If the Northern Ireland/ Republic of Ireland border is not an insurmountable barrier to Brexit then the Scotland/England border should be a breeze to sort out in comparison don’t you think?

I do not! Furthermore, we have not yet seen the exact solution to the Irish border! The driving force behind it is rather different than the Scottish Border!

Whether the SNP government is good for the people of Scotland is not the point. The point is that since forever UK service people, wherever they are posted in the world, pay the tax rate set by the U.K. Government which they get to vote for . Not the rate set by the government of the country in which they find themselves which they do not get to vote for. Unless their tour in Scotland happens to coincide with a Holyrood election that is the situation UK service people will find themselves in.

Time lord

I agree whole heartedly. The fact that this was not addressed prior to Tax Varying powers been devolved is the root of the problem.

As much as people may want to blame them, I don’t think the SNP, or indeed any Scottish party can be blamed for that. A Westminster screw up, surely?

100% SNP screw up for sure - they do not have a clue what they are doing - and yes I do live in scotland so I am qualified to have an opinion ;).

I think it's simple. Both the Westminster and Holyrood administration forgot about members of the armed forces. Not for the first time either.

So now we have it. By my fag packet calculations I reckon that the Station Commander Lossiemouth will be taxed £1000 more than the Station Commander Conningsby. Anyone earning more than £33000 will be worse off.
Good luck to manning getting people to go to Lossie!

And to the NHS Scotland trying to recruit consultants!

And nurses on band 5 who work nights bank holidays and weekends as well, vote winner I think not.

Shout out to timelord for calling it as it is.

The consequences for the military (and probably some others as well) are nothing to do with party politics...just cock up and complacency - as usual!! Seen it all before.

And people of the UK, wherever they rest their head, will (and should!) take account of the tax divergence and, if it bothers them, include in their life planning decisions.

For my part, I could not give a **** about 1% here or there...but then I don't earn £100K a year :( :( :(

So what we have now, a posting to Lossiemouth, not only puts you a long way from your family and friends, unless you are jockanese, puts you in a higher tax bracket! Also you want F35 personnel to spend time afloat and be based there, a perfect storm!

There is DiN and personnel based in Scotland are considered Scottish Tax payers which is going to prove a nightmare for Manning who struggle to get people to serve up there now let alone after their tax bill goes up an extra £700 for a Sqn Ldr. LoA for Scotland might be the answer!

Spot on, who would want to be in manning trying to sell this to the future Lightning Force!

I repeat my invitation to anyone who feels sufficiently strongly about this to e mail [email protected]

Apparently "no one earning less than £33,000 in Scotland will pay more tax they do now. " Not sure how many members of the forces that applies to.

It's not simply a forces issue either, there are plenty of firms with employees both sides of the border.

The above has, fortunately, "nothing to do with me!"

Nevertheless:

If I have, or had, any finger on the pulse of English [sic] sentiment it is that some inducement to live and work in Scotland is highly desirable.

When I was offered a P Met O slot on promotion, it was Leuchars or Bawtry. This was literally a no brainer. The decision was based on ignorance, not experience, but took into account language difficulties, short winter days, cold winter nights and nasty biting cleggs or whatever. And the bagpipes.

There are probably many still serving who have similar baggage, exacerbated by the outpourings of dislike by the SNP leader.

To add penalties to such Scottish postings seems counter-productive..

Defence isn't a devolved power.:p

No offence to anyone this might have an impact on, but I'd really like to point out that if you're chimfing about losing £700 quid a year on a posting to Lossie, god help you if you ever get posted to Odiham. Frankly, cost of living change will far, far outweigh the tax!

(I do also appreciate that no one wants a posting to Odiham, but that's bugger all to do with the money!)

Pda, whilst the CoL down south may be higher there are many other advantages. Shorter distances, more shops, amenities, activities, more daylight in winter, warmer and so on. It is no question why people prefer the south coast to the empty north coast.

Back in the 70s there were several senior officers that refused Lossiemouth and promotion to gp capt. ISK was different as St Mawgan was the only alternative.

IIRC there was a similar tax issue back in the 70s. I don't remember if it came to fruition, but it depended if you were in quarters or private, and spouses working or some such.

It was mentioned earlier that HM Forces are taxed at UK rates world wide and MOD deducts tax due under PAYE for HMRC. Who will handle the deductions for WJK?

Who will be liable for the additional tax? In other words, what will constitute residence for tax purposes? Will someone on a course for 6 months be taxed or what? If you are resident but deployed, will you be taxed?

I know the RAF used to be creative with qualifying periods where it vCard suited them. A course duration might be set to avoid MQ qualification.

Pontius

I don't disagree about the quality of life argument at all, but purely financially I think you'd be hard pressed to argue that on 'average' HM forces members are financially better off in the south of England (particularly those paying for child care for example). If you include anybody that doesn't live in service provided accommodation then that gap widens eye wateringly.

Personally I'd say Lincolnshire is the ideal compromise on paper... But then you go there....