Where in the world to live? (Fun, Luxury, Tax)

macman

If you are running a successful limited company, then I'd advise you not to screw it up by becoming an unsuccessful landlord. Yes, LA's offer full services, at a price, but as the LL you remain 100% liable for all the regulatory and statutory obligations of being an LL. About 70 of them, at last count.
And as a non-resident LL you'll need to pay UK income tax on your rental yield, deducted at source by your tenant or agent: I thought the whole idea was to get away from 'killer' UK taxation?

Jeremy535897

theviewer1985 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

The danger of having a UK base is that it can be available accommodation if you have a void period, which can impact on your residence status.

Darn. Never thought that was a remote possibility. If anything, I thought it would help matters as it could help show that you'd not become a 'burden on society'

No, it is unlikely to help in that way. Under the old rules, going back many years, if you had available accommodation in the UK, you were UK resident for a tax year even if you spent just one day here. It is more nuanced now, with the statutory residence tests, and if you actually avoid spending a night there, it does not count as one of the "ties". But having residential accommodation here is normally unhelpful and complicates things.

theviewer1985

macman said:

If you are running a successful limited company, then I'd advise you not to screw it up by becoming an unsuccessful landlord. Yes, LA's offer full services, at a price, but as the LL you remain 100% liable for all the regulatory and statutory obligations of being an LL. About 70 of them, at last count.
And as a non-resident LL you'll need to pay UK income tax on your rental yield, deducted at source by your tenant or agent: I thought the whole idea was to get away from 'killer' UK taxation?

Sound advise.

Our idea of buying a base in England and moving away isn't really about profit. I accept it would merely break even at best, but of course breaking even whilst chipping away at a mortgage isn't a bad thing.

However the more I hear from y'all, I am quickly realising that maybe buying here if we intend to leave, isn't a good idea. I suppose for now the question should be if we don't own any property, don't have kids, are young and have a digital nomad business, where in the world is a good place to move too that is generally low on tax and is inviting to self employed immigrants. I read that Bali ticks those boxes for example.

But even with that said, the more this thread goes on, the more im realising that maybe I have to accept life here in England - buy UK property, be a local hands on landlord and just take regular holidays to scratch that itch.

Ps. your earlier post about vlogging being part of our problem with banks is correct. We have to jump through many extra hoops & prove all sorts of things every step of the way. From trying to get a business account at the start, through to the mortgage now.

macman

Why don't you just decamp to Bali or whatever tropical paradise floats your boat for the winter, or for long holidays? Sounds like you can afford it, and you can still work from there. 
But I think you need to do a bit more homework about these low-tax economies, and work out why they are low-tax, and realise that what we have here in the UK is not a high-tax economy that is anti-business, as you seem to suggest.
The recent rises in UK tax have been due to the huge level of support needed to get us through covid, so a one-off. Although of course we will now be financing the debt incurred for many years to come.

Grumpy_chap

The OP might wish to consider how they are reimbursed for their income. 

Although WFH is a "thing" now on a far greater scale than it was in 2019, many companies I am aware of will engage Contractors on the basis of WFH - you can be based anywhere so long as that anywhere is within UK.  The reasoning behind that is companies don't want to be exposed, or even risk of exposed, to the effort / penalties that might be associated with having to handle different tax regimes.

I've noted from the latter threads that the OP's business model is Vlogging so the payment is probably generated through different mechanism than straightforward Contractor engagement.  Would the financing customer's (host sites / advertisers) concerns about off-shoring still exist?

Also, I'm very out of touch with the world of Vlogging but aren't those that are successful (MarzBar comes to mind as an example) only successful because they tap into a young audience that see the updates as relateable and aspirational?  I can't see that if Marzbar dispatched himself off to Bali for long term that he would necessarily be able to maintain that relatability for the average UK-based young person.  In part, the Vlogs have to include content that you'd only keep up to date on by being in the UK - who in Bali (or wherever) will ever actually really be up to speed on the impact of the UK weather / hosepipe bans / drought / fires etc?  Or the newly launched super-duper mobile service from XYZ Telecoms?  Or the value of the £400 energy discount from the Government?  Or whatever else it is that is the topic of the moment.

Speedbird676

theviewer1985 said:

I suppose for now the question should be if we don't own any property, don't have kids, are young and have a digital nomad business, where in the world is a good place to move too that is generally low on tax and is inviting to self employed immigrants. I read that Bali ticks those boxes for example.

Bali's digital nomad visa isn't a reality yet and although they expect to launch this year, they also expected to launch it in 2019. Things like this generally move slowly there and don't always come to fruition. 

I say this as the partner of an Indonesian citizen - be very careful "buying" property as a foreigner in Indonesia. Only Indonesian citizens can buy freehold and their equivalent of leasehold comes as a fixed 30-year lease with no guarantee of extension.

Likewise, to establish a business in Indonesia you would need to partner with an Indonesian citizen, which would be the case if you wanted to rent out any property you have there.

The digital nomad visa only permits you to remain in the country if your employment is overseas. Assuming you continued to use your UK limited company as the vehicle to earn your income you would still have some UK tax liabilities.

Finally, as others have said, low-tax economies generally mean small state. This is also true of Indonesia - for example, well off Indonesians generally travel to SIngapore for healthcare but this obviously comes at a price. People who have always lived in the UK and had the benefit of the NHS don't realise how expensive healthcare is when you have to pay for it.

Don't get me wrong, Indonesia is a beautiful country and Bali especially, but do your homework and don't just rely on the digital nomad paradise headlines.

theviewer1985

Grumpy_chap said:

The OP might wish to consider how they are reimbursed for their income. 

Although WFH is a "thing" now on a far greater scale than it was in 2019, many companies I am aware of will engage Contractors on the basis of WFH - you can be based anywhere so long as that anywhere is within UK.  The reasoning behind that is companies don't want to be exposed, or even risk of exposed, to the effort / penalties that might be associated with having to handle different tax regimes.

I've noted from the latter threads that the OP's business model is Vlogging so the payment is probably generated through different mechanism than straightforward Contractor engagement.  Would the financing customer's (host sites / advertisers) concerns about off-shoring still exist?

Also, I'm very out of touch with the world of Vlogging but aren't those that are successful (MarzBar comes to mind as an example) only successful because they tap into a young audience that see the updates as relateable and aspirational?  I can't see that if Marzbar dispatched himself off to Bali for long term that he would necessarily be able to maintain that relatability for the average UK-based young person.  In part, the Vlogs have to include content that you'd only keep up to date on by being in the UK - who in Bali (or wherever) will ever actually really be up to speed on the impact of the UK weather / hosepipe bans / drought / fires etc?  Or the newly launched super-duper mobile service from XYZ Telecoms?  Or the value of the £400 energy discount from the Government?  Or whatever else it is that is the topic of the moment.

As an FYI, vlogging CAN be about relatability. But as is the case with us, can equally be about lifestyle / fashion / travel. So moving to Bali for example, would actually be a good move and give us more content options. COVID hampered us on that front because we had to get creative in a mile radius. Very dull for us.

theviewer1985

Speedbird676 said:

theviewer1985 said:

I suppose for now the question should be if we don't own any property, don't have kids, are young and have a digital nomad business, where in the world is a good place to move too that is generally low on tax and is inviting to self employed immigrants. I read that Bali ticks those boxes for example.

Bali's digital nomad visa isn't a reality yet and although they expect to launch this year, they also expected to launch it in 2019. Things like this generally move slowly there and don't always come to fruition. 

I say this as the partner of an Indonesian citizen - be very careful "buying" property as a foreigner in Indonesia. Only Indonesian citizens can buy freehold and their equivalent of leasehold comes as a fixed 30-year lease with no guarantee of extension.

Likewise, to establish a business in Indonesia you would need to partner with an Indonesian citizen, which would be the case if you wanted to rent out any property you have there.

The digital nomad visa only permits you to remain in the country if your employment is overseas. Assuming you continued to use your UK limited company as the vehicle to earn your income you would still have some UK tax liabilities.

Finally, as others have said, low-tax economies generally mean small state. This is also true of Indonesia - for example, well off Indonesians generally travel to SIngapore for healthcare but this obviously comes at a price. People who have always lived in the UK and had the benefit of the NHS don't realise how expensive healthcare is when you have to pay for it.

Don't get me wrong, Indonesia is a beautiful country and Bali especially, but do your homework and don't just rely on the digital nomad paradise headlines.

Yeah I did mention that issue with Bali and freehold / leaseholds above somewhere. It was and still is my biggest reservation with setting up shop there. You have all but confirmed it and put a nail in that coffin

Honestly, with each passing reply I get, I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that perhaps living in the UK and taking long holidays is the answer.

The big B word, is a frustrating hindrance. Otherwise we could have easily just gone to the Med somewhere.

macman

Do you have any ancestry by which you could claim an EU passport. For Brits, many have Irish ancestry, or maybe Italian?
Failing that, base yourself in Eire (or N. Ireland ) for 2 years and then you will qualify for citizenship in the Republic. And pay less corporation tax.
You can then live wherever you want in the EU and enjoy the better weather.

DullGreyGuy

theviewer1985 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

The OP might wish to consider how they are reimbursed for their income. 

Although WFH is a "thing" now on a far greater scale than it was in 2019, many companies I am aware of will engage Contractors on the basis of WFH - you can be based anywhere so long as that anywhere is within UK.  The reasoning behind that is companies don't want to be exposed, or even risk of exposed, to the effort / penalties that might be associated with having to handle different tax regimes.

I've noted from the latter threads that the OP's business model is Vlogging so the payment is probably generated through different mechanism than straightforward Contractor engagement.  Would the financing customer's (host sites / advertisers) concerns about off-shoring still exist?

Also, I'm very out of touch with the world of Vlogging but aren't those that are successful (MarzBar comes to mind as an example) only successful because they tap into a young audience that see the updates as relateable and aspirational?  I can't see that if Marzbar dispatched himself off to Bali for long term that he would necessarily be able to maintain that relatability for the average UK-based young person.  In part, the Vlogs have to include content that you'd only keep up to date on by being in the UK - who in Bali (or wherever) will ever actually really be up to speed on the impact of the UK weather / hosepipe bans / drought / fires etc?  Or the newly launched super-duper mobile service from XYZ Telecoms?  Or the value of the £400 energy discount from the Government?  Or whatever else it is that is the topic of the moment.

As an FYI, vlogging CAN be about relatability. But as is the case with us, can equally be about lifestyle / fashion / travel. So moving to Bali for example, would actually be a good move and give us more content options. COVID hampered us on that front because we had to get creative in a mile radius. Very dull for us.

Yes, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, NY Fashion Week... Bali Fashion Week? I am sure they are all equally famous if you say you are into fashion.

I know a couple who made their name in luxury travel blogging, started a travel consultancy and then moved to a remote tropical island. The blogging side of their business really dried up but the consultancy side sustained them well until covid. Have to admit that I've not talked to them for a while but after 3 years they've reappeared on travel forums and there comments, but also relevancy have clearly diminished due to being somewhere very pretty/enviable but not the hub of activity of NYC and London where they previously lived.