11–20 of 211 posts
Thanks for the reminder, and the article and history was very interesting.
> It’s also not part of the European Union, but is within the EU Customs zone. As opposed to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, which is within the European Union, but outside the EU Customs area (until Brexit, at which point it leaves the EU too). The political status of British territories and dependencies is... _complex_.
I wondered how Gibraltar was outside the customs union; at time of UK joining, not only was Spain not in the EU, it was still a fascist dictatorship. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Gibraltar-opt-out-of-the-EU-Cu...
(He does a "hands channel" on YouTube taking apart electrical devices and other gadgets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMv2KyuZEp4 )
The article is correct, but it's also less than relevant for most people outside the UK, unless they live on the Isle of Man. British politics provides endless wells of "Well, actually..." any time anyone says something about the subject. Shades of Mornington Crescent.
I am familiar with Camden and Mornington Crescent area, but "Shades of Mornington Crescent"?
For the time being, IOM companies have GB VAT numbers, and a banking system that integrates seamlessly with the UK one, as well as a postal system (quick, which country is 15 Hope Street, Douglas, IM1 1AQ, British Islands?). This makes the sales process to UK and EU companies painless.
So if you're a British citizen who's managed to convince HMRC you're not resident in the UK, this is a great way to pay very little tax. BUT WAIT, there's more!
If you _are_ resident in the UK, and a British citizen, but you can convince HMRC that you are in fact not _domiciled_ in the UK, you can pay HMRC £30,000 a year flat-tax, and only pay tax on the money you bring into the UK -- so if you keep it in IOM, or send it to Guernsey, it's tax-free, as long as you manage to avoid CFC regulations, which are left as an exercise for the reader.
None of this should be considered as tax advice, although if you genuinely don't live in the UK, and aren't anywhere else long enough to be resident (that DigiNomadLyfe), then the top three points should be of significant interest.
If you think the owner of the Daily Mail and similar glitterati[0] should be paying more tax than a Senior Developer in London, paragraph 4 needs some scrutiny.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_non-domici...
> It’s also not part of the European Union, but is within the EU Customs zone. As opposed to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, which is within the European Union, but outside the EU Customs area (until Brexit, at which point it leaves the EU too). The political status of British territories and dependencies is... _complex_.
> It’s also not part of the European Union, but is within the EU Customs zone. As opposed to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, which is within the European Union, but outside the EU Customs area (until Brexit, at which point it leaves the EU too). The political status of British territories and dependencies is... _complex_.
... and the sovereign military bases in Cyprus, which also get mentioned in the treaty discussions and full titles. I wondered how Gibraltar was outside the customs union; at time of UK joining, not only was Spain not in the EU, it was still a fascist dictatorship. https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Gibraltar-opt-out-of-the-EU-Cu...
"During the 1950s the regime also changed from being openly totalitarian and using severe repression to an authoritarian system with limited pluralism. Spain joined the United Nations in 1955 and during the Cold War Franco was one of Europe's foremost anti-communist figures: his regime was assisted by the Western powers, and it was asked to join NATO. Franco died in 1975 at the age of 82." [1]
At that point (1975) there was no such thing as the EU (it was called EEC [2] (EEG in my language), and very different from what the EU is today). There where still customs between all members of EEC, except Belgium and The Netherlands. I know this because in the 80s we traveled regularly from The Netherlands to Brussels where my aunt lived as a diplomat for the EEC, while we also bought fuel in Germany which was cheaper than The Netherlands (and there was customs there).
The Wikipedia page of EEC [2] is a recommended read if you want to know more about the predecessor of the EU. Apparently, Spain joined in 1986. We went to vacation to Spain multiple times in my youth, including after 1986. We had customs checks. We also had these in France. And we had to take French Francs with us, as well as Spanish Pesetas. I even remember paying with Italian Liras at one point in 90s (1996?) and I felt very rich!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francoist_Spain
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Community
Isle of Man has zero percent corporate tax on (most) money earned outside the Isle of Man, which includes money earned in the UK. If you're a non-resident citizen of the UK, you can deposit your dividends from your Isle of Man company in your UK bank account, tax free. For the time being, IOM companies have GB VAT numbers, and a banking system that integrates seamlessly with the UK one, as well as a postal system (qu…
It was reformed several years ago to make it very hard for actual UK people to use. It is very difficult to give up UK domicile, and even if you manage to (by proving you no longer have any links) then HMRC will deem you UK domiciled anyway if you ever become UK tax resident. People who've been resident in UK for too many years are also deemed UK domiciled now.