Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zones

Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in war zones...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/6036309.stm

I will add the Chancellor's Statement to the Commons as soon as I can, unless someelse beats me to it :wink:

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Effective from the 1 April 2046 no doubt!

I'll believe it when I can count it and I doubt it will arrive anytime soon - after all, it will take ages to sort the admin out.

Why they just can't stop the taxation, rather than take it and allegedly give it back to us is beyond me. :evil:

SF

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

I don't suppose us old timers could have it awarded retrospectively for the Falklands Campaign could we ?

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Whilst the general gist of it seems good, just wait till the civil servants get their hands on it. I suspect that not every one who should benefit will, and that we will still find that other allowances are lost or replaced so the overall benefit is noticably reduced.

As some one said on the BBC site, why not just pay the poor blighters what they deserve, a decent wage for the job they do.

Peter

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Why have they got to make extra payments, rather than just stopping income tax when on ops as originally suggested ?
What's the betting that they'll find some way of this coming out of the current MOD budget, rather than general taxation ?
Also agree with maxi that they'll find some way of giving with one hand while taking away with the other.

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Its about time hat Jack was allowed the same tax breaks as merchant seamen

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Who does the tax break apply to? Does it apply to the whole of the Forces deployed on Ops, what consitutes Ops and how far in retrospect is it going to be paid? If it's not applicable to ALL those deployed this is going to have a massively divisable effect across the Forces, in much the same way as Pay 2000 did. :evil: I suspect though that it is only for those on "land ops" and has only been brought in as a headline grabbing sham, designed to bolster Tony Blairs public image in the face of some well deserved criticism :twisted: . Why not just bring in the same system as the Yanks? - for once they do appear to have something right. I'm willing to be proved wrong though.

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

It will probably apply to those currently serving born before 1910 and after 1992...

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

This is it...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1236772,00.html?f=rss

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

They should just work the same as regular seafarers, 183 days out of the country and kaaching££££££££
Why the hell not? Why should you pay UK tax when you just visit?

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Christ on a bike! For once it looks as if I'm going to dip in and I'll be rich for as long as it takes my wife to take it away again.


SF

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Another face saving scheme by the slippery bunch of fuckwits that the public can't be arsed to vote the **** out of office. Not that we'd be any different with any of the other two showers of shit in power. As has been said, this is hugely devisive, as was the awarding of campaign medals to those getting their bollocks shot off and those hard working rear echelon blanket stackers back in the UK.

For once I agree with Lingyai. It's high time we attracted the same tax benefits as the Canteen Managers that more than 183 days away from Britain within one calendar tax year should recoup and tax (and national insurance - basically an auxiliary income tax in all but name) straight back into the account.

The sooner we call time on lawyers representing the rights and issues of servicemen, the better. There is no way someone like Brown (or Browne) can encompass what troops out on operations (whenther peaceful or not) have to endure.

Levers

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Hang on, hang on - it says on the news website that you have to be 6 months in theatre to be eligible. No warships spends that much time continuously in a "warzone", all it would take is one run ashore and you break the cycle. Although I'm fully in favour of backing those in a land-centric shooting match, different services get different treatment and the RN is seen off by the bean counters. I bet the UUURAF in Cyprus get the bloody bonus as well.

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Precisely. The onus will be for CO's to programme in a R&R break (Djibouti, anyone?) and therfore render any wage increase as null and void. What happens to advanced leave parties as well? What if your OPTASKing takes you out of the warzone for repairs or replenishment? It's a scam. The public get to see Blair doing something, yet the real truth (that matelots spend far more time away than Percy or Nigel does) is conveniently masked by the big bru-ha-ha. We all know that our role is now reduced to RoRo ferrying the spearhead, but its us ******* who have to stand off for weeks on end with the whole ship in defence watches. And what the **** about the rest of the navy, most of it tasked away for above six month deployments these days?

Many reading this may come to the conclusion that servicemen just drip for the sake of it. Palpable bollocks. We have been serially fucked *********** by politicians, and the big beacon of hope, the BAFF, is still stuck in the starting gate.

Levers

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Not quite; it uses the term "per six month tour of duty". However, you're right your statement that warships are not assigned tours of duty in the same way as our green and light blue brethren, hence once again Jack gets shafted.

What about the TA / RNR on 6 month mobilisation? On such periods, aren't the first few weeks taken up with pre-operational training? If so, they won't achieve a 6 month in-theatre tour of duty - would they be eligible?

My cynical suspicion is that this makes for a good headline, but the details, to be supplied in due course by Civil Serpents, will contain so many exclusion clauses that Gordon won't be paying too much

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

dont forget a ship is crown property therfore part of the uk we will never get tax relief.or can i claim 23 years worth please.some ships didnt get gulf medals though they were in the gulf areas searching for live mines long after the billy big ships had gone.Tax relief will only be for the ship that carries the admiral and his oppos.we,ll get nowt.(the RFA have been tax fre for years )how does that work

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

woo hoo loads o' money - Earn it and gain it :wink:

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

£2200 tax rebate per 6 months de minimis service - forgive me but from the figure already supplied to servicemen getting well below the minimum wage - won't they still be getting below the minimum wage even including this pittance?

It is truly disgraceful. If it does come below the minimum hourly wage then the next question is what scope is there for litigation? If the government tried arguing that servicemen were not being paid for this time of course then it might be deemed to be forced labour in contravention to Article 4(2) of the European Convention of Human Rights, and Article 14 would prevent them trying to assert that it did not apply to service personnel.

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Here is the latest BBC report on the story...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6036309.stm

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

I was just looking at the regs to get a seamans' book, cos if you have one you can claim seafarers tax, I noticed that one of the exemptions is that you cannot apply if you are a servant of the crown. OK so that rules out matelots, so anyone know why the RFA qualify?
Perplexed of Bangkok :?:

 

Re: Latest on tax rebate for Forces personnel in conflict zo

Cos the RFA are merchant seamen not matelots.