Paphos health care, income and a car

[kbinbkk]

Hello. I am a newcomer to the forum and have found it very informative so many thanks. We are moving from the UK to Peyia in October. The house is paid for and we have an income through work we do for a company in Thailand providing about 2,200 euros per month. My wife and I are not quite at UK state pension age, we are both 58. Having read the threads this would appear to be a decent income to allow us to lead a reasonably comfortable lifestyle without being extravagant. Would you agree?
I have 2 further questions that I hope someone can help me with.
Health care is a worry. We shall both declare our joint income as split between us so don't expect to pay Cyprus income tax but I suppose we would pay into the 'social security fund' thereby allowing us free/subsidised health care. Am I correct or should we investigate private health insurance as well? I am currently obtaining a number of quotes.
Secondly, we wish to bring our 5 year old 1.6 Astra in a 20 foot container, probably using Burkes in Wolverhampton (thanks to another thread), but are fearful of paying a huge amount in duty because we cannot prove we are retired. Is there a way around this? Could the Astra be classified as personal effects and not attract duty?
Any help would be most appreciated

[Veronica]

Originally Posted by kbinbkk

Hello. I am a newcomer to the forum and have found it very informative so many thanks. We are moving from the UK to Peyia in October. The house is paid for and we have an income through work we do for a company in Thailand providing about 2,200 euros per month. My wife and I are not quite at UK state pension age, we are both 58. Having read the threads this would appear to be a decent income to allow us to lead a reasonably comfortable lifestyle without being extravagant. Would you agree?
I have 2 further questions that I hope someone can help me with.
Health care is a worry. We shall both declare our joint income as split between us so don't expect to pay Cyprus income tax but I suppose we would pay into the 'social security fund' thereby allowing us free/subsidised health care. Am I correct or should we investigate private health insurance as well? I am currently obtaining a number of quotes.
Secondly, we wish to bring our 5 year old 1.6 Astra in a 20 foot container, probably using Burkes in Wolverhampton (thanks to another thread), but are fearful of paying a huge amount in duty because we cannot prove we are retired. Is there a way around this? Could the Astra be classified as personal effects and not attract duty?
Any help would be most appreciated

Health care is not totally free even if you pay into the social fund. It depends on your income.
Up to €10.000 income per annum it is free
€10-€15 you pay 25%
€15-€20k you pay 50%
Over €20k you pay the full amount.

Going by that I would say you might as well take out insurance as you would be paying the ful amount.
The nice thing is that what you pay in will go towards topping up your retirement pension.

[kbinbkk]

That's interesting Veronica, I was unaware of the income bands. Many thanks for taking the time to provide this information.