How to pay less tax

[bigjarv]

Has anyone got any advice on how a UK based long haul pilot can pay less tax? Are there countries you could realistically move to to gain a tax advantage and what is the tax benefit of doing so? Preferably somewhere sunny and with a beach! Not asking too much am I!?!?

Any hints and advice would be most welcome!

PS. I know that the desert offers a good tax benefit but I don't think I am willing to sacrifice my friends and family for money just yet!!!

[Tercarley]

Cyprus seems to be the favourite. Believe tax is 5% there - or it was when I last looked.

[mona lot]

Are you claiming your £850 per annum fixed rate allowance? Its only £850, but its £850 less for the O.E.S.I. to p*ss up the wall.

[rubik101]

Try Turkey, as long as you like rice.

[Sygyzy]

Cyprus is definitely NOT 5% income tax.

It's somewhere between 25-33%. Now if you are a pensioner then the tax on your pension is 5%. The devil is (always) in the detail. Just make sure that you're paid in € if you're thinking of living anywhere in the EU. Stg£ has lost 35% of value against the € recently so add in even 5% and there's not much point in moving.

[5 RINGS]

try to earn less money, mechanically you'll pay less tax :}

[kick the tires]

Pay a tax specialist with all your extra lolly!

[5 RINGS]

you can also swap your longhaul job with my shorthaul job, and icing on the cake, you'll be able to enjoy your home sweet home every night. Feel free to pm me any time. :ok:

[mona lot]

You could always get a second home and claim expenses for it. Your local MP will be able to advise:ok:

I am an airline pilot employed on a PAYE basis. I am also self employed in my own business outside of aviation which just happens to be located at my airline base. All commuting/accommodation expenses from my home to airline base get buried in my self assessment tax returns. It works for me.:ok:

Suggest you find a good accountant, they are worth their salt. :ok:

[Tercarley]

If tax is as you say in Cyprus, why were /are so many SIA pilots living there and commuting ? When I was in SIA tax was not that demanding in Singapore, and it cant be that easy to commute from Sin to Lca.

[hunterboy]

The Cypriot tax agreement in available on line.Why not look it up and then you will know for sure. AFAIK, 5% is for pensioners only. I gather some individuals have "retired" to Cyprus in the past, but worked for another company on the quiet, only paying income tax on their earned income. Sounds dodgy to me.

[skysod]

Become an MP or even better an MEP!!!:}

[hawker750]

Bigjarv
Why do you want to pay less tax? You become no better than a claims benefit fraudster who can afford an accountant. It just means that the rest of the community has to pay more tax to make up for yours.
Nobody likes to pay tax but it is a necessary burden, Go on pay 5% tax and when you are in the UK and get trashed by a passing car have a label around your neck to tell the ambulance driver to skip your pick up as you have not paid your fair share. I would not take this attitude if you were preared to pay the rest of your tax to another regime but I do not think that this is quite your idea

[ItsAjob]

I dont think people would mind paying a fair tax that was utilised efficiently.
When I see young people giving up work because they get paid more in benefits I wonder about our system.

[hawker750]

Itsa Job
I think most people would agree with your sentements, but our profession is supposed to be just that.......professional. As a professional, one is assumed to have a modicum of education and common sense and, as such, it is fairly easy to deduce that the country would function even worse if everybody paid only 5% tax. This deduction is not made or cared about by a lot of the population and I would not want to be classified in that category. If people want to leave the UK for good and live in a lower tax regime, fine, but expecting to benefit from lower tax somewhere else and still expecting the benefits of free education, NHS, ambualnce service etc when they spend time in the UK appears, at the very least, selfish.

[hunterboy]

A different view may be that having less taxes to waste would force governments to spend it more wisely.

[ItsAjob]

Dont worry the government certainly is getting less tax with all the redundancies present. The shortfall being imposed on them left contributing.

[bigjarv]

Hey guys! Thanks for all your help and advice! I don't mind paying tax else where. I've no intention of being illegal but I'm just trying to find a good life where I get value for money out of my tax! The UK is very good and our tax provides a great safety net for almost everyone (something to be proud of?), but I have to say I would prefer to live in a society with better values and quality of life. Please don't come with all this honor stuff thou! We live in a capitalist system. If there is a fault or loop hole in the system it will be used, and it goes both ways. Tax payer to government and government to tax payer! Everyone is on the make unfortunately. It's what the system breeds.

I think that days of dodging tax as a pilot are long gone anyway! I'm about 10 years too late! Technology seems to have put a stop to all that! I'm still just looking for that happy medium so all tips are very welcome!

PS. I have BUPA!!! Whoa there big fella!! Easy tiger!!! I'm just kidding!!!

[Lantern10]

Google "The underground handbook"

[supramkiv]

Hawker I can understand bigjarv's comments... A tax system that increases the liabilty with the income, which in most people's case is linked to hard work and achievement is not a million miles from communism....

I'd be interested to know the answer too.

With the average wage of a UK Taxpayer around the 20k mark is it any wonder that some of us professionals begrudge paying for the other half.

I have private healthcare also, and a gas guzzling car, so pay a huge amount of tax already. Had enuf'

[hawker750]

Supramkiv
The answer lies with those cretins who voted in labour over a decade ago. How come anyone could believe "new labour" had changed!
That said, we are stuck with it and the horrendous consequences for a while, but whinging about the tax one pays is not going to achieve anything, and a system of the more you earn the more you pay is adopted everywhere in the world. Any other system would produce anarchy. (look at Thatcher's attempt to impose a fat rate poll tax)
If you really have had enuf then up sticks and leave, I think there would be enough qualified people who would want your job.

[bigjarv]

How reassuring!!

[stop, stop, stop]

hawker750 - I think your age (and therefore your generation) go a long way to explaining your views...I sometimes wish I were born 60 years ago...I would probably then agree with what you say. Trouble is the world has changed...and not always for the better. I can't help but feel totally scr*wed by the Gov. but would/will the Cons. do any better for us? I don't think so.

I've just claimed my £850 allowance (back dated of course) and have spoken to a couple of Accountants...eye opening stuff!

[Mister Geezer]

I have recently started a new job outside of the UK since my last outfit went tits up and the number of UK pilots who are seeking non residency status, has never been higher than now, according to the chap I spoke to for tax advice.

I looked at a recent payslip when I was employed in the UK and as a jet skipper, my total PAYE tax per month was the same as my monthly salary when I started off as a turboprop F/O, nearly six years ago. :sad:

[hunterboy]

Mister Geezer, Is it any wonder why? I don't think many people feel that their taxes are actually doing anything useful in the UK. many people that can are voting with their feet and taking their money and tax revenue elsewhere.

[spider_man]

Flying longhaul, some of us only get 8 clear days a month in the UK. What do I get for my £2,000+ income tax every month? I already pay other taxes for everything I use here (roughly another £400 a month).

[Tercarley]

Doesnt stop when you get your pension either!!! I pay an inordinate amount of money to the UK tax man. Plus I never ever used the NHS or state schools and still dont use any NHS or EU medical scheme.

[bfisk]

Hot tax tip: don't move to Norway :ok:

[STANDTO]

Move over here. there are a few Long haul bods living on the rock. Top rate is 18%, and things like 100% MIRAS still exist. Mine and wifes joint income of c.£70k attracted just £ 4235 bill last year. Good schools, nice houses, decent little airport even. It was sunny today as we sat out on the decking and fired up the Weber for the Sunday roast.

I made the move ten years ago and do wonder why more don't do it. PM me if you want to know more :)

[Tercarley]

That might be the case in the Isle of Man, but not the case in the Channel Islands. Am still having to pay UK tax on my pension!!! In addition I have to pay Channel Islands tax if I havent paid enough in UK.

We are relocating to France or Cyprus (got to get into the EU to pay less).

[rodthesod]

Why pay 5% tax on your pension in Cyprus when you can pay 0% living in Turkey? Same weather, much more beautiful and varied country.

[Tercarley]

I'm sure it is a lovely place but its not an English speaking country is it? Also dont like the halal method of slaughtering meat!!!!