Tax and employment status with an overseas employer

[redeye]

I've been offered a permanent employment contract with a company based in South-East Asia. I'm a UK resident and will perform the work remotely from here, with occasional business trips. While the overseas company has no presence or registered entities in the UK. I'm looking to take out a mortgage early next year and my main concern is retaining my status as a salaried employee.

After some research, the two options that I appear to have, is to either use an umbrella company or perform a tax self-assessment. Not keen on the umbrella company option considering the additional costs. My questions are:

1 - If carry out a tax self-assessment on foreign income, would I be classed as an employee?

2 - Are there any other options apart from using an umbrella company or tax self-assessment, that would be favourable in obtaining a mortgage in the near future?

Thanks!

[eek]

I've been offered a permanent employment contract with a company based in South-East Asia. I'm a UK resident and will perform the work remotely from here, with occasional business trips. While the overseas company has no presence or registered entities in the UK. I'm looking to take out a mortgage early next year and my main concern is retaining my status as a salaried employee.

After some research, the two options that I appear to have, is to either use an umbrella company or perform a tax self-assessment. Not keen on the umbrella company option considering the additional costs. My questions are:

1 - If carry out a tax self-assessment on foreign income, would I be classed as an employee?

2 - Are there any other options apart from using an umbrella company or tax self-assessment, that would be favourable in obtaining a mortgage in the near future?

Thanks!

If you want a mortgage ask a specialist mortgage advisor what would be best.

We don't have a clue - and anyone on here claiming they do will be lying.

[northernladuk]

Surely if it's permanent employment then you should be an employee of the company and it's their problem to sort out? Not sure a bunch of UK contractors can help with an overseas employment question.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

A lot of foreign employers cheat a little bit and will try and engage you as a "contractor". This could be through your own Ltd company but this isn't recommended due to IR35. You could invoice them on a self-employed basis - this is technically still false self-employment if the intention is to form an employer/employee although I'm not sure how much risk you are that HMRC comes after you for any unpaid employer's NIC. It may also make things harder for things like mortgage applications.

There is the option of running your own PAYE scheme as a foreign employee but this would require co-operation with your employer and work on your behalf.

They could also employ you through an intermediary. There are companies like remote.com and letsdeel.com that are designed for dealing with this exact situation. I would recommend asking your employer if they are willing to operate through somebody like that - it will cost *them* money but it means everything is above board, you get a UK employer, a UK employment contract and a GBP salary.

My US-based employer hires me through Remote.com and I've not had any problems - my only complaint is limited options for pensions at the moment (they don't currently offer salary sacrifice schemes or payments into a SIPP, the use SmartPension as their pension platform).

[jamesbrown]

You have various options. The cleanest is probably to ask HMRC to set-up a DPNI scheme for you where you will be subject to full PAYE and EeNI, but not ErNI. You don't need the cooperation of the employer for this. That said, the easiest option overall is probably to operate as a sole trader and that is probably what HMRC will ask you to do when you request a DPNI scheme (largely because they won't know what you're talking about at first). If it is not really an employee-type contract, however, then you probably want a Ltd to shield you from any personal liability.