USA version S/W ok in the UK?

[atmospheric]

OK guys, I'm taking a trip to Vegas in August (and coming back RICH ).

I figure I might as well spend some of the Yankee Dollars I win on Office 2007, 'cos it's half the price over there. Am I likely to be faced with any compatibility issues, like £ or Euro's for example?

And what about Vista?

 

[Richard Schollar]

I would think they will work exactly the same - no doubt within Vista there will be a Regional Settings feature similar to the one in XP. Of course, I'm sure you'll be declaring your purchases to customs on your return so that you can pay the required duty and VAT?

 

[litrelord]

That's made me think now (quite an achievement for this time of the morning).

How does the tax thing work with digital products?

I mean, if I purchase and download from a US site should I, technically speaking, then go and pay UK tax on that? Or would that only apply if I had a physical product shipped or carried it through customs myself?

And if it doesn't apply if there's no physical product would you then be able to purchase just a license key, assuming you could get a copy of the disc from somewhere else, and have that emailed to you and legally use that copy?

Maybe I should just go and read the terms and conditions that I freely tick box to accept without ever paying a blind bit of attention to.

Nick

 

[Richard Schollar]

Nick

It applies to downloads as much as physical products, at least as far as I am aware. The chances of you ever being caught out should you not voluntarily pay the taxes on a download? Currently zero, or as close to it as you can get...

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Bah, they tax us enough as it is!

 

[atmospheric]

Bah, they tax us enough as it is!

Income Tax 22% (40% if you're "lucky")
National Insurance 12%
VAT on just about everything 17.5%
Additional Tax on Tobacco, Car Fuel and Alcohol
Road Tax
Council Tax
Insurance, Gas, Electricity, Coal, Airport, TV Taxes
Stamp Duty
(I'm sure there's a lot I've missed)
You save frantically for your pension, so they Tax that.

So, you manage to save £1000. You pay a workman. Then they take it off him as well. Every £ issued by the Bank of England eventually filters back to the Taxman.

Then you've the audacity to die! Inheritance Tax!

Yes Richard, I'll be going through the Red Gate at Customs when I get back.

Sorry, rant over!

 

[Scott Huish]

What in the world is a TV tax? They tax you to watch television?

Then you've the audacity to die! Inheritance Tax!

There's money left over after that?

 

[Richard Schollar]

What in the world is a TV tax? They tax you to watch television?

Scott, yup: in the UK, each household must buy a television licence (a year's licence costs about £130 or US$200) which funds the BBC. The only TVs that don't require a licence are those with their own internal power supplies (ie batteries) - at least I think that's what the definition is.

 

[Scott Huish]

(a year's licence costs about £130 or US$200) which funds the BBC.

Isn't that what commercials are for, or do you not have any (in that case that might be a decent trade off), how many channels do you get for your $200?

 

[barry houdini]

No, there are no commercials on the BBC, (although we get other channels which do have ads) and for your £135 the BBC gives you 8 channels, some of which you can't receive without satellite or digital

...still if you only have a black and white TV (is there anyone left?) you only pay £45.50