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Saturday's Casework

I had two items of casework today that related to people hiding their business identify. If you trade as an individual "Sole Trader" you are supposed to tell those people who you are dealing with what your real name is.

If people have a problem with your business they need your name and address to take legal action. It appears that people are getting around this by concealing their names.

I have also received permission from Thailand to publicise the case of a UK Citizen who wishes to return to the UK. He was a bus driver and worked for 30 years paying taxes in Birmingham. His pension although quite high in Thailand is not enough to live on in the UK. However, he is caught by the "Non-habitual resident" rules in that he cannot get housing benefit in the UK to top up his pension. This also hits people who go abroad for work then return to the UK.

In essence there is a concept of a "social contract" whereby people pay taxation and expect support in return. That concept has been gradually eroded by the means testing of benefits and the like. This undermines people's trust in the system.

Comments

Manfarang said…
Please remember that many UK citizens working abroad continue to make NI contributions.

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