Vast Brexit thread merge part VI
- Thread starter TheDecameron
- Start date
Colin Barron
pfm Member
Don't know. The moral of the story was for another friend who's getting divorced and has started a new relationship.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Are you in the Pampas Grass zone?
Nick_G
pfm Member
Leg In Arse Iris
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
How very retro! And the reason people stopped saying this about 15 years ago was a) the moral bankruptcy of the statement became so obvious that even old school Thatcherites became embarrassed to say it out loud b) it's more accurate to say "Tax planning might not be illegal but there is a reasonable chance it will turn out to be very much illegal if the Inland Revenue ever investigate your particular scheme".
Best practice now involves agreeing all non-standard schemes up front and designing them in conjunction with the HMRC.
Well, that's a wake up call to the process. thank you.
I'm sure the last time my partner got married it was for life... maybe the thing to do is to focus more on a pre-nup....
Personally, I think there's many things that speak of lifelong commitment better than a marriage ceremony or the HMRC encouragement for us to use each other's ISA allowances etc. To me it seems an outdated arrangement, the only benefits of which may be increased security in relation to the state, tax advantages, and a tick in the 'next of kin ' box before surgery! Perhaps there are other advantages? I'd love to see 'civil partnership' extended internationally and freedom of movement continue so marriage isn't necessary.
Indeed, I bought her the s/h cartier she wanted (as we are both also pre-loved) just to show her my lifelong commitment never to marry her. I'm sure she takes it off much less than her ex-husband removed his wedding ring.
Colin Barron
pfm Member
Correct me if i am wrong but wife only split 50/50. Wife with children involved does provide well documented benefits; man leaves with shirt on his back if he is lucky.
A foreman i worked with 40 years ago, (the company moved to Eastern Europe with EU grants) did not even have that luxury his wife chopped the arms or legs off every piece of clothing.
sean99
pfm Member
I must admit that I'm surprised that anyone would undertake the commitment of having children with someone (which is much more onerous and risky than marriage) and be unwilling to commit to a marriage. If marriage is a blank cheque, having kids with a partner is signing over the rest of your life. If you're prepared to have kids then marriage should be a no-brainer.
On the other hand, if the commitment of marriage gives you pause then do not under any circumstances have children with that person.
Sorry Matthew, you're usually right in matters financial, but on this occasion you are talking about tax avoidance, not planning.
Tax planning = using legal government approved tax reduction schemes *in the manner in which they are intended* to reduce your tax bill. An example is putting money pre tax into a pension instead of buying a Porsche, pissing it up the wall and then saying "Ah need ter go on t' sick, Ah've got nowt and Ah can't work ner moor wi' me knees t' way they are. " If I didn't get tax breaks on a pension I'd spend more now, engage in other investments and maybe be a greater burden on the state in years to come, so it's in everyone's interest to encourage me and others.
Next up is Tax Avoidance where you use legal means in a way in which they were never intended. Company loans, dodgy dealings, etc. It may be legal for now but it's immoral.
Finally tax evasion is illegal and you risk prosecution.
one of these classes is an entirely legal, decent and honest way to reduce your personal tax bill.
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
civil partnership split - kids only considered, not the partner
richardg
Admonishtrator
At what level might that be? I can't even get them to answer the phone any more. So I decide to pay my wife the minimum wage up to the threshold of £12k per year. Do I need to book a meeting to get it written and accepted? Never going to happen. And whatever is in the book is impossible to enforce. It's bog standard tax avoidance and I don't think I know an MD that doesn't do it if the spouse / partner needs a job.
It's not retro, it has been going on for decades and still is. It's quite contemporary, old bean.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
What you call "tax planning" everyone I know just calls "paying your taxes". The notion that making use of a bog standard HMRC scheme like pension tax relief or an ISA is anything other than normal is just silly.
If we remove that bit then I think the rest just agrees with what I said.
Colin Barron
pfm Member
On the other hand a man with 5 pints of beer inside him and a wench who has consumed several gin and tonics, do not always have commitment to marriage as their prime objective.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
We do it all through our auditors. So we give our employees share awards instead of a cash bonus but our firm is privately held so you need to agree the valuation of the firm with HMRC so the tax due can be reliably assessed and paid. We used to also also allow employees to invest in our firms trading and this has to be agreed carefully to avoid any possibility of and future surprise tax bills -- not least as similar schemes have been abused in the past as a "disguised remuneration" tax dodge and because our main fund averages about 90% return on capital and will raise red flags in otherwise vanilla tax returns of PAYE employees.
For your personal tax affairs like the paying your wife to be a company secretary, I think you just need to speak to a good accountant.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
Do you live in the 16th Century?
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Well, feel free to remove what you like but the definitions I gave are those used by tax advisers. As regards plain silly, nobody knows about the tax breaks unless somebody bothers to tell them. Even then people may decide to do otherwise.
eternumviti
Insufficient privileges to reply.
My prime objective with 5 pints inside me would be 8 hours sound sleep.
Colin Barron
pfm Member
With the conditions described, the levels of contraception in many instances have not evolved since the 16th century AD or BC for that matter.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
Well yes you need to talk to a qualified accountant but these are just things plainly written in the tax code with clear intention that people use them. Indeed for most people things like pension tax relief are just doens via PAYE and your tax return and you don't even need an accountant.