RE: Bad News & Good News (personal)

Subject: RE: Bad News & Good News (personal)
From: "Simon North" <Simon -dot- North -at- quintiq -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 18:08:51 +0100



Simon North
Technical Writer
Quintiq Application Software BV
_________________________________
Goudsbloemvallei 12-28
5237 MJ 's HERTOGENBOSCH
P.O. BOX 264
5201 AG 's HERTOGENBOSCH
The Netherlands
Tel: +31(0)73 691 07 39
Fax: +31(0)73 691 07 54
www.quintiq.com
simon -dot- north -at- quintiq -dot- com
_________________________________


>>> "John Posada" <JPosada -at- isogon -dot- com> 1/26/2004 5:29:48 PM >>>

> Does this involve relocation? Is your changing countries like us
> changing states...in effect, no change? Is this an EU thing?

If ever there was an opportunity for a rant ....

The EU was founded with one major principle in mind: the free movement
of
goods and labour. This seems to entail move large quantities of
currency from
the pockets of the populations of large countries to the pockets of the

politicians in smaller countries ... EU parliament members get a per
diem
attendance allowance; it's said that the flight schedules out of
Brussels were
changed to allow parliament members to clock in and register for their
Friday allowance
and still make the late morning flight home for the weekend ... and I
won't even mention
EU tax-free non-contributory pension ... no, I'll resist the
temptation. I'll try and keep
it relevant to TW.

As an expat Brit, and hence an EU citizen, I'm free to work and live
where I wish. As an English-writing
TW, there are lots of jobs (even now), provided that you are prepared
to move around. Of course, speaking a foreign language does help; I
speak French, German and Dutch and I believe that ability has helped
considerably. Relocation is the common solution, but cheap flights (Ryan
do a return flight from the Netherlands to the UK for about 3 euro if
you book in advanvce) have made cross-border communting possible for
non-members of the jet set and corporate elite. While I worked in
Germany I commuted over the border while still living in the
Netherlands.

The EU is, however, a very long way from being unified. Under EU
legislation, you are taxed where you work and claim the social secutiry
benefits of where you work. I therefore paid German tax and got
German allowances (like child support assistance payments). When you
become unemployed, you
then qualify in the country where you live so, despite having paid
German contributions I would
suddenly get the (substantially less) Dutch unemployment and other
welfare payments.

These can be major differences. For example, for my kids (5, with
number 6 due in May), in Belgium
I would get nearly 1000 euro per month tax free from the government to
help me raise them. In Germany it's about 600 euro a month, and in the
Netherlands it's about 400 euro per *quarter*. There are also
major differences in the financial support the different countries
offer if your children study.

There is no unification on tax, so basically every country wants a
slice (including the IRS, thank you very much, as I get book royalties
and option revenue from the US). If all (or a significant proportion) of
your income comes from just one country, you can get an exemption in one
country and deductions in the
majority country as if you were a native. If, like me, you still have
income from both countries (I freelance
as a translator through my company in the Netherlands, mostly for
Belgian companies), you get stung from all sides.

So, as far as the poor worker's side of things, it is much worse and
far more complicated than the state
boundaries for you guys (if nothing else, I have to do a tax return in
each country and, believe me, tax returns in a foreign language that
you don't speak very well are a nightmare). However, on the other side
of the coin you are nailed to the wall ... the european countries are
rapidly completing the final steps
that give each others tax authorities access to all foreign public
records. The French recently opened
their property ownership transfer records to the Dutch tax authorities
and now the Dutch are tracking
down every Netherlands resident who bought a house in France to make
sure that they didn't miss
out on any tax.

Simon.







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