Short Notice Non-Residency Challenge

[T S Magnum]

Seasons greetings one and all. PHer in a right pickle kindly seeking advice...

Earlier this month I was thrown an unwelcome employment hospital pass. My contract was ended (as project conplete) with one month's notice. I have been working as a British expat engineer (oil & gas) in Baku, Azerbaijan since November 2012. I have been diligently UK non-resident since leaving, managing my time in the country etc. and enjoying their flat 30% domestic tax rate as a result.

I need to maintain non-residency to April 2014 otherwise I will be hit with a pretty fat tax bill (the difference between UK and Az). I have nothing against paying taxes where due of course, I just feel a bit gutted that I sacrificed time with family and friends to enjoy a benefit which may now be lost.

From my understanding of HMRC RDR3, I cannot spend more than 30 consecutive days without overseas employment. My current contract ends 31st December so I have until 30th Jan to find a new overseas position. With the seasonal slowdown it could be tough for me to get a 'career' job in that time.

I just need something, anything overseas to last me to early April. Minimum wage is fine with me given the situation.

Does anyone please know of a recruitment agency / website / community etc that specialises in (and is actually good at) providing short term, short notice work overseas for a Brit with effectively no foreign language skills but otherwise highly educated (Chartered Engineer, good computer literacy etc)?!

Thanks.

[spikeyhead]

Chalet maid in a ski resort?

[Mattt]

Get yourself into LinkedIn and network, from the sounds of it you should be able to pick something up fairly quickly.

[davepoth]

What are the rules about self employment in this respect? Surely you have a mate that could bung you a tenner for cleaning their house one morning a month?

[T S Magnum]

Yes, I'm interested to know how 'employment' can be read. I know it has to average around 30 hours a week though.

I'm on Linkedin for 'career' job leads but this might take to long. I need a clearance / bargain bucket type of job site

[Olf]

Quite amazed to be reading this?! An O&G contractor, and an engineer at that worried about finding overseas work? Unless you're 'missing something', like a degree, try Swift, Lutech, Kintec, Fircroft, NES and if you haven't found a job by end of the first full week of Jan i'll be amazed.

[Olf]

And get your cv on oil and gas job search. https://www.oilandgasjobsearch.com

[frank hovis]

Avanteq has a local office to you they might be able to set up a long term contract then quit after April has passed ?
Loads of short term work on line just now

[T S Magnum]

Thanks. I've done all the things you advise. Had a few leads but they all said wait until after New Year. Every time I've been in this position before it's taken longer than a month to sort. That's the concern, I know I'll get something of course, just maybe too late: VERY costly.

I'm just trying to hedge my bets with a dead cert short timescale option.

[TurricanII]

I have no knowledge of the regulations.. but could you register a business for a nominal amount in whichever jurisdiction you are in and give yourself a job?

Or maybe an offshore umbrella somewhere could take you on briefly..

[edc]

Stay where you are and work for free?

[santona1937]

Although the Chalet maid idea seemed facetious, in reality its not too bad an idea;
The ski season is in full swing, and there must be many resort areas looking for engineers etc for repair work. I understand this might be out of yer comfort zone, but its work, its overseas and you get to ski
The ski resort zones are screaming for all sorts of skills to get them through until march. Take a week pop down to verbier or anywhere in the Alps and knock on doors. The worst that can happen is you spend a week on skiing holiday.

[Siscar]

But if the tax rate there is a flat 30% the question does arise as to how much money you are saving. At £50,000 you'd be better off in the UK, OK at £100,000 you wouldn't but the cost would be a few quid over £5k. That's assuming that you mean a flat rate 30%.

I just wonder how much you are saving.

[T S Magnum]

Thanks again. I've the HMRC calc on average weekly hours worked overseas and I already get 40.1 for the tax year without needing to work again (worked damn hard doing 6 and 7 days a week up to now). They want you to average 35 over the year so I pass that test. It means I could be just part time from now on.

My dad had a good suggestion - does anyone know if house-sitting (or house care-taking) would count as employment? We have friends with a villa in Spain...

Really not sure if employing myself would work. Trouble is the rules had a big overhaul only this year so it's all a bit untested.

Chalet work not a bad call. If still no joy by mid Jan I will happily try it!

It is a flat rate of 30% but also you don't pay any local tax if you don't exceed 90 days in a calendar year. I was there only 42 days in 2012 so have to pay all the tax on that. I also had a good package out there, significantly exceeding your bigger figure Siscar.