Working abroad.
Discussion
Hi,
I've recently been offered a contract in Dubai (I work as an IT Contractor) and am wondering if anyone here has worked abroad before and has any good advice?
Specifically I'm interested in the financial side of things (rather than being blown up by some not very nice people!
) - i.e. how did you handle getting all your lovely tax free dosh back into the country (whilst minimising your tax bill naturally!)?
I'm considering using my existing composite-company provider - have the money paid directly to the UK and letting them deduct tax etc. in the normal way. I've yet to talk to them regarding this, are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? (Countless ones when it comes to tax no doubt...!).
Cheers,
Mike.
>> Edited by the_bovine on Wednesday 15th June 22:13
I've recently been offered a contract in Dubai (I work as an IT Contractor) and am wondering if anyone here has worked abroad before and has any good advice?
Specifically I'm interested in the financial side of things (rather than being blown up by some not very nice people!
) - i.e. how did you handle getting all your lovely tax free dosh back into the country (whilst minimising your tax bill naturally!)? I'm considering using my existing composite-company provider - have the money paid directly to the UK and letting them deduct tax etc. in the normal way. I've yet to talk to them regarding this, are there any pitfalls I should be aware of? (Countless ones when it comes to tax no doubt...!).
Cheers,
Mike.
>> Edited by the_bovine on Wednesday 15th June 22:13
I would get the money paid into an offshore account such as a Barclays one in the Isle of Man.
I'd put a generous percentage into savings to cover potential tax / NI liabilities, but at least the money is safe and importantly you are not claiming it back from the Inland Revenue. I GUARANTEE if you use your current services company they will mess it up royally, then the money is as good as down the drain.
PriceWaterhouse Coopers did my taxes for the UK when I was still thinking of going back. They did an excellent job of keeping my liability to the minimum. I suggest you try using them.
I'd put a generous percentage into savings to cover potential tax / NI liabilities, but at least the money is safe and importantly you are not claiming it back from the Inland Revenue. I GUARANTEE if you use your current services company they will mess it up royally, then the money is as good as down the drain.
PriceWaterhouse Coopers did my taxes for the UK when I was still thinking of going back. They did an excellent job of keeping my liability to the minimum. I suggest you try using them.
I think it depends upon how long you will go away for and if you will become resident in your overseas location. If you are resident abroad for more than something like 180 days then you are not liable to tax on your overseas earnings. However you have to be careful to ensure if you are resident over there or not, obviously the easy way is to obtain residency in that country, as just living there does not always count as residency in the tax man. Once you do return to the UK you have a window of 6 months in which to return your overseas assets (assuming you were classified as resident) otherwise after that they can be classed as overseas earnings and liable to taxation.
This is the basics of what happened to me when I worked overseas for 3.5 years and I was never taxed on any of my income
This is the basics of what happened to me when I worked overseas for 3.5 years and I was never taxed on any of my income
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