SSIAsMy husband and I took out SSIAs two years ago. We are now planning to work abroad for approximately three years (with tax payable in the new country). Will this affect our entitlement to the Government contribution to the savings scheme?Ms H.M., e-mail
My husband and I took out SSIAs two years ago. We are now planning to work abroad for approximately three years (with tax payable in the new country). Will this affect our entitlement to the Government contribution to the savings scheme?
Ms H.M., e-mail
Without being facetious, the answer will come down to how approximate "approximately three years" is. One of the key features of the special saving incentive scheme is residence - the scheme was designed to boost savings and take some heat out of the Irish economy. That wouldn't happen if every ex-pat was availing of the scheme while taking the heat out of some other economy.
However, ordinary residence is the important element for the purposes of the SSIA scheme, not physical presence in the State. Ordinary residence essentially means that you remain resident in Ireland for tax purposes for three full tax years after your departure on all income apart from that earned wholly in the exercise of employment abroad.
In your case, as I see it, this means that you can move abroad to work in 2003, say, and you will remain ordinarily resident here until the end of the 2006 tax year. That effectively gives you more than three-and-a-half years from now, depending on when you leave. You can pay tax where you are living on your employment income earned there but would have to pay tax in Ireland on any other income - say inheritances or capital gains tax, if they arose.
On that basis, you would be entitled to continue paying into your SSIA funds and receive the Government contribution.
Unit fund tables
Friday's Irish Times always carries the Moneymate listings for fund prices but never with an explanation of what is meant. I have emailed Moneymate twice in the past asking them to explain but did not receive the courtesy of a reply. Can you please tell me: (a) what do they mean by gross and net? (b) why are the two not identical as to funds listed? (c) how is it that sometimes gross is greater than net but sometimes vice versa?
Mr V.T., e-mail
Sorry you have had such trouble finding out why the unit funds are displayed as they are. Space is always at a premium on this page and anything we add in is generally at the expense of listing the very funds that are supposed to feature.
The difference between gross and net funds is down to tax. Net funds deduct tax on profits within the fund each year at the standard rate, while gross funds do not. Instead, the investment's profits, if any, are rolled up and tax is levied when the money exits the fund.
To compensate the revenue for forgoing its money for that extra period of time, the tax levied on gross funds is higher - the base rate plus three percentage points.
The thinking is that the funds should perform better without losing part of the gain each year. Naturally, it is also easier for the fund managers who do not have the hassle of doing a tax statement on the funds each year. The reason the funds list is not identical is that the gross funds only came into existence in the Irish domestic market at the beginning of 2001 following the previous budget of Finance Minister, Mr Charlie McCreevy. The move broadly brought us into line with the practice elsewhere in Europe, bar Britain.
The change in regime meant no new net funds could be started but those already in operation were allowed to continue. Providers were not permitted merely to transform net funds into gross roll-up funds but many providers set up mirror funds, before transferring investors from one to the other, a move that was perfectly legitimate.
However, some older net funds were no longer seen as relevant to the changing market and there are other new fund types that have only emerged since the new regime. As a result, the two lists are not identical.
Given that these are totally different funds and fund types, it is hardly surprising that there would be variations in the prices on offer within each.
Visa or Mastercard?
I intend to get a credit card and the bank gives a choice between Visa and Mastercard cards. What is the difference between the two? Is one more widely accepted than the other or are they both basically the same?
Mr J.L., Dublin
There is not a whole pile of difference between the two and you would be advised to spend far more time looking at the difference between the offerings from different providers on the same card, whether Visa or Mastercard.
Visa is the largest credit card provider globally, followed by Mastercard. Which one is most useful depends to some degree on where you are travelling.
Each bank or other institution can set different terms on the cards issued through them. Your bank, along with many others, offers both but you need to check on the interest rates it charges on each. You should then compare these with Visa and Mastercard offerings from other providers.
There is no particular reason you should stay loyal to your current bank on the issue of credit cards. You can have a card from one provider and pay it off - electronically or otherwise - from another bank account.
There is also the question of fees. Some institutions charge fees for use of their cards. This is rare with standard Visa or Mastercard products, certainly in Ireland, but quite common if you go for things like gold or platinum cards. These tend to be available only on certain income levels and offer additional features but they do often carry charges and you want to be sure that the additional features are of use to you before signing up.
Finally, different providers have different payment policies - such as when interest begins to build up on your purchases. Some providers are considerably more aggressive in chasing up credit card debts; others are ludicrously loose in extending your credit limit.
All in all, you need to assess what you are looking for in a credit card and check around to see which provider offers these at the most competitive rates. Choosing between Visa and Mastercard is the least of your worries.
Baltimore shares
Have shares in Baltimore technologies been suspended on the British market? I have seen no movement in them for a couple of days.
Mr J.T., e-mail
Things might not be the rosiest for Baltimore these days but they have certainly not been suspended. I checked back on the company's trading in London following your query and in the week to April 10th, more than 1.2 million shares traded in London at prices between 21.88 pence sterling and 21 pence sterling per share. That's not a lot of movement in the price, I'll agree, but given the recent record of many technology companies, including Baltimore, it's hardly too surprising that the price is not going anywhere fast.
More worrying for you, I guess, is that since the one-for-10 stock split late last year, the movement of the share has been inexorably downwards.
Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.
