Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

gfplux

Savvy_sue, Thank you.


Seven_day_weekend, It is amazing sometimes to find out what some people do not know. I am sure we all have gaps in our general knowledge, but some people!!!!!!!
It is also amazing to hear of someone who has never run a business in their home country have this amazing idea that they will move to a "foreign" country and set up a business!

donny-gal

Back on the subject of bread, a brown sliced loaf from Lidl this time, 600g 22 slices, 0.69€.
DG

Mrs_pbradley936

I thought this board had been taken down! Anyway, We have (finally) sold our house in Florida. It closes (we say "completes") on March 2. We bought it 9 years ago so got more than we paid for it. We still intend to come here but will rent in future. We did the sums and decided that renting will be better for us. It costs us about $18K a year to run by the time you have the grass cut and pool serviced year round, the property taxes, insurance plus all the bills. Then every time you go to Lowes or Home Depot (think Wickes or B & Q) you seem to spend a couple of hundred here and there.

For next winter we have rented a fabulous condo for $2800 a month all in.

gfplux

It looks like bread is expensive, well that's one of the losers to offset the cheap price of petrol and diesel.

I took my ladies on a trip to a designer outlet in Germany yesterday. We went to Zweibrucken which is about 140k away from our home in Luxembourg.
http://outlets-zweibruecken.de/en/start/index.html
We were very lucky as it was a very sunny day but cold at about 5C. It was motorway all the way so it was very pleasant.
This is quite a smart centre with over 100 shops with lots of stock. It is not an indoor mall so the weather is important.
If anyone has been to the outlet centre in Italy http://www.outlet-the-mall.com/en/index.html
near Florence this is similar but a little larger.
my daughter bought a couple of pieces which my wife tells me were very good value!

Hello Mrs pbradleyp36. my elder daughter lives in Florida (West Palm Beach) and when she tells me the costs of Local Tax's and Insurance I am shocked. It looks to me as if you have done the right thing. I am going there in 8 weeks time, can not wait.

carrots

Hello, gfplux! If we're talking expensive, Switzerland is the place! My daughter lives in Zurich; they make regular trips into Germany to do their big supermarket shopping (and to get things which seem not readily available in Switzerland).

Some e-commerce sites will deliver to Switzerland, but I have the impression that most don't.

seven-day-weekend

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Tax...oh please don't mention it.

I have tried to get us registered for Tax purposes in Spain. Tax on Teachers' Pension has to be paid in UK so there is only my husband's small IB payment liable for tax her in Spain and this is too small an amount to have to pay any. We also do not have to pay any of the property taxes as our assets are below the threshold and also we are Spanish Residents. So no tax to pay here in Spain, but it is still advisable (and in fact from this year compulsory) to register.

BUT ...The Inland Revenue (or whatever they are called these days) sent us a bi-lingual form to give to the Spanish Tax Offices. I gave it to a local gestor (para-legal) who everybody uses and we asked him to register us with the Hacienda (tax office).

He didn't know what to do with the form. I tried to explain (even employing a translator), but he still didn't get it. Also he insisted we had to declare the Teachers' Pension, which we don't. He then asked us what we lived on if the Teachers' Pension didn't have to be declared. We said, the Teachers' Pension! So, he says, well then, you have to declare it as income!:mad:

So, we told him not to bother and at some point have to find another gestor but I think we'll find one a bit less 'rural'. However this will cost much more so as yet we have done nothing about it.

We also thought we could go to the Tax Offices ourselves, but we can't find which forms to get or which of three offices to go to. No-body seems to know what we are talking about. None of the expats we know who have no tax to pay have registered and think we are a bit crazy for trying to do so.

It is something that always plays on my mind and I hope we can get it sorted out soon. I think in my darkest moments it might even be worth paying the expensive solicitor that our friends used who sorted it out for them in no time (but charges 250 euros an hour!):eek:

Watch this space.......

We have solved our tax problem!!

Went yesterday to a place called Solve, which caters for local expats with financial problems or queries.

Paid 40 euros to speak to their wonderful Accountant, Carlos, who is bi-lingual. He took information from us and told us we didn't have to pay any tax in Spain . He then said he would come to the Hacienda (Tax Office) with us to make sure we got registered - he also said we may actually BE registered as with some people it happened automatically when they got their residency card. (He didn't know why some and not others:rotfl: ).

Anyway, we got there, no queue :beer: , and he asked the lady to check and we WERE registered and have been for four years! No-one ever told us. He arranged with the haciendas to give us a Certificate of Tax Residency which means that we don't have to keep sending in tax returns saying 'nada' , and explained that once we were both 65, assuming we were still resident, then we wouldn't have to pay any CGT if we sold our house. PHEW!

Also we haven't broken any laws by not submitting a Tax Return or obtaining a Certtificate of Tax Residency before this and do not have to bother the Hacienda again.:j

He is now going to sort out our Spanish wills which he found out for us have never been registered with a notary, as they should have been (the guy who drew them up said everything had been done) and at the moment they are not legal.

I love Carlos! Well worth 40 euros! A terricic weight off my mind.:beer:

droopsnout

Excellent stuff! Useful service, to say the least.

We've just done our UK wills, and need to do the French ones.

I believe that all income has to be declared to the tax authorities, but (as we know), as tax on the Teacher's Pension is paid in the UK, the country of residence won't touch it again.

seven-day-weekend

Carlos never even asked us about the amount of Teachers' Pension, he just said it wasn't taxable in Spain and took no further interest in it.

It will be good to have the Spanish will sorted out (350 euros for something that is not legal! Once it's done my husband is going to write to the business that did them and ask for a refund/compensation).

We are re-doing our English wills in June to make our house tenants-in -common as it gives it a bit of protection for our son for the future.

sandy2_2

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Carlos never even asked us about the amount of Teachers' Pension, he just said it wasn't taxable in Spain and took no further interest in it.

UK Govt pensions eg civil service, teaching, local authority pensions have to be taxed in UK

seven-day-weekend

sandy2 wrote: »

UK Govt pensions eg civil service, teaching, local authority pensions have to be taxed in UK

Yes I know that, but droopsnout said it had to be declared (even if not taxed) in your country of residence - I was just telling him that Carlos wasn't interested in it, only the tiny amount of income we have that is taxable in Spain.