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district. "This happened exactly a year after Bam," said Tyler, referring to the earthquake in Iran which killed 30,000 on December 26 last year. "Is that a coincidence? And there was no previous seismic activity recorded in Sumatra before the quake, which is very strange," he said, nodding sombrely. After every globally shocking event – from the bombing of Pearl Harbour to the assassination of John F Kennedy, the death of Princess Diana and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States – conspiracy theorists emerge with their own sinister take on events. This time the Indian and US military are in the frame, while the governments of countries from Australia to Thailand stand accused of deliberately failing to act on warnings of the impending earthquake or the tsunamis it unleashed around Asia. Among the more common suggestions is that eco-weapons, which can trigger earthquakes and volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves, were being tested. More outlandish theories include one that aliens caused the earthquake to try and correct the "wobbly rotation of the Earth". Scientists give such theories short shrift. "This was a natural disaster," said Dr Bart Bautisda, chief science research specialist at Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, debunking the idea that an "eco-weapon" could be used to cause an earthquake or such large-scale tsunamis. "You would need a very huge amount of energy. It's impossible. A billion tonnes could not do it," Dr Bautisda said. He said wave activity might be able to be triggered very close to the scene of a giant explosion, but the effect would be a tiny fraction of the tsunamis which travelled thousands of kilometres at the speed of a jet after tectonic plates shifted off Sumatra. "It's possible to cause vibration, but not sufficient to cause disruption," he said. "We can tell the difference between an artificial explosion and an earthquake. The mechanisms are different." Scientific evidence, however, cuts little ice with many conspiracy theorists. The Internet – which has proved invaluable in dealing with the disaster by aiding rescues, providing witness accounts from bloggers and allowing grieving relatives to comfort each other through chat rooms – is abuzz with more sinister explanations. The Free Internet Press, which claims to offer "uncensored news for real people", has an article saying the US military and the US State Department received advanced warning of the tsunami, but did little to warn Asian countries. America's Navy base on the Indian Ocean jungle atoll of Diego Garcia was notified and escaped unscathed, it said, asking "why were fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand not provided with the same warnings?". "Why did the US State Department remain mum on the existence of an impending catastrophe?," author Michel Chossudovsky pondered. "Probably because fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand don't have multimillion dollar communications equipment handy," one respondent said as readers posted angry replies. "Maybe rescuers will find Elvis and the gunman form the grassy knoll," jibed another, referring to those who believe Elvis Presley is still alive and that former US president Kennedy was shot by someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald. The India Daily's website joined the conspiracy theorists noting, "it seems the whole world decided to fail to do anything together at the same time. Are we missing something? "Can it be that all the government agencies knew what was happening but were told not to do anything? Who told them? Or is this just a tragic coincidence?" wrote Sudhir Chadda, a correspondent. "Recent alien contacts have been reported with the South Asian Governments especially India. UFO sightings have been rampant over the region affected," Chadda wrote. "Some in Nicobar Island say that it was an experiment conducted by the alien extra-terrestrial entities to correct the wobbly rotation of the earth. And some of the Indian scientists are actually seeing that wobbly rotation of the earth has been corrected since the massive underwater earthquake and tsunami." In Hong Kong, Tyler laughed at the alien idea, but remained convinced humans had a hand in this disaster. "Wait and see. There will be a lot more to come out," he said. --- Postal Geography Mix-Up Hits Island LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Ascension Island has been without mail since October because the Royal Mail has been sending its mail to South America. "The trouble is virtually nothing has made it here since October," IT consultant Paul Knowles told the Daily Mirror. A British dependency with a population of just over 1,000 people, Ascension Island is 703 miles northwest of St Helena in the South Atlantic. The Mirror said the mail had been mistakenly sent to Paraguay's capital Asuncion as well as Guyana's capital Georgetown, which shares the same name as the Ascension Island's capital. "Steps have been taken to make sure it doesn't happen again," a Royal Mail spokeswoman told the Mirror. "The number of flights we can use is limited, so it is taking time, but this mail is not all lost." Providing an important communications staging post, the island is used as a relay station for cables between South Africa and Europe and during the Falklands conflict in 1982 was used as a halfway-house for the British task force. ----- Oxymoron: Pretty Ugly ----- Man who want pretty nurse, must be patient. -- Confucius ----- Answering the phone, the priest was surprised to hear the caller introduce herself as an IRS auditor. “But we do not pay taxes,” the priest said. “It isn’t you, Father, it’s one of your parishioner, Sean McCullough. He indicates on his tax return that he gave a donation of $15,000 to the church last year. Is this, in fact, the truth?” The priest smiled broadly. “The check hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m sure I’ll have it when I remind dear Sean.” ----- Helisoft A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter's position. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, and held up a handwritten sign that said "WHERE AM I?" in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign, and held it in a building window. Their sign said "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER." The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the copilot asked the pilot how he had done it. "I knew it had to be the Microsoft Building, because they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer." ----- Are you sick of making the same resolutions year after year and yet you never keep them? Here are some resolutions that you can actually accomplish! 10. Read less. 9. I want to gain weight. Put on at least 30 pounds. 8. Stop exercising. Waste of time. 7. Watch more TV. I've been missing some good stuff. 6. Procrastinate more. 5. Drink. Drink some more. 4. Start being superstitious. 3. Spend more time at work. 2. Stop bringing lunch from home: I should eat out more. and last but not least... 1. Take up a new habit: maybe smoking! ==== THE RESOURCE TIP ============================ Winguard Pro 2005 Free Edition v5.8.2 With WinGuard Pro 2005 you can password protect your programs, windows and web pages in one easy to use program. It lets you lock features of your system so that nobody can use them while you are away. The program lets you specify a password and then choose from a variety of options - what features to lock, for example, the find tool, backing up, desktop, etc. All the options are listed within one window and they are self-explaining, so there is no need to wade your way through dozens of sub-folders and weird registry key values. What's more, there is also encryption for your personal files and folders. It offers an all-in-one security solution for your computer. With extra features to lock the desktop, boot keys, task keys, blocking software installations and internet access. WinGuard Pro 2005 comes in a Free and Premium edition. You have the option to upgrade to Premium if you desire at a later date. Get it at . ==== INSIDE THIS MONTH EXPAT WORLD =============== EXPAT WORLD NEWSLETTER (VOL.17 ISSUE 01) Table of Content: - FOREIGNERS CAN LIVE IN LONDON PRACTICALLY TAX-FREE - JUST A HEARTBEAT FROM GETTING IT UP - GORILLA PUBLICITY - OVERSEAS BRATS - JURY SALARIES - LETTER FROM SINGAPORE - EXPAT WORLD'S ELECTRONIC WORLD - WHY PHONE WHEN YOU CAN SKYPE - EW'S VIEW OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA - ID THEFT IS NOT A COMPUTER CRIME - INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS LICENSE THROUGH PATA - THE KNOWLEDGE BOX - READING IS FUNDAMENTAL - TOP TEN WAYS TO RETIRE RETIREMENT - EW'S WORLD OF PRIVACY - MAKE SECRETS STAY SECRET - AROUND THE WORLD WITH EXPAT WORLD - RUDE OR VULGAR BEHAVIOR - BECOME A CITIZEN OF SPAIN - INTERNATIONAL SNIPS AND CLIPS - BANKING AND THE BOOGIE MAN - AVOID RUIN IN LONDON AND GET DIVORCED IN GERMANY, RICH MEN TOLD - CRAPPER RAPPER - WHEN YOU GOTTA GO, YOU GOTTA GO. - CRAPPING YOUR WAY AROUND THE WORLD - BATHROOM NEWS YOU MISSING SO MUCH Each week the EXPAT WORLD DIGEST gives you just a smattering of what you can find in the EXPAT WORLD newsletter that we produce once a month. Why not get the whole story and subscribe now to our electronic version for just US $30 per year. Go to our website: www.expatworld.net to sign up. ********************************************************************* EXPAT WORLD - the newsletter of international living URL - http://www.expatworld.net Email - office@expatworld.net ---------- End of Expat World Digest --------------------------------