TheHobbit

Hello,

I have seen a lot of similar posts, but none quite matching my situation...

I am currently in London working remotely from home for a UK company. I would like to move to Spain with my family and working remotely from home for the same company. However, my company has said that to do this I will need to transfer to a Spanish contract that is linked to my company's office in Madrid. In principle, I am fine with that. However, it would mean matching my salary to the typical salaries paid at the Madrid branch. In my case, this would mean a substantial pay cut of about 45%.

Because of this I am wondering if there is any legal way I can actually continue with my UK contract in this situation. I know this would mean declaring the UK income in Spanish tax returns. I am okay with that. As I understand it, because of the double tax arrangements I could claim back the tax paid at source in the UK if I do this. However, in another forum someone said that this option is only possible if my company did not have an office in Spain and it does. Can anybody confirm this advice is correct? Also, I have seen some posts that suggest this can be done by being employed as a contractor rather than a direct employee. In my case, this option is not possible because I know my company will not accept it (and quite frankly I would find it a bit insecure too.)

As for the Seguridad Social, I have private Spanish healthcare and UK pension arrangements so I do not actually need to claim Seguridad Social, but I am not sure if nevertheless I would be legally obliged to pay into the system? I have seen other posters mentioning having to become an Autonomo purely for this purpose. That would not be a problem for me as it would still work out much better than a 45% salary cut, but there did not seem to be a definitive answer.

If anyone could clarify these points I would appreciate it.

BTW I speak Spanish and have an expired NIE card from when I lived in Spain years ago. Also, not sure it affects anything but I have both UK and Irish nationality (Irish grandfather = get-out-of-Brexit free)

Thanks

Andrew

snikpoh

Not sure what you mean by this but an NIE is just a number . The certificate is a white A4 sheet (since around 2006). Do you mean you have a plastic card or have previously registered as resident?

I think the rules aren't clear but I would suspect you would have to be autonomo making monthly SS (NI) payments of around 330€ (subsidised for the first 2 years ish)

TheHobbit

Thanks Snikpoh. With regards to the NIE, I just meant I already have the number and the plastic card from when I left Spain in 2004 (having lived there for 8 years). I don't have a white A4 certificate. In any case, I don't really think it affects anything (I'd have to go through the same processes to register residency, empadronamiento and get the updated NIE as everyone else but I thought I would mention it just in case.

As hefty as they are the autonomo SS payments would still be significantly less than my salary cut, so I don't mind that. However, I was hoping to get some confirmation that this arrangement was valid before going ahead.

Adrian

bob_bob

How will your company react when they find out your living in Spain? How about co-workers if they find out your there and earning a lot more than them?

TheHobbit

"How will your company react when they find out your living in Spain? How about co-workers if they find out your there and earning a lot more than them?"

That's a good question. If I move to a Spanish contract it would mean the company having to sort out the ending of my UK contract plus sort out setting up a new contract in Spain for me. I am thinking that for mere inertia they would be happy to avoid having to do this as long as it was legal. Only my boss (the head of Dept) and the company accountant would need to know the arrangements.