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

theviewer1985

TripleH said:

Where is your income base?

You could be based in your own little island Fort but if you do trade above a certain level you might need to register for VAT in that country.

Beware that tax rules change all the time so whilst 1 country may seem a good idea, in a year it might not be. Check also tax and residency laws in countries you wish to move to as well

If by base, you mean where it arrives, then that is the UK. Into a Business account.

Presumably though you are asking where it comes from, which is internationally. We get most sent from the USA, but a heavy chunk from the UK also. To be more detailed, our customers are purely international, but the pool of money gets collected in the UK / USA and paid to us in bulk from there

With the USA income, we don't pay VAT on it as its international. That might mean that if we are living in neither UK nor USA, then we wouldn't pay VAT on anything - but that probably changes country to country depending on their VAT rules.

theviewer1985

annabanana82 said:

Wasn't Barbados encouraging people to move their to WFH? 

A cousin of mine took early retirement, rented his home here out and spent 8 months travelling Europe then 4 over winter in the southern hemisphere. 
Covid and Brexit inhibited their plans to a degree but they are back travelling at their usual frequency now. 
Due to Covid they did end up buying a second home in the UK but now this just adds additional income. 

I'm not entirely sure how they fund their lifestyle but it looks amazing 

Your cousin sounds like they are of similar mindsets and have the same frustrations as us. COVID and Brexit hindered us greatly. If it weren't for Brexit, then I am quite certain we'd have left now lockdown is over.

Thanks for the heads up on Barbados. I did mild research into them a while back. I think the issue is that although it has some great tax benefits, the cost of living is pretty insane. 

In my original post, I spoke only about Tax, but in reality I meant cost of life in general (even more so with he cost of living crisis looming). Since we have the luxury of being able to live anywhere, it would make sense that we choose to live somewhere that the $ and £ increases in value when it comes into the country. Where for the same money I can buy 10 bottles of Gin, instead of 5 lol.

But alas, I think after this thread, we will be doing as your cousin does and buying in England, renting it out and travelling.

I presume they no longer spend 8 months travelling Europe (due to Brexit)?

Speedbird676

theviewer1985 said:

TripleH said:

Where is your income base?

You could be based in your own little island Fort but if you do trade above a certain level you might need to register for VAT in that country.

Beware that tax rules change all the time so whilst 1 country may seem a good idea, in a year it might not be. Check also tax and residency laws in countries you wish to move to as well

If by base, you mean where it arrives, then that is the UK. Into a Business account.

Presumably though you are asking where it comes from, which is internationally. We get most sent from the USA, but a heavy chunk from the UK also. To be more detailed, our customers are purely international, but the pool of money gets collected in the UK / USA and paid to us in bulk from there

With the USA income, we don't pay VAT on it as its international. That might mean that if we are living in neither UK nor USA, then we wouldn't pay VAT on anything - but that probably changes country to country depending on their VAT rules.

Note, you don't "pay" VAT on any of your income. You "collect" VAT on behalf of the UK government.

For example, if you invoice a client £1,000 + VAT (£200), the £200 was never yours.

theviewer1985

Speedbird676 said:

theviewer1985 said:

TripleH said:

Where is your income base?

You could be based in your own little island Fort but if you do trade above a certain level you might need to register for VAT in that country.

Beware that tax rules change all the time so whilst 1 country may seem a good idea, in a year it might not be. Check also tax and residency laws in countries you wish to move to as well

If by base, you mean where it arrives, then that is the UK. Into a Business account.

Presumably though you are asking where it comes from, which is internationally. We get most sent from the USA, but a heavy chunk from the UK also. To be more detailed, our customers are purely international, but the pool of money gets collected in the UK / USA and paid to us in bulk from there

With the USA income, we don't pay VAT on it as its international. That might mean that if we are living in neither UK nor USA, then we wouldn't pay VAT on anything - but that probably changes country to country depending on their VAT rules.

Note, you don't "pay" VAT on any of your income. You "collect" VAT on behalf of the UK government.

For example, if you invoice a client £1,000 + VAT (£200), the £200 was never yours.

Yeah I know what you are saying. The nuance with us is we don't necessarily "invoice" customers. If you think of Twitch where people get 'Tipped'. We get tipped the same amount, regardless of us paying 20% towards VAT each quarter. 

Thats why we like the systems that pay us from the USA, because we don't need to pay 20% on that so the income remained unchanged.

Not sure if that makes any sense.

Speedbird676

theviewer1985 said:

Speedbird676 said:

theviewer1985 said:

TripleH said:

Where is your income base?

You could be based in your own little island Fort but if you do trade above a certain level you might need to register for VAT in that country.

Beware that tax rules change all the time so whilst 1 country may seem a good idea, in a year it might not be. Check also tax and residency laws in countries you wish to move to as well

If by base, you mean where it arrives, then that is the UK. Into a Business account.

Presumably though you are asking where it comes from, which is internationally. We get most sent from the USA, but a heavy chunk from the UK also. To be more detailed, our customers are purely international, but the pool of money gets collected in the UK / USA and paid to us in bulk from there

With the USA income, we don't pay VAT on it as its international. That might mean that if we are living in neither UK nor USA, then we wouldn't pay VAT on anything - but that probably changes country to country depending on their VAT rules.

Note, you don't "pay" VAT on any of your income. You "collect" VAT on behalf of the UK government.

For example, if you invoice a client £1,000 + VAT (£200), the £200 was never yours.

Yeah I know what you are saying. The nuance with us is we don't necessarily "invoice" customers. If you think of Twitch where people get 'Tipped'. We get tipped the same amount, regardless of us paying 20% towards VAT each quarter. 

Thats why we like the systems that pay us from the USA, because we don't need to pay 20% on that so the income remained unchanged.

Not sure if that makes any sense.

Ok - so if 10 people each tip you £10, that £100 is actually paid to you as £83.33 + £16.67 VAT?

theviewer1985

Speedbird676 said:

theviewer1985 said:

Speedbird676 said:

theviewer1985 said:

TripleH said:

Where is your income base?

You could be based in your own little island Fort but if you do trade above a certain level you might need to register for VAT in that country.

Beware that tax rules change all the time so whilst 1 country may seem a good idea, in a year it might not be. Check also tax and residency laws in countries you wish to move to as well

If by base, you mean where it arrives, then that is the UK. Into a Business account.

Presumably though you are asking where it comes from, which is internationally. We get most sent from the USA, but a heavy chunk from the UK also. To be more detailed, our customers are purely international, but the pool of money gets collected in the UK / USA and paid to us in bulk from there

With the USA income, we don't pay VAT on it as its international. That might mean that if we are living in neither UK nor USA, then we wouldn't pay VAT on anything - but that probably changes country to country depending on their VAT rules.

Note, you don't "pay" VAT on any of your income. You "collect" VAT on behalf of the UK government.

For example, if you invoice a client £1,000 + VAT (£200), the £200 was never yours.

Yeah I know what you are saying. The nuance with us is we don't necessarily "invoice" customers. If you think of Twitch where people get 'Tipped'. We get tipped the same amount, regardless of us paying 20% towards VAT each quarter. 

Thats why we like the systems that pay us from the USA, because we don't need to pay 20% on that so the income remained unchanged.

Not sure if that makes any sense.

Ok - so if 10 people each tip you £10, that £100 is actually paid to you as £83.33 + £16.67 VAT?

Since we became VAT registered yes.

But before that, we'd have gotten the full £100.

[Deleted User]

macman said:

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.

If you don’t qualify for Irish Citizenship via a parent or grandparent then you can only get Irish Citizenship by living in the Republic of Ireland for 5 years (3 if married to an Irish citizen)

You can only qualify for Irish Citizenship on basis of residency in Northern Ireland if you are married to an Irish Citizen and again for at least 3 years, you can never qualify simply on the basis of residency in NI. 

sheramber

Deleted_User said:

macman said:

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.

If you don’t qualify for Irish Citizenship via a parent or grandparent then you can only get Irish Citizenship by living in the Republic of Ireland for 5 years (3 if married to an Irish citizen)

You can only qualify for Irish Citizenship on basis of residency in Northern Ireland if you are married to an Irish Citizen and again for at least 3 years, you can never qualify simply on the basis of residency in NI. 

You are replying to thread dated August 22 and the OP has not logged on since September 22.

Schwarzwald

What I am missing in the entire 6 pages of posting is really defining the end goal and main purpose of the move?!

you say you like to build a “real estate portfolio”, so question is where? And what for?

also, while vloggijg might seem remote, if you want to increase your income, how do you source your content/clients?

if you hang out in Bali or argentina, might sound nice, but time zone differential is a huge pain and client/content sourcing too.

also you need to really look into how to make yourself a non-UK tax resident. Just spending majority of days abroad might not cut it.

then there is the question around visa, legality, etc

discussion is fat too high level from my perspective.

also, within the EU there are quite some interesting countries that offer tax breaks for people locating there, eg Italy. Portugal also has had decent schemes.

but ultimately: what are you actually solving for?