Spain - British Expat Forum

Does anyone have experience of working from home in Spain as an employee of a UK company? I am not talking about being sent on assignment, but rather sneaking over the border and flying back once a month for meetings, etc., whilst maintaining a UK address.

I wouldn't mind keeping my employer in the dark about my whereabouts, but I want to stay legal as far as the Spanish Government is concerned. I suspect that tax can be sorted out relatively easily; my main concern is Social Security payments. Would the Spanish authorities expect me to pay both employee and employer contributions? My company certainly won't want to pay Spanish SS!

Hi McT

Welcome to BE. That's a really interesting question you've asked. I hope you get an answer. I'm very curious to know what the situation would be in such a case.

Good luck! And enjoy the better climate.

Kay 8)

[Edited: no need to quote the previous post in its entirety. Please read our posting guidelines.]

I would guess that it's a non-issue. You are an employee of a british
company, paying british tax & NI which your employer deducts at source.

You may have a problem if you fall ill while in spain and can't therefore
provide a doctor's certificate (or whatever) to support your sick leave.
Likewise it may be embarrasing if your boss asks you to attend at
short notice.
I have come across a situation where someone I know works "from
home" on the CdS for 2 weeks a month and spends the other 2 weeks
in the UK. This is done with the employers knowledge and blessing.

I would expect that at some point it will become known that you are
living in another country. Just how your employer reaacts to that depends
on how laid-back they are and how vital your contribution is.

Pete

Thanks for that Pete. As regards falling ill: my wife will be working for a Spanish company and paying social security contributions and my understanding is that her payments will cover the whole family, me included.

Is this the case? Please correct me if I am mistaken. If I am correct, can anyone tell me whether there are different contribution rates depending on the size of the family? Assuming all the salaries are equal, would a childless couple who are both working pay between them twice as much as single earner supporting a spouse and several children?

I currently work for a uk employer, but I live in Spain and work from home. Fortunately this was agreed with my employer in advance.
I think it works very well, I have to attend the office for a few days every month, but other than that, as long as I provide the work, no problems.

One thing that I'm not sure about is residencia. I've been here in Spain for about a year now and should officially have applied for residency after 6 months. I haven't done anything about it yet because I don't know the tax issues - can I simply be paid gross by my uk employer and pay spanish tax? Dunno. Will I have to give up my uk address? What are the implications there? Dunno.

My family also live over here with me and our daughter attends the local village school. They are going to apply for residencia, but I'm not sure that I want to just yet.

I don't believe that there is any connection between residencia and liability for income tax. As I understand it, if you are in Spain for 183 days of the year you must file a tax return - whether you are officially resident or not. Of course it may be that applying for residencia will alert the Hacienda to your existence!

If you do declare your income, tax paid in the UK will be offset against your liability in Spain. One of the concepts of the UK's double taxation agreements with other countries is that 'earned' income is taxed in the country where it is earned. My view is that if you are working from home in Spain for a UK employer your salary is earned in the UK. However, I think that the official line is that you pay tax in the country where you are when you earn the income; i.e. Spain. I suspect that if you explained your situation to the Centre for Non Residents in Newcastle, they would tell you to declare yourself non resident in the UK.

What do you do about health care? Presumably you are not paying Spanish social security contributions. Even if you do declare yourself resident in Spain, it may not be that easy to get medical cover. The following link is to a post which suggests that you can only pay Spanish SS contributions from income earned in Spain:

http://andaluciaprojects.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6512

My plan is to say nothing in the UK and carry on paying tax and NI. I'll file a tax return in Spain, but hopefully tax already deducted in the UK will mostly cover the tax due. Medical cover I'll get through my wife who will be working for a Spanish company. It all sounds very simple - I suspect that it won't be.........

Hi there
I am new to this forum and found it very interesting, specially this thread.
We are planning to move to Spain in 2007. I have been having discussions with my employer to allow me to work remotely from Spain as I am home based in the UK and all I need is a broadband connection. I just came back from Spain and researched the issue thoroughly with my Spanish solicitor. If you work for a UK company, you will, be paying UK taxes. You will not be a Spanish resident even if you leave there more than 6 months in a year. You will not need to fill any tax returns because the taxation agreement between the Inland Revenue and the Hacienda. There is no need to pay Seguridad Social (NI) in Spain because you are paying in the UK. Providing you have the new European Health Card, you will be covered if you fall ill.
I am not sure how all this will apply if your employer does not know that you are base in Spain. I would be careful if I was you as leaving the country and working from abroad may constitute a bridge of your employment contract and you might end up in Spain without a job!

I do not wish to sound too knowledgeable. This is what I was told by a very reliable and reputable Spanish law office, if anybody has other info, I will be more than happy to listen.

Nice talking to you all

Danny

Incidentally...can anybody recommend a good Broadband Provider in the La Safor region?

Thanks for an interesting posting and welcome to BE, Danny.

Re your question about broadband providers, please look at our ICT/Electrical board.

http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/spain/viewforum.php?f=136

Thanks, it helps us to keep the info in a way that people can find it.

Hi there! It was such a great opportunity to be an employee of UK Company. However, home working currently seems to be a very good solution to numerous daily problems. When we work at home we avoid the stress of traffic jams, spats with colleagues or school leaving time; in short our quality of life increases considerably. However, a growing separation is being created between work and the workplace. It is possible to work anywhere, all the time, thanks to new information and telecommunication technologies. From now on, we must rebuild the balance between professional and personal life or we risk losing all the benefits of home working. I have here [Edit: link removed. Please read the forum rules.] You can check this out for more information if you want.