UK Citizen working and living in England working for a USA company

Daveblue1

Hello 
Hope this finds you safe and well 
Lucky been headhunted by an USA company.  I would be there first UK employee working from and living in the UK. 
I have been in full employment in the UK with a UK company since leaving school at 16 paying my Tax ,PAYE, and NI.
I'm 51 now and have the opportunely to work for a USA based manufacture. Its still early days however the intension is that I will be spending a lot of time around the world helping customers installing / training equipment.
I'm very unsure on the best way to pay my Taxes, NI ect and any other issues I may find. Is it best for the USA company to take the tax ect at source ? but that would be in the USA or run my own PAYE ect ?
I'm sure this is not the first or last time you have been asked this question 
Any advise would be very welcomed. I may be starting before the end of the year.
Keep safe and thank you 
Regards
DAVE         
 
           

Sandtree

I hate the term "head hunted" but that aside...

What is the engagement model? Are you to be their employee or a contractor? It sounds like employee.

If you are an employee then do they have a UK entity to employ you or will you be an employee of a US entity?

As an employee you should be paid your net salary after the appropriate taxes of the jurisdiction in which they are. Assuming that isnt the UK then you would need to do a self assessment tax return and declare the overseas income and the taxes already deducted. There are offsetting agreements between the UK and the USA so the UK tax would be net of any USA tax already deducted. In the highly unlikely situation that the USA tax is higher than the UK tax you dont get a rebate.

If you are a contractor then set up your own company, the US entity contracts with that entity and you as a director choose how to renumerate yourself between salary and dividends and do self assessment tax returns and PAYE. You in theory would be caught up in the IR35 changes happening in April but as the first entity is your own company the decision on if you are really an employee therefore inside IR35 or truly an independent operator therefore outside IR35 remains yours.

Daveblue1

Hi Thank you for the quick reply and sorry about the 'headhunted'  not sure what else to call it.
I have asked to become a fully entitled employee of the US company. They do not have any UK entity as I would be the first  employee in the UK however they do have an office in Sweden with two Swedish employees.
The company I currently work for have always dealt with all the pay so never needed to look into this before. The self assessment tax return I presume is sent to the HMRC once a year, is it wise to use an accountant for this just in case or is it a simple procedure.
I'm sure their may be many more questions and things I have not through of.
Once again thank you and keep safe 
Dave         

           

Sandtree

Daveblue1 said:

Hi Thank you for the quick reply and sorry about the 'headhunted'  not sure what else to call it.
I have asked to become a fully entitled employee of the US company. They do not have any UK entity as I would be the first  employee in the UK however they do have an office in Sweden with two Swedish employees.
The company I currently work for have always dealt with all the pay so never needed to look into this before. The self assessment tax return I presume is sent to the HMRC once a year, is it wise to use an accountant for this just in case or is it a simple procedure.
           

I've seen it too often used for bragging purposes and too often into fairly menial jobs... my biological mother's sister went on for an age that her daughter had been "headhunted" to be a teamleader in an RBS contact centre... in my case I just say I got offered the job and dont bother mentioning who approached who or if agencies are involved etc. But thats just my pet hate.

Self assessment is done online at the end of the tax year (start April) and must be completed by January (of the following calendar year) and paid by the same timescales. I am sure most people do them themselves, if your affairs are complex accountants don't charge too much to do them for you (in which case they submit it electronically from their software rather than using the website). 

Online you select the sections that are applicable to you and you are only presented with those questions and as I don't have an overseas income I've never seen the section to be able to say how bad it is.

Most accountants will give a 30 minute free chat so maybe have a discussion with one about the situation, if thats the best route and if they think they can add value in the process or would simply be removing stress.