Parents of RAF man Nigel who died of Leukaemia hit by £30'000 tax bill

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As a 46 year old an Ex RAF Rigger currently living with Leukaemia (which i suspect may have possibly been triggered by exposure to dangerous materials during my service), this story, please excuse the pun, "makes my blood boil"!

THE family of an RAF man who died after contracting leukaemia while serving in the Gulf War are calling for changes to legislation which forced them to hand over more than £30,000 in taxes after his death.

Delyn MP David Hanson raised the case of Sgt Nigel Thomas (L tech AD), who served with the RAF from 1980 to 2004, in a House of Commons debate on Tuesday.

Sgt Thomas, whose parents, Mr and Mrs Davies, live in Mold, was exposed to radiation after an accident while he was serving in Cyprus during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Nigel, who was awarded the Gulf Medal for his service during the war, was diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia in 1992 and, after suffering from the illness for 18 years, died in 2010 aged 46.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Hanson said funeral costs had been met by the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency but when the family had applied for exemption of inheritance tax, which is usually granted to members of the forces who have died due to injuries or diseases contracted during active service, they were refused.

He said: “As a result of that decision, that letter meant the family were liable for an inheritance tax bill of £33,011. This includes, incidentally, £9.22 interest for late payment.

“The sticking point seems to be that the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency has determined that ‘his condition was not sustained by service of a war-like nature’.”

Mr Hanson added: “It is beyond dispute that Mr Thomas died of a condition contracted while serving his country at the time of the Gulf War. I would ask the minister to look at this legislation once again, so that other families do not fall foul of this legislation.

“We should be doing everything we can to support families who have lost a loved one as a result of their active service, protecting our shores.”

Armed Forces Minister Andrew Robathan said he would look again at both the case of Sgt Thomas and the relevant law, and pledged to ‘go the extra mile’ for the family.

He accepted Sgt Thomas was operating in a role in support of Gulf War operations, but said: “From his service record, however, it is evident that during that time he did not undertake deployed service in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Iraq, or come into direct contact with Iraqi forces.

“As such, my officials were unable to recommend that his estate be considered for exemption from inheritance tax, as the criteria defined under section 154 of the Act had not been met.”

may I take this opportunity to pass on my condolences to Nigel's parents.

Bloody tax office. Money grabbers with no damn soul!. Inheritance tax is an insult to anyone not just Nigel's parents. You work your backside off during your life time whilst other "parasites" spend their entire working lives living off of handouts...then you get a final bill for your efforts......it's a disgrace to hard working people!

Any rich people out there who want to save a Scirocco ?

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I guess that it's not a surprising fact that due to increases in the cost of...well everything really !I have had to take the decision to retire the old Scirocco to the driveway whilst I consider my options.

Running 3 cars in the UK is not a very good way of saving money, and sadly there is no real recognition for some bloke who runs a car to promote a charity......not being an MP I can't claim "expenses" for such an extravagance! :-)

Insuring the Golf TD has just cost me £500. The wife's Skoda Roomster cost almost £300 and the Scirocco (limited to 3000 miles per year) cost £150 .So having to choose which car I was going to use as my daily came down not to preference, but economy, so the Golf TD which returns a good 55mpg has now stepped into the Scirocco's shoes as my daily commuting vehicle (the Scirocco was costing me £13 per day in fuel as it could ,at best,manage approx 35-37 per gallon.

To add insult to injury I now have the Scirocco on the drive without MOT or Road Tax as they both expired in December. And to add injury to insult and injury...she has developed something of a swimming pool in her rear footwell's which has resulted in me having to remove the seats and strip back the carpets!.....and the battery keeps going flat!.......

If anyone reading this post fancies helping me keep the old girl (25 in March) on the road to continue her work with Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, please make yourself known :-)

In my experience an unused car is so much more likely to have a major breakdown than a daily drive, and i would hate that to happen to a car that has become something of a minor celebrity in the VW world.

Now.....when is the lottery being drawn again?

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UK Government to encourage charity donations at cashpoints.

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One idea being tabled under the the Governments new "Big Society" drive is the option to allow people to donate to charity via new methods, one of which is via bank cashpoints.

It seems like a very good idea on the face of it,but the question that has not been answered very clearly so far is whether our donations via the cashpoint will still attract the Gift Aid bonus of 25p in the pound that all UK tax payers can claim as an extra bonus for their chosen cause.

Worryingly, it appears that far from gaining more cash for charities by offering this option, the Government may in fact save themselves rather a lot in tax relief by avoiding the tax break which turns a £10 donation into a £12.50 donation!.

Mmmmmm. Perhaps this "gift horse" needs it's mouth checking over a little more closely!

What do you think?

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Tax Refund Scam.DO NOT GIVE YOUR DETAILS!

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Today,this email was waiting for me in my inbox:

"
Tax Refund Notification

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 188.50 GBP. Please submit the tax refund request and allow 6-9 days in order to process it.

Click HERE to submit you tax refund request
Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.
Yours Sincerely
HM Revenue & Customs
| © Crown Copyright | Terms & conditions | Privacy policy | "

Admittedly it's a poorly designed example with terrible grammar and a very amateurish look, but potentially it could gain all of your personal details if you were to follow the links and enter the required fields for account numbers and pin codes etc (these pages look VERY convincing!).So be warned, don't fall for this con.

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