Expatriate tax and social security

The area of expatriate tax and global mobility services is a wide-ranging field and has many aspects to it. Do you have UK company staff who are working remotely but who were never expected to be doing so? Do you usually bring staff into or send them out of the UK to work? Do you have staff who work almost entirely abroad but who spend a few days here and there working in the UK?

Global Eyes Tax Services specialises in the taxation of expatriate employees and can help guide either the employer or the employee through the global mobility maze. We can help establish whether there will be a tax liability in the host location as well as the home country – or maybe there will be no tax liability in either. We will also examine the double tax treaty between the country of origin and that of destination, where necessary, to ensure that the position is clear for all concerned.

We can ascertain the social security (National Insurance) position for individuals being sent abroad  from the UK and also for individuals being brought in to work here, considering any social security agreements that may be in force and the rules for assignments in the EU/EEA. In some cases there may be contributions payable both at home and abroad and we can consider such cases to see if the costs can be mitigated for both employer and employee.

Do you tax-equalise your employees? Is tax protection your policy or do you work on a “laissez-faire” basis when it comes to your employees’ cross-border tax obligations? Maybe you only transfer employees to permanent contracts in the new location? However you choose to deal with tax issues for your employees and secondees, we can help smooth the process so that it is as easy and stress-free as possible for both employer and employee.

From the payroll side, Global Eyes Tax Services can help with payroll advice on benefits and expenses, allowances, and special
agreements with HMRC. Do you have an Appendix 6 agreement with HMRC, and if not, do you need one? Should you have an Appendix 4 agreement as well, for other staff? What do you do for individuals on assignment outside the UK but who have continuing UK National Insurance obligations? This can get quite tricky where those assignees are tax-equalised and we can help ensure that you get things right.

Do you have employees who live abroad but work partly in the UK and partly at home? We can look at agreements with HMRC in respect of their UK payroll, to ensure that they aren’t being taxed via payroll in both countries at the same time and potentially losing almost all their pay to tax liabilities. We can also help where you have individuals who work outside the
UK part of the time and have tax liabilities elsewhere on their employment income as well as being taxed on 100% of their earnings via PAYE.

If you’d like to talk to us about expatriate tax and social security services please, Contact Us.