Work for Hire/Freelancing
Sep 13th 2004, 10:15 am
#1
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Work for Hire/Freelancing
Okay, I'm in the early stages of getting someone official to look into this for me, but some idea from the folks here might be useful in future discussions, so here goes....
The company I work for in the UK wants to retain my services to some degree once I emigrate to Australia. We have two choices on how to handle this: Salary or Freelancing.
If they keep me salaried it seems simple from my point of view, according to the UK Tax office they can pay me gross as all work is performed in Australia and then I just need to declare it to the Australian Tax body.
If they wish for me to Freelance, in that I have to charge them so much, and then so much more when the money runs out - essentially a retainer - there are a number of unknows. As an example, I plan to get a job in Australia, and this relationship will undoubtedly be short term, as a result I don't want to have to set-up my own Ltd company to invoice them.
So can I just invoice them for a set amount, and then declare it to the Australian Tax people? I realise this would be just Work for Hire, and I'd not be able to claim back any VAT (or the OZ equivalent) but I'd not have to add it onto my invoice either?
At the moment, I do freelance writing, they pay me a word rate as work for hire, I don't have to be a limited company or VAT registered in the UK to do that (though I can't claim VAT back on my computer or anything) - isn't this the same? It's just bigger money is involved?
Anyway, the Australian rules apply, I'm just trying to balance simplicity with getting the money
What are the issues, etc, does anyone have any experience?
The company I work for in the UK wants to retain my services to some degree once I emigrate to Australia. We have two choices on how to handle this: Salary or Freelancing.
If they keep me salaried it seems simple from my point of view, according to the UK Tax office they can pay me gross as all work is performed in Australia and then I just need to declare it to the Australian Tax body.
If they wish for me to Freelance, in that I have to charge them so much, and then so much more when the money runs out - essentially a retainer - there are a number of unknows. As an example, I plan to get a job in Australia, and this relationship will undoubtedly be short term, as a result I don't want to have to set-up my own Ltd company to invoice them.
So can I just invoice them for a set amount, and then declare it to the Australian Tax people? I realise this would be just Work for Hire, and I'd not be able to claim back any VAT (or the OZ equivalent) but I'd not have to add it onto my invoice either?
At the moment, I do freelance writing, they pay me a word rate as work for hire, I don't have to be a limited company or VAT registered in the UK to do that (though I can't claim VAT back on my computer or anything) - isn't this the same? It's just bigger money is involved?
Anyway, the Australian rules apply, I'm just trying to balance simplicity with getting the money
What are the issues, etc, does anyone have any experience?
