Abu Dhabi package - help!
Jul 15th 2010, 11:03 am
#1
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 4
Abu Dhabi package - help!
Hello everyone
I am a solicitor working in London for a law firm and have been offered a two-year secondment to our Abu Dhabi office.
The package on the table is as follows:
Salary £65k (same as in London);
Housing Allowance - intimated as being up to £4k per month;
Relocation Payment £5k one off;
Return flight home every 12 months (plus return airfare to go out/come back)
On first sight, I thought this looked fairly reasonable. However, under the terms of the secondment, I may need to return to do work in the UK on the odd occasion (e.g. probably no more than 30 days in a year at the maximum). I have been advised that if I do have to come back to the UK for work then if that work is anything other than "incidental" to my job in the UAE, then I will lose my non-residency status and all my earnings for the entire tax year will become subject to UK income tax.
I have read HMRC6, and although I think I may otherwise meet the requirements of paragraph 8.5 (i.e. fixed term contract outside the UK with less than 90 days spent in the UK in any year), it doesn't seem to answer the point in question i.e. if I do have to come back to the UK for a day's worth of work (not incidental work), will I lose the non-residency benefits for the whole tax year? If so, it could be that a day's worth of work costs me a considerable amount of money when I get back to the UK!
Has anyone been advised along these lines too?
If the advice is right and I will effectively be on a UK net salary in the UAE, am I going to find it hard to live out a comfortable lifestyle in Abu Dhabi and be able to save? Should I be asking for more money/allowances (e.g. car)?
Sorry for the brain dump, but obviously this is a major consideration in my decision.
I am a solicitor working in London for a law firm and have been offered a two-year secondment to our Abu Dhabi office.
The package on the table is as follows:
Salary £65k (same as in London);
Housing Allowance - intimated as being up to £4k per month;
Relocation Payment £5k one off;
Return flight home every 12 months (plus return airfare to go out/come back)
On first sight, I thought this looked fairly reasonable. However, under the terms of the secondment, I may need to return to do work in the UK on the odd occasion (e.g. probably no more than 30 days in a year at the maximum). I have been advised that if I do have to come back to the UK for work then if that work is anything other than "incidental" to my job in the UAE, then I will lose my non-residency status and all my earnings for the entire tax year will become subject to UK income tax.
I have read HMRC6, and although I think I may otherwise meet the requirements of paragraph 8.5 (i.e. fixed term contract outside the UK with less than 90 days spent in the UK in any year), it doesn't seem to answer the point in question i.e. if I do have to come back to the UK for a day's worth of work (not incidental work), will I lose the non-residency benefits for the whole tax year? If so, it could be that a day's worth of work costs me a considerable amount of money when I get back to the UK!
Has anyone been advised along these lines too?
If the advice is right and I will effectively be on a UK net salary in the UAE, am I going to find it hard to live out a comfortable lifestyle in Abu Dhabi and be able to save? Should I be asking for more money/allowances (e.g. car)?
Sorry for the brain dump, but obviously this is a major consideration in my decision.
Jul 15th 2010, 11:23 am
#2
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 5,125
Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
u also have to be out for a whole tax year so if you do the 2 years you will, but i believe if you go over 90 days then you will be taxed on your income etc. meow is the one that may know on here
Jul 15th 2010, 11:45 am
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Khaladiya Abu Dhabi
Posts: 4,181
Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
You don't mention your personal circumstances, ie children, do you have any, if yes how many and how old?
288 aed is a good housing allowance and salary of 32,000 aed a month is more than enough to live and save, if you don't have kids and have to pay your own school fees.
288 aed is a good housing allowance and salary of 32,000 aed a month is more than enough to live and save, if you don't have kids and have to pay your own school fees.
Jul 15th 2010, 12:34 pm
#4
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Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
sorry - should have mentioned that I'm single with no kids.
Jul 15th 2010, 12:38 pm
#5
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Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine
Posts: 13,112
Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
Rather alarming that a law firm can't get a contract right...
My friend (
) works out here for the ME office of a UK-based company, and from time to time has to go back to UK for work. Sometimes that's related to his activities here, sometimes to the work he was doing in the UK before he came out. His employment contract is silent on that point. Deliberately so.
As to costs: Yeah, agree with Grace, AED 270k-ish will find you something decent in AD, especially if you're single and/or willing to live away from downtown. Even downtown you'll find something good for that.
Bit mean on airfares, coz they are expensive from here (look on Etihad.ae). After nearly 2 years I'm still on KLM LBA-AUH-LBA tickets coz they're a lot cheaper.
No car? I like my freedom and luckily I have a company one--although I wouldn't like to buy and run one on my own money here, but then I hate spending money on something I know will depreciate and is at the mercy of complete ****head drivers out here. Taxis are cheap and relatively plentiful (peak hours can be difficult though)--depends where you'll be living and working.
Salary--only you can judge if that's good or not. Don't expect to be 30-something% better off coz you don't pay the income tax and NI--this place is a lot more expensive than UK, although I guess it does depend on your spending profile.
And if you do decide to buy what they're offering, just remember: caveat emptor.
Good luck
My friend (
) works out here for the ME office of a UK-based company, and from time to time has to go back to UK for work. Sometimes that's related to his activities here, sometimes to the work he was doing in the UK before he came out. His employment contract is silent on that point. Deliberately so.As to costs: Yeah, agree with Grace, AED 270k-ish will find you something decent in AD, especially if you're single and/or willing to live away from downtown. Even downtown you'll find something good for that.
Bit mean on airfares, coz they are expensive from here (look on Etihad.ae). After nearly 2 years I'm still on KLM LBA-AUH-LBA tickets coz they're a lot cheaper.
No car? I like my freedom and luckily I have a company one--although I wouldn't like to buy and run one on my own money here, but then I hate spending money on something I know will depreciate and is at the mercy of complete ****head drivers out here. Taxis are cheap and relatively plentiful (peak hours can be difficult though)--depends where you'll be living and working.
Salary--only you can judge if that's good or not. Don't expect to be 30-something% better off coz you don't pay the income tax and NI--this place is a lot more expensive than UK, although I guess it does depend on your spending profile.
And if you do decide to buy what they're offering, just remember: caveat emptor.
Good luck
Jul 16th 2010, 3:38 pm
#6
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Disneyland, Dubai
Posts: 15,887
Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
Is your UK work for your current employer? i.e. you get called back to work in the UK from time to time?
If so, get them to indemnify you for this risk. After all they put you in this position. I know of several Partners in law firms here who have such an indemnity.
As for the package etc. You are not going to go hungry, I would say that your chances of extra flights & cars are slim from looking at what the other scribes here get.
Who are you joining??
If so, get them to indemnify you for this risk. After all they put you in this position. I know of several Partners in law firms here who have such an indemnity.
As for the package etc. You are not going to go hungry, I would say that your chances of extra flights & cars are slim from looking at what the other scribes here get.
Who are you joining??
Last edited by Millhouse; Jul 16th 2010 at 4:42 pm.
Jul 17th 2010, 3:43 am
#7
Just Joined
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3
Re: Abu Dhabi package - help!
this post may be a little out of topic, but i just had a question regarding female solicitors working in the UAE and the hurdles or lack thereof which they may face in the region. I am a newly qualified lawyer and would like to request a secondment to one of the offices in either Abu Dhabi or Dubai. My question is, are there a lot of female attorneys working in the region? do they find it difficult to obtain transfers?
