I love the UK:

People seem to queue even when there is no need to… its a way of life.

For example, I arrived at work the other day and every one was queuing to get through one of two security gates. I assume they thought the other one was broken as no one was using it. Whereas, I assumed they were English and were queuing for fun, so I wandered past the queue swiped my card and walked in.

Anyway, the other thing that is an English way of life is paperwork for the fun of paperwork.

First up, nothing can be done via email. I sent a copy of my passport away on request, they came back and advised they can’t accept copies via email, and asked me to fax it!?!?!?

Then today, Pricewaterhouse Coopers sent me a very formal meeting invitation to give me tax advise for the UK as part of my relocation.

They requested that I bring the following information to the meeting:
I would be grateful if you could think of any queries you may like to discuss during our meeting.

a) - Confirmation of your intended length of stay in the UK ie up to 2 years, 2-3 years, 3 years or more
b) - Confirmation of the number of days you have spent in the UK in;
1) The UK tax year in which you have arrived (please note that the UK tax year runs from 6 April one year to 5 April the next)
2) Approximately how many calendar days in each year ending 5 April for the past 5 years
c) - Your full UK address, including postcode,
d) - If you are married, your spouses date of birth and the date of your marriage,
e) - Confirmation of your employment history for the past 5 years including the names of the companies you have worked for and the
dates of employment,
d) - We should be grateful if you would bring a photocopy of your passport to our meeting, as well your passport itself so we can certify that the copy is a true copy for our records.


In contrast, the NZ office of PWC also sent me a note to help with Tax implications of leaving NZ. This is the same company, just different offices in different countries… so heres what NZ wanted for exactly the same meeting. I should note this was an informal email rather than the UK’s meeting request and formal introductions.


Can you send me your phone number so I can give you a call at some stage.


All of this comes only 2nd to setting up a bank account:

I love the UK – it just makes me smile some of the time to think that NZ is so busy keeping up, that they are ahead in many respects.