Author Topic: My retirement blog. (Read 400706 times)

Orca · « **Reply #45 on:** May 19, 2014, 06:45:40 pm »

Loopholes have been closed with some tax havens by amendments to the DTA's lately. For instance, Swiss banks now have to disclose their customer accounts to IRS enquiries worldwide.
Portugal is the latest Tax Haven to emerge. They are desperate to attract new money into the country and has declined fiscal help from other EU countries with a new system. ie.
Non EU country members can now become Portuguese citizens by buying property or starting a business employing local citizens.
This is the Golden Visa method that I cannot afford as I think it involves an investment of R5m.
The other perk with this is that you pay a flat rate of 20% tax. Plus you get to freely move around the EU Shengen countries without a visa.

Their other system to attract money is to allow immigrants in with their foreign pensions and investment money and you get 10 years tax free. For this one spouse must be an EU member.

yozzi · « **Reply #46 on:** May 22, 2014, 09:04:36 am »

Orca, interesting in what you say about Portugal as I've just been over to the UK and have asked friends who regularly travel to Spain & Portugal, mainly to play golf, which would be their choice to move to and all have said Portugal.

I'm basically retired myself now apart from investments and from next year I want to be out of SA during the winter months and as I have a UK/EU passport I'm looking at a combination of the UK & Europe and if somewhere like Portugal takes my fancy then who knows maybe I'd look at a more permanent move given the incentives you have mentioned on here!

Orca · « **Reply #47 on:** May 22, 2014, 05:41:22 pm »

yozzie, You can read up on all countries on the forum http://britishexpats.com/forum/

I spent many hours reading up on that forum before I chose Portugal. You can read all you want but I think you will come to the same conclusion.

Orca · « **Reply #48 on:** June 02, 2014, 08:41:09 pm »

Not much time for posting never mind checking stocks. Totaly out the loop now and no idea what's going on. Too busy with selling our household and car. All done now. Everything is sold.
Sold everything extra cheap for us to keep the most needed items till we move. Strange sitting here with hardly any furniture. Two chairs and a tv on the floor.
Off to SARS tomorrow for the emigration clearance certificate then to the bank for our non resident blocked account.

In two weeks, we will be in Lisbon and meet our kids there. They insisted to fly from the UK to guide us to our destination. They think we will get lost or something as we are doff with international traveling compared to them that have done it all.
From there we will catch a train to Viana do Castelo after a night in a hotel in Lisbon.
Looking forward to the train trip as we will see the countryside as we go.
Not yet found a place to rent where we want to but found a place at the beach just outside of the city center at Amorosa. Fully equipped, two bedroom for €200 pm. LED tv, dishwasher, central heating and all.
Will keep you posted as we go along. Plus Tax of course. You know me and tax by now.

gcr · « **Reply #49 on:** June 03, 2014, 12:16:20 am »

Quote from: Orca on June 02, 2014, 08:41:09 pm

Not much time for posting never mind checking stocks. Totaly out the loop now and no idea what's going on. Too busy with selling our household and car. All done now. Everything is sold.
Sold everything extra cheap for us to keep the most needed items till we move. Strange sitting here with hardly any furniture. Two chairs and a tv on the floor.
Off to SARS tomorrow for the emigration clearance certificate then to the bank for our non resident blocked account.

In two weeks, we will be in Lisbon and meet our kids there. They insisted to fly from the UK to guide us to our destination. They think we will get lost or something as we are doff with international traveling compared to them that have done it all.
From there we will catch a train to Viana do Castelo after a night in a hotel in Lisbon.
Looking forward to the train trip as we will see the countryside as we go.
Not yet found a place to rent where we want to but found a place at the beach just outside of the city center at Amorosa. Fully equipped, two bedroom for €200 pm. LED tv, dishwasher, central heating and all.
Will keep you posted as we go along. Plus Tax of course. You know me and tax by now.

At just under 3 grand for a fully furnished unit, it doesn't sound too bad
Go well with the move, and hope to hear from you once you are up and running in your new home. Would also like to know how expensive it is to live in this place in terms of produce to eat

Moneypenny · « **Reply #50 on:** June 03, 2014, 08:33:19 am »

What a privilege to experience this Orca.

I know you probably have mixed feelings of anticipation, excitement, and worry and don’t even mention that little pesky admin-to-do-list which seems to be growing by the hour without invitation. Your home looks strange, it even sounds strange and you can’t help but to wonder about your existence and its purpose. All that’s left is your portable links (cell, tablets, notebooks, Wi-Fi) to your former life which will become a godsend very soon.

But hold on, it’s all good once you’re though the boarding gates and you have said your goodbyes and secretly wiped away the last tears (and it will happen, doesn't matter how tough you are).

You will suddenly feel relief that all the nitty-gritty is done; you can relax and start to enjoy with anticipation whatever is around the next corner.

Your kids are super to assist you with this transition, you will be grateful they will be the first chapter in your new life on the other side.

Good luck buddy, make a conscious decision to enjoy each new episode.

Go well.

yozzi · « **Reply #51 on:** June 03, 2014, 02:30:57 pm »

Good luck with the move and hope all goes well! It's a big move and I was in the same position many years ago the opposite way around coming from the UK to SA and don't regret it for one minute and I'm sure you will feel the same after all the first month or so is going to be like a holiday and in that time you'll learn about all that's around you so very exciting!

Did you find the accomm on the expat's website as I will be over that way next year and that sort of place would be ideal.

Nios · « **Reply #52 on:** June 04, 2014, 07:34:30 pm »

Shew! So very daunting and exciting at the same time Orca. The first few weeks are going to be a roller coaster ride.

Looking forward to your updates and feedback as you move along the journey and your experiences.

Good luck.

Orca · « **Reply #53 on:** June 04, 2014, 09:06:44 pm »

Thanks for all the good wishes. We have our Tax Clearance for Emigration at last but. ....
The Portuguese Embassy gave us the wrong form so had to cancel and make a new appointment that will be in 3 weeks. Our flights are booked so we will have to go without a visa for my wife and hopefully reach Portugal.
From there we will get a visa at customs. If she can't, we might just get sent back.
Hold thumbs for us.

Orca · « **Reply #54 on:** June 09, 2014, 08:52:43 pm »

Perhaps won't work so we are off back to Pretoria on Wednesday to the main Embassy. They will give my wife a visa the same day. This is getting costly. Flights and train fares are killing me. So are my shares.
Can't wait to get to Portugal to carry on with my "trading" in stocks as SARS sees me as a trader.
Once in Portugal, I can "trade" without incurring tax in ZA as I will be carrying on a business in Portugal. Not here.
I intend selling all and waiting for the Indi to correct and invest all in it.
I will be exempt from tax in Portugal for 10 years but there might be loopholes I don't know about yet.
We are off this Monday and will keep you posted.

Moneypenny · « **Reply #55 on:** June 10, 2014, 09:26:37 pm »

Hey Orca, we are having a fun night tonight at a Portuguese restaurant with live portuguese music celebrating Dia de Portugal, wish you were here! Ps. Today's Outlook will probably be late tomorrow, we're having a party!

Orca · « **Reply #56 on:** June 11, 2014, 08:52:48 pm »

I hope you had fun MP. The tenth of June is an important day for the Portuguese and is a public holiday.
Just got back from Pretoria tonight. Left early this morning from Cape Town.
Got the family visa valid for a year in 1 hour. Good service there compared to here.
No time to post much as we still have so much to do and we leave on Monday.
All emigration paperwork is done now and that is a huge weight off our shoulders.

Orca · « **Reply #57 on:** June 12, 2014, 09:36:14 pm »

Oh dear. Never ends. Now we need return tickets to get Euros from Bidvest. We need some cash while travelling but can't get any. FNB needs two days to figure out how to open their vault before they can give us some Euros.
No time left so will have to rely on the swipe method to pay and hope that our bank will not yet have blocked it.

Also, we have been told that my wife needs "Apostilled" Marriage Certificate and Police Clearance to get residence in Europe.
We are so stressed out with all the red tape that we are now sorry that we ever got into this Emigrating thing.

To make matters worse, we will have to go through so much paper work in Portugal to get residecia.
Too late to go back as we have nothing here anymore.

Moneypenny · « **Reply #58 on:** June 13, 2014, 09:12:21 am »

Hold on Orca, it gets worse to the end; just before it gets better.

gcr · « **Reply #59 on:** June 13, 2014, 09:22:16 am »

Quote from: Orca on June 12, 2014, 09:36:14 pm

Oh dear. Never ends. Now we need return tickets to get Euros from Bidvest. We need some cash while travelling but can't get any. FNB needs two days to figure out how to open their vault before they can give us some Euros.
No time left so will have to rely on the swipe method to pay and hope that our bank will not yet have blocked it.

Also, we have been told that my wife needs "Apostilled" Marriage Certificate and Police Clearance to get residence in Europe.
We are so stressed out with all the red tape that we are now sorry that we ever got into this Emigrating thing.

To make matters worse, we will have to go through so much paper work in Portugal to get residecia.
Too late to go back as we have nothing here anymore.

Orca please check out whether your cards are compatible with overseas ATM machines. Here in SA we work on a 4 and 5 pin number, but in Europe I think they only work on a 4 pin number. You don't need to end up phoning your local bank to release funds to you overseas, because not only is it expensive but it could also take ages. You may want to gift your kids some funds ex SA so that they can draw funds for you as required until you know the banking system over there

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Author Topic: My retirement blog. (Read 400706 times)

Orca

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