Mrs eddie

Morning guys,

My husband is going to work for his boss, who is based in the UK, remotely in Spain.......he's an IT consultant.

We have found out there is a tax treaty bewteen the UK and Spain so he will not be liable to be taxed twice. However, we have just realised that he will be paying tax and NI to the UK and so not contributing to Spain where we want to live permantly....

We've been advised by the Inland Revenue that we need to contact the Spanish government......

Just wondered if anyone out there has been through a similar situation....

Fingers crossed for some advice.....getting nervous now

Mich xxx

P.S And do Spain do anything similar to Child benefit by any chance ??

McT

I am in a similar position, in that I will be moving to Spain in September but continuing to work remotely for my UK employer. I have had conflicting advice from various sources on the subject of social security contributions, including two different (wrong) answers from a Spanish lawyer that had I paid to give me the definitive answer.

Having researched the subject comprehensively, the conclusion I came to is that you cannot contribute to the Spanish social security scheme, and therefore cannot get free health care (unless you live in València), if you don't earn money in Spain. Some people advise that you can declare yourself self employed and pay the minimum €230 / month, but that approach is a) expensive and b) liable to fall apart if the authorities discover that you are not actually following a profession or performing a trade in Spain.

I had thought that I would get health cover as a result of my wife's contributions (she will be working for a Spanish company), but no - relatives are only covered if they are actually dependents, i.e. have no income of their own. (In this case there doesn't appear to be any rule about where the income comes from!) So I will have to take out private health insurance.

As for UK NI contributions, I'm not sure what the situation is. I suspect that you may be able to stop paying, but in my case I will continue to pay for two reasons: a) Stopping payments would require the cooperation of my employer, whom I'm not going to tell about my move, and b) I want to remain elegible for NHS treatment (private medical insurance always seems to have special conditions that kick in just when you need it most!).

If Spain does have an equivalent to child benefit, I suspect that you would need to be contributing to the social security system in order to receive it. However, that has just made me think - if before we go we get our child benefit changed from my wife to me, and I continue to pay UK NI, can I still receive the benefit although our child will be in Spain........

Good luck with your move,
McT.

Mrs eddie

Thanks ever so much .....you've been really helpful......I'll get my husband to read your response tonight.

Definitely a good idea to remain paying the UK NI.....child benefit I've been told, can not be claimed if the child is out of the UK but many do it...........really don't know what to do !!!

But wishing you the best of luck aswell.

Kind regards,

Mich xxx

Mitzyboy

As to what to do Mich, I guess you would have to consider the consequences of being prosecuted for benefit fraud, which is what would happen if you continued to claim child benefit when you didn't live in the UK any more.

Re NI, I'm self employed and if I ever stop being self employed I have to tell the authorities immediately. I don't believe there is any facility for continuing to pay NI legally when you no longer reside in the UK.

McT

I think the main problem with "International Telecommuting" (for want of a better description) is that in general, legislation hasn't caught up. If I am working from home in Spain logged on to a UK computer and being paid by a UK employer, where am I working? When it comes to double taxation agreements, where you earn your money is significant. So is it the UK, or is the country where your bum is whilst you are earning it more significant?

As for UK NI contributions, the following is from the DWP's SA29 booklet:

"Whether or not you are working in another EEA country, you can usually decide if you want to pay into the UK NI scheme. These are called 'voluntary contributions' because you do not have to pay them if you do not want to. If you do pay 'voluntary contributions', they may help you get a UK State Pension and some other UK benefits. You need to decide if it would be in your interests to pay UK voluntary contributions."

The same booklet has this to say about Child Benefit:

"If you are in the UK or another EEA country: and you are employed or self-employed in a job in which you must pay contributions under the UK scheme, ...... you can usually get UK Child Benefit for your children, even if they are living in another EEA country."

The salient word there might be 'must'. As I mentioned above, my situation is complicated because I don't want my employer to know. (At least at a corporate level - my immediate manager will find out sooner or later! But by then I should have proved that it's workable.)

Clear as mud, eh?

McT.

Hillybilly

I'm intrigued as to how you're going to accomplish a move to Spain and not tell your employer!!!! Is your work all so remote that they never have to see or speak to you? Brilliant if you can accomplish it though. Good luck!

McT

It's all cunningly simple! I work from home most days, only going into the office for a day once every two or three weeks. Other members of the team only ever show up for the team meeting once every two months. From now until the move, I shall gradually reduce my appearances to just the team meetings.

My office phone is usually redirected to my home number, so with the help of a VOIP company like Vonage or Skype, I'll get another UK number which I can answer in Spain.

New address in the UK will be that of a relative. Low-cost airline for trips back every two months. ADSL for broadband connection to UK. (Here is one of the major problems - we are going to rent at first, and I must find rented accommodation with ADSL already up and running. I can't take the chance that ADSL might not be available - which is a possibility even if there is a land line installed and the exchange is ADSL enabled.)

My boss will of course find out eventually, but by then what's he going to do? Sack me if I don't come back? Possibly, but on what grounds? Plus that would be a lot of hassle for them and the process will almost certainly be drawn out for months on end. My trump card, if necessary, would be to take early retirement.

The gist of it is: if I ask permission first, they'll say no - if I just do it, and it works out, they'll have to find a reason for not letting me stay put.

McT.

Mitzyboy

Wow that is a cunning plan. Good luck to you if you pull it off. Just hope the boss doesn't ring up one afternoon and say "I need to see you in the office tomorrow"

kevray

Or notices the suntan you have, which gets darker as we go into Autumn/winter But all credit to you, wish you luck