USA Contract from the UK

[IVR247]

I am about to start a new contract with a US based company.
I will work from home in the UK and they will pay me in USD.

Is there anyway I can use an offshore company / scheme to save tax etc?

I assume as I am living in the UK I need to use my LTD company - but does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks!

[Turion]

Get them to pay it into a US$ offshore account. Make sure you declare the payments in your SA Tax return.

[IVR247]

USD payments

Thanks for the reply, but a couple of questions:

- under what section of the SA would you declare these payments?

- if the payments are made to an off-shore account, I assume I will be liable to UK tax when I remit the money back to the UK as GBP. As I need to remit this money each month to pay mortgage/bills etc - will this actually work out any better for me in the end?

- What tax rate would they attract?

- Is the tax rate better than a LTD co?

Sorry - just that this international tax stuff is way beyond me!

[d000hg]

I simply get paid to my UK business account and have the $ automatically changed to £. I pay the normal business tax but income from the US is not subject to VAT... as ALL my work is from the US right now I am VAT registered but NOT using the flat-rate scheme... the only VAT I deal with is on expenses so I reclaim this.

I was not aware there was a better way, if so I'd like to know as I am seeking further work abroad.

By the way, do you mind me asking how you found a position in the US? PM me if you like...

[HairyArsedBloke]

You could always keep your gob shut and leave the money off-shore.

Not that I would do anything like that

[Manic]

Just picked up a gig overthere as well. Don't forget your PI insurance, got mine from pihammond. PM if you want contact details.

[Turion]

You could always keep your gob shut and leave the money off-shore.

Not that I would do anything like that

He could, but he says he needs to remit the money back to UK so HMRC may ask about the source of the money. He could split the invoice with a portion going to his Ltd to pay uk salary etc, and the rest stays hidden off-shore. Dodgy and he cannot bring it onshore without a big risk. HMRC are also busy tracking down UK residents with offshore accounts and querying the source of the funds within.

[IVR247]

Usd

I got this USD contract because my company outsourced the kit that I worked on from their UK base to a US company. I got lucky in that the US company took over my contract.

I'm very pleased that the USD is getting so strong against the GBP, I have to say!

[ASB]

He could, but he says he needs to remit the money back to UK so HMRC may ask about the source of the money. He could split the invoice with a portion going to his Ltd to pay uk salary etc, and the rest stays hidden off-shore. Dodgy and he cannot bring it onshore without a big risk. HMRC are also busy tracking down UK residents with offshore accounts and querying the source of the funds within.

It's important to respect the difference between your and your companies
income. If one is ordinarily resident in the UK that the individual is charged to tax on their worldwide income. Whether it is remitted or not (there are some cases where this is not the case). If the company is a UK company then it is charged to tax in pretty much the same way.

If the entity is not a UK company then it is not generally charged to tax in the UK, but may be subject to tax on profits from it's UK operations and may even be considered to be resident in the UK anyway.

So, if it is a UK company as the OP stated any element of "hiding" anything is liable to involve offences of false accounting as a minimum.

There are ways which may be appropriate involving the use of non resident companies but they will depend upon any given individuals circumstances, an international specialist may prove useful - if expensive.