Sue Walker
Author of "Retiring the Ole Way", now available on Amazon
See my blog about our life in Spain: www.spainuncovered.com
Richardbkk
I assume that the changes that you mentioned won't be applied retrospectively?
John receives an Army pension and a civil service pension. His Army pension is taxed in the UK but paid into his Spanish bank account. His civil service is taxed (not a lot) and paid into his UK bank account. He doesn't have to declare them to the Spanish tax authorities though he completes a tax declaration here as we are both officially tax residents. His state pension is paid into his Spanish bank account but he doesn't have to pay tax on it as it is below his allowances.
I receive a civil service pension that is paid into my bank account in the UK. As this pension is less than the tax allowances, it isn't taxed. As well as the state pension I receive two private pensions (one of which is very small and not index-linked!) and these are now paid tax-free, but declared on my Spanish tax form. I have to pay tax here in Spain, though it is less than I paid in the UK. I am currently trying to get HMRC to refund me the tax paid over the last couple of years!!!
Sue
We will continue to use Ryanair if they continue to fly at reasonable times. It's not just a matter of price: we would use other airlines such as Easyjet and Monarch (we have used them in the past) if they didn't fly either ridiculously early in the morning or late at night. We read the small print with Ryanair and know what the rules are, so we haven't had any problems with them. They are also very punctual, which is a bonus.
@henryreed
I don't know whether it's just me, but the one thing I noticed was "My Daddy lives in the village. Now he's far away." That struck me as very sad, and I wondered whether her parents have split up?
Welcome!
Whereabouts in Spain are you living - or whereabouts do you hope to live?
We had problems with our first house purchase (long story - still hoping we may get some of our deposit back!) but we were renting a flat when it all went wrong in May 2008 and we were enjoying our life here, so we decided to stay. John sold his flat in London and we eventually bought a new flat in Jumilla, where we have been living since April 2009. We are both retired so don't need to work, though we do offer free "Walkers Tours of Jumilla", which is something to keep us busy.
We love our new life here, and the only things we miss from the UK are our families and friends.