Going permanent with a EU company: what are my options?

[boringcontractor]

I've been working as an LTD contractor for an EU-based client for the past year, current second contract going to end in October. The (outside IR-35) project I've been tasked with has been successful and praised, and now the business has expressed an interest in having me as a permanent employee to lead the team that will expand and improve on that.

The client doesn't have a presence in the UK, nor is interested in establishing one. That alone makes problematic an offer of plain permanent employment, as I'm not really keen in understanding and untangling the potential headache of paying the right amount of taxes across jurisdictions (regardless of whether is really feasible or even legal to do that in their country).

What are the possible options, before we start talking numbers?

• The first obvious option that comes to mind is start contracting inside IR-35 via an UK umbrella company, which looks like a good option for me to operate as a bona fide contractor and for them to have something more long-term than an independent contractor to rely on as a team lead. Their offer will probably contain an element of shares / options though, and I'm not sure how such an arrangement would work in practice if my employer is effectively the umbrella company.
• The second option would be to somehow still operate via my own LTD, adjust my rates and pay taxes as an inside IR-35 job. Is that something that people do? (Obviously I'll run this through my accountant, but it would be interesting to hear someone else's firsthand experience).
• The third option would be to actually take the time and effort to understand the legal and tax implications of being an employee of a foreign company. I have no idea where to look and where to start looking for more information on this, so any pointers or hints would be much appreciated.

Thanks for any feedback, opinion or warning you'll be able to provide.

[northernladuk]

Surely if they intend on being your employer it's their job to find out? If they are using UK resources they must already know how it works and if it doesn't it's up to them to find out no? They offered to employ you and they know the score so they should come up with something that works for you?

Can't their HR look in to it and advise?

[boringcontractor]

Surely if they intend on being your employer it's their job to find out? If they are using UK resources they must already know how it works and if it doesn't it's up to them to find out no? They offered to employ you and they know the score so they should come up with something that works for you?

Can't their HR look in to it and advise?

That's a very good point, and I agree that the ball is in their court to come up with something that could be of interest to me. That said, they only recently started using resources from the UK after being dissatisfied by a few European agencies, and I'm aware that they haven't started their due diligence yet (they assume that being months away from delivering the project they think there's still time to fiddle with). The first step is on them to put something on the table for me to evaluate, but it wouldn't hurt to learn about other experiences out there – in case there's something reasonable that could well for me.

[NotAllThere]

Where will you work?
What country is your employer based in?
How often would you be in that country in a year?

If you are working entirely in the UK, the employer is in EU-land and you don't go there "to often", you will only be liable for tax and NI in the UK. If you decide to do the work as a contractor, then you have to decide wether IR35 applies. If not you can stay limited, if yes, then you might as well go brolly. Source.

According to these guys, you can simply be an employee and operate a dummy payroll scheme to pay for NI and PAYE.

Do make sure that they factor in to the rate they pay the savings they're making by not paying into their local equivalent of NI, nor pension or other insurances.