Re: Finding it tough!
 

Trouble is it doesn't matter if you are a foreigner in pt or not, you pay whatever you are it's just if they think you're a foreigner they try and rip you off even more! LOL

Re: Finding it tough!
 

Well my day brightened up, went to pay my road tax, walked into the Finance office at 2pm and walked out at 2.04 which is the quickest I have ever been and it only cost me 16.50 for the year. Re. residency, we walked into the Camara in Tavira and the time they took to photostat our documents we had the form filled in then went back 3 days later payed our 7 euros and that was that, 15 mins top.

Re: Finding it tough!
 

Wow what car do you have? Thought mine would be €130 from all the tables I've seen nearly fell over backwards when she told me €212!!! And, my friend has the same car but 00 reg bought in PT and she pays €36 a year...moral of the story is if they can't tax you via the import tax they get you some other way!

Re: Finding it tough!
 

It's not always easy,and it pisses me off that people tell 'new' wannabe expats that it's a bed of roses...it isn't!!!!!!! If there was a paradise out there to live in,we would all be there...
There are many many pitfalls and hugely annoying things about living here...it's NOT paradise..nowhere is.

Re: Finding it tough!
 

I'll second what the gorgeous Cleri says:wub: although she could talk pure pish and I would still go along with her!:rolleyes: Seriously... you have to weigh up the good & the bad and see where the scales tip...for me Portugal wins it hands down!

Re: Finding it tough!
 

:lol::wub:
Me too,I wouldn't want to go back to Uk...but it's hard sometimes,and people think it's a wonderful carefree life :rolleyes:...it's NOT!

Re: Finding it tough!
 

It all depends on the year of registration... I think after 2006/07 it git very expensive so even if you have a 2004 car that was imported/registered in Portugal in 2009...then you will pay the higher rate as if the car was a 2009! On larger engined cars this can be a HUGE difference! (instead of around 60 euors you could be looking at 200!!)

Re: Finding it tough!
 

Yes the thought of it is very depressing...im pretty sure that is what drives me to drink!:rolleyes:

Times will get tougher than they are even now(but they will in the UK also) a quick trip back to scumville normally makes you realise you made the right decision! ;)

Re: Finding it tough!
 

I guess I need one,it's been 2 years :D

Re: Finding it tough!
 

:eek:we are talking "trip to UK" ?! you can't be as desperate as me! :p

Re: Finding it tough!
 

Car Road Tax :frown: They set the tax on the premise, that the car is a fresh registration and therefore 'New', and if a big engine (even a fuel efficient diesel), ours is ..... wait for it, EUR 550 / year. EUR 550 for something with 166k on the clock....

The very last piece of 'tax' this bunch of thieving smuts are getting from us. Any plans to do business here are cancelled, all funds moved offshore. Rape me once, but never again.

Honestly, cost of living in PT is far higher than UK, and quality in many many respects is hovering somewhere just above 3rd world. We ask ourselves regularly, this is crap ? and the kids.....we have trouble getting them to visit. It is a family joke...why the hell are you living there !

Cheap wine helps... Make the most of the summer, enjoy the good aspects of PT living, and don't talk or think about the downside too much.

Whether UK is better, hard to say after mess the last Government has left society & finances in. If we're lucky, PIGS will cripple EU, and EURO exchange rate to GBP will make wine cheaper, and we'll be able to sell the place easier to another inbound Brit !

Re: Finding it tough!
 

I don't like to compare the two countries, it was our choice to move back here but it is hard to swallow the ridiculous taxes and charges for everything when you are not used to paying them.

Everyone in the UK used to say to my husband he was mad for living over there (was there 15yrs) but I think unless you've lived here you have no idea. I thought I knew more or less what we'd have to fork out for but setting up our business has been an eye opener. If you are self employed you have to start paying social security at €159 a month whether you are earning or not which I had no idea about, so we switched to being a limited company (but had to pay a fine to do so!!) and that is just one bill after another. It does highlight where the UK could tighten up on things though, such as you cannot trade here without insurance and a licence etc which is a good thing, but my god it's expensive and you just don't know whether you'll earn enough to pay back the initial costs! Compulsory green receipt books, compulsory accountant, it just goes on and on.

I think the most shocking for me though is that there is no real difference in earnings whether you wait tables or work in an office. In the UK you know you can earn more managing an office than working in McDonalds, here it's all the same minimum wage because the company owners cannot afford to pay higher social security so keep the salaries low. Office managers, well there isn't such a role, you work in an office and you manage it and get paid the same sh*t wage. I think some people in the UK that live off benefits should come and live here for a while and see how hard the people here work for peanuts, because they have to and have no choice!

Re: Finding it tough!
 

What I want to know is if I sell the car in two years time I presume the new owner also inherits the higher tax band? That's enough to put anyone off buying it surely! God they're so sneaky.

G

Re: Finding it tough!
 

One of my dogs had to be put to sleep 2 weeks ago.The vet told us that they didn't dispose of the bodies,therefore we would have to put him in the boot and bury him somewhere!!
I mean seriously...wtf?

Re: Finding it tough!
 

I would have thought that any caring dog owner would rather bury the dog than have it disposed on in a bin bag and shoved in a skip?