Missionaries & Tax/healthcare in EEC country?

[Tim Cobham]

I was wondering if there is anyone out there who can help or put us in contact with someone who can guide us through tax etc situation.

We moved out from the UK to Spain 18 months ago and we still do not have our tax or healthcare situation (reciprocal EEC) situation secure.

We are supported by gifts, but before christmas our sending organisation (denomination) decided to put us on a payroll, so now the gifts (which do not fully support us) attract a BR code (20% tax).

Our denomination are struggling with giving information about tax.

We also know that we are eligible for reciprocal healthcare, coming from the UK - but as yet have not managed to gain access to it.

Can anyone assist us?

Thanks

[Tim Cobham]

Many thanks for the assistance - and a quick response. I really appreciate it and will be acting on it.

[Tim Herbert]

You could try contacting the Fry Group (www.thefrygroup.co.uk) who do financial planning and tax advice for expats. It's a commercial group but I have a couple of Christian friends there who are happy to help out.

[Mike Frith]

When we worked overseas with MAF we were paid in the UK but had a no tax code, so didn't need to pay any either in UK or in our country of residence. I'm not sure of the details surrounding this but you could always ask MAF's finance department about it.

Warm regards,

Mike.

[Jim Memory]

Hi there, my wife Christine and I are busy trying to sort things out in reverse, coming back to the UK after 14 years in Spain.

Our experience has been that it is much more advantageous to pay your income tax in Spain rather than in the UK. They have a reciprocal arrangement anyway so if you pay in one country you dont in the other but clearly being on the payroll in the UK means you paying UK tax. During our time in Spain we paid voluntary NI as selfemployed but remained non-resident for tax purposes. We then did a Spanish IRPF declaration once a year and generally paid very little in income tax since we have three kids and there are generous reductions in these circumstances.

As to healthcare I am not sure of the current scenario but we had to pay private medical. For many years this was a requirement of residency but that is no longer the case I understand but in this area I would go with what the Yanez tell you.

Regards,

Jim Memory

[Sarah Yanez]

We have been living in Spain for nearly 3 years, and have managed to avoid tax (for now). We also have access to the healthcare system here. Our situation is different from yours in that we are not on a payroll (payed by our mission but not liable for UK tax). However we would happily explain what we've managed to work out with it all in the hope it might shed some light on the situation, especially with healthcare.
Our phone number in Spain is 0034 952175531, or email [e-mail].

Sarah Yanez