If you are looking to invest, set up a business or retire abroad, evidently the climate and infrastructure of candidate countries will influence your decision, says Kathleen Peddicord in International Living. But you should also consider whether the tax regime for foreign residents will suit your needs.
If, say, you want to retire and will still be receiving income from the UK, then it is worth looking at moving to Panama or the Honduran Bay Islands, as both levy tax only on locally sourced income. However, if these do not appeal and you are prepared to pay some tax, both Nicaragua and Malta have a flat-rate 15% income tax for permanent foreign residents (or, in Nicaragua’s case, foreign “retirees”).
But if you want to invest in property, you may wish to go to New Zealand. Here you pay no transfer tax (stamp duty) nor legal costs on the sale of property and you won’t have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a residential property either, unless it is clear that you are buying a property for the sole purpose of selling it on at a profit.
You will be taxed on rental income from your property at a 19.5% rate on gross income under $22,260 – certain expenses may be deducted. There is also a “property tax” in the form of rates levied by local authorities, which range from 0.5% to 2% of the value and tend to be higher in bigger cities.
The current £6.5bn the Treasury receives each year annually from taxing North Sea oil and gas producers is set to turn into a deficit of £115m by 2020, saysCarl Mortished in The Times. Why? Because, as our oil reserves run dry, producers will be offsetting the cost of removing hundreds of abandoned oil rigs and platforms against current and future profits as well as earnings in previous years. To stem the potential revenue drain, the Chancellor may be tempted to change the tax rules, creating uncertainty for oil firms.