Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms 'Meet the Rees-Moggs'

Very much the same situation with me, company paid for everything, if it was longer term assignment then a fully expensed house/apartment was provided. Being treated for tax purposes as domiciled in UK whilst the UK tax provisions allowed you to reclaim, the number of days working abroad tax relief, often meant I reclaimed all my income tax back some years. was useful whilst it lasted. Those were the good days.

They were indeed, I was classed as “not ordinarily resident” so got it paid in tax free.
A few of us clubbed together and bought a place in Spain so we took off there to fulfil our quota of time deemed necessary to maintain that status. From poor memory I think I was allowed 30 days in uk per calendar year.

Consequently we spent many years overseas untaxed and it didn’t bother me one iota.
Unlike when we returned to uk with family Bupa, fully expensed company car etc I ended up paying tax on unearned income now that was a little peeving after the previous experience.

Great days and loved enjoying many varied countries and cultures and the money was handy but not the driver, it was the challenge always of the work.

I didn't mind paying my income tax out of my salary each month, as I just saved the salary, then at the end of the tax year getting a lump sum tax rebate plus interest (tax free), the lump sums allowed you more flexibility, paid off my mortgage with it one year.

Used to be problematic paying for hotels etc abroad before Maggie was kind enough to remove all exchange control limits. It used to be pretty restrictive only allowed £750 a year plus £50 a day for business trips, having the sterling amount taken out noted in your passport etc.

My expenses were reimbursed from the US, so my bank used to keep the $ cheques and feed then through as my exchange allowance allowed during course the year which often lead to delays in them being cashed. I remember one year I spent some time in Monaco and my hotel expenses were enormous, which lead to the reimbursement cheques taking longer to clear thru the exchange allowance, got so bad at one point I had to send some cheques back to the US for reissue as they ceased to be a payable instrument six months after the date of them being drawn, ,it was taking so long for me to avail of the exchange allowance over time during to my heightened spending abroad during that stay in Monaco.

Whilst it was great times abroad, I only started travelling abroad because there was no local work in the UK It was tough in the Uk back then, the sick man of Europe.

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I worked for OPD the Overseas Project Department as I wanted the frisson and experience of overseas work plus wife loved it.

We always had an agent (Registered Office) in the country that navigated the payments of local allowances, hotels and health insurances so it was never a problem for us personally.

Our Company head Office was on Albert Embankment. Sir Edward Lewis was the boss so pretty switched on, he was a real gentleman.

Some of our boys came back from Vietnam almost millionaires, back then that was quite something they were made up to Captains in the US Army carrying pistols and all that nonsense but the money was good. The VC never posed a threat but the lot on site did, choosing one US squaddy to task that wasn't off their head on something or another
But they said they never ate food so good as they were supplied with out there.

GB News so a bit of heralding of relative successes of signing up trade deals and still the French 25 years on are currently building up a cohort of at least 4 EU countries necessary to block the MERCOSUR trade agreement.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth...ca8698bac904003b8712fc299c3a96c&ei=5

I forgot to mention in the earlier post the UK exports to the EU has fallen to just over 40% and been pretty static at that for a while ,

Strange that all the farmers were protesting back in March about all the problems 'Post Brexit' when they've obviously never had it so good. And interesting that Jeremy Clarkson wasn't involved then? Perhaps it was too embarrassing for all his Tory mates.....


https://www.euronews.com/2024/03/26/slaughtered-uk-farmers-protest-post-brexit-rules-and-trade-deals

The farmers understandably hate change......they have to forward plan the crops/produce in advance and hope when they come to market there is demand at a fair and sustainable price. Where I have some sympathy with them is they have had EU subsidies removed post Brexit and not had same type of subsidies replacing them, the level of paper work and regulation they have to follow. Trade patterns were due to change without question as a result of Brexit, but would realign over time to meet emerging demand. Even none Brexit events like eg China switching its purchasing of fish and seafood way from the UK had a major impact in fishing communities. China did the same to Australia and NZ agricultural and coal exports out of a disagreement with their stance on Chinese expansionism, nothing stands still or remains the same for long.

Lets not forget that the UK had a plan to kill off our sheep flocks en masse as demand for lamb would fall post Brexit, which it didn't and there was a disruption to the pork trade, the UK sell pork legs to the EU and UK buys EU pork bellies, but that seems to have sorted itself out. It looks increasing like the Dutch flower growers once UK enforces its inspections of EU products, are threatening not to deliver to the UK. Living in an area whose greenhouses have lain empty for decades because of Spanish and Dutch flowers and salad imports, are looking more and more at starting up again, to supply locally ,cutting down the import carbon footprint . I say fair enough Holland don't supply us with flowers, Holland basically destroyed most of the UK flower producing industry that existed pre EU, lets invest in it and get more produced domestically again. Others have reinvented them selves and are exporting greater added value products into the EU rather than eg live animals and raw meats etc removing the need for vet checks etc.

The farmers hate the Australian and NZ deals, but most of the antipodean produce is available at a different season to the same UK produce, the net effect hopefully is we get fresher produce less chemically treated to preserve shelf life we current experience by stretching the UK produce availability like eg apples so they can supply all year round market demand. Its how we used to trade with the Commonwealth pre EU when the EU blocked their access to the UK and EU markets. There is a debate about the carbon foot print, but eg Australian only sends the UK its value added prime cuts of beef. The grapes I get all year round varying from supplying country according to the season, during the summer its EU sourced grapes, during the winter its been as varied as India, Egypt, South Africa and so on. That may not have been possible under the EU trade deals.

When the EU was an economic trading block ie the Common Market it was IMHO amazingly successful, as it as moved to greater unification and a single currency, it has lost its way, to me one size doesn't fit all. Already unfortunately Schengen is breaking up as border checks are reintroduced to deal with migration etc. There was one factor not appreciated was an unintended side effect of open borders is that it allows crime to flourish, the first real indication of the size of that problem was when the 500 Euro note was withdrawn, because it facilitated crime across Euro currency countries.

I really lost faith in the EU following the 2008 financial crash and the vicious austerity forced on particularly Greece and Ireland to a lesser extent to protect German bondholders was unbelievable in a community of supposedly shared values and common interests.


From your posted article, aren't these farmers in the EU but share the same complaints as our farmers, strange that.

''Mass farmers' protests have gripped countries across the EU. Farmers in Poland, France and Germany have demonstrated against what claim is cumbersome bureaucracy, Brussels' environmental policies and unfair foreign competition.''