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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
We live in a small hilltop village with
narrow streets and close neighbours and
the houses are gradually being restored
and renovated.
Our next-door neighbour has
recently had central heating fitted. The
boiler is in the garage which is integral
to their house, and a short pipe through
the garage wall carries the exhaust
fumes to the outside.
There are two problems – the siting
of the chimney, and the quality of the
exhaust gases.
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
Half a million British women in their 60s could be due a
pension payout from the state of £1,000 or more. So will
this apply to you?
Yes, if you:
• draw a UK State pension which is less than £87.30
per week;
• turned 60 in the last 10 years;
• have been of working age for at least one of the years of
the period (1996/7-2001/2) and could have made a
contribution (ie, you were not on a married woman’s
stamp instead)
and
• have a gap in your NI records for the years(s) in question.
If you are one of the women who has not paid enough
National Insurance Contributions at work to get your own state
pension. Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb has obtained new
information. His analysis shows that 530,000 of these women
could pay one or more years’ back contributions and get
a pension: “The typical scenario is: a woman who left school,
paid a few years’ national insurance contributions, got married,
spent time at home with children and did not quite have the 10
years contributions to get any pension at all.”
But women who fill the gaps in their National Insurance
history could get several thousand pounds.
If a woman of 65 (who turned 60 five years ago) can pay
contributions to get past the 10-year threshold, she gets a 25%
pension. That is more than a £1,000 a year, and backdated for
the five years that is over £5,000.
A woman with a gap in her records for any tax years from
1996/97 to the tax year in which she reached 60 can pay these
contributions now, and because of a government concession,
the pension will be backdated to the date when she first drew
her pension.
Although filling each year’s gap costs up to £400, Steve
Webb says the women themselves need find no money. The
government just pays the difference. Mr Webb calls it buried
treasure, with your name on it, just waiting to be claimed.
Could you benefit? It is always worth making a call to the
Pensions Service in the UK on 0044 (0) 845 6060 265, or HMRC
National Insurance Deficiency Help line:
0044 845 915 5996 (Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm (UK time)
and Saturdays 8am- 4pm. Have your NHI Number ready, it could
be worth thousands.
Article reproduced courtesy of LFN www.lfn.org.uk
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
UK government finally gives a deadline for publishing eligibility criteria for receiving DLA abroad.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared on October 18
– three and a half months ago – that the non payment of
Disability Living Allowances and also Carers’ and Attendance
Allowances to British expatriates was “an error of law”.
If you received them before leaving the UK they are
exportable within the EU and you are still entitled to them. The
UK government has been dillydallying over the interpretation
of this ruling, refuses to pay out and says it will make an
announcement on the criteria for entitlement on April 5.
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
Anew range of investment products to help
wealthy clients take advantage of recent
changes in the tax system in France are
starting to appear in the market less than two
months after the French parliament
introduced the legislation.
One of the key changes is a provision for
taxpayers who have to pay wealth tax (ISF) –
that is, anyone with more than €760,000 in
assets – to invest up to €10,000 in unlisted
small and medium companies instead –
money which would otherwise be nabbed by
the government.
Companies operating a range of funds
known as Fonds d’investissement de
proximité (FIP) to help the development of
France’s regional economy quickly saw in
the new rules an opportunity to boost their
offerings.
It should be noted, however, that
these funds offer poor diversification and are
high-risk.
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
A new UK law allows non-state pensions to be exported, bringing some attractive benefits.
Until very recently, UK pensions have
had to remain under UK rules, even if
you retire to France (or anywhere else
outside the UK). Now, thanks to new
legislation in the UK, British expatriates can
export their pension fund out of the UK. This
means that you can avoid the various
restrictions that the UK imposes on how you
take your pension benefits. You might also pay
less tax.
UK pension schemes can be very
inflexible. There are restrictions on how and
when you draw down your benefits and in
most cases you are forced to buy an annuity at
age 75. At that point you cannot then leave any
balance of your pension fund to your heirs
on death.
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