Advice for taking contracts from non-UK companies

[funkyContractorITUK]

Hi All,

I've been thinking about taking contracts from non-UK countries. Is there anything I should be aware of eg. do I need work permit/visas to take on contracts in those countries? I'm hoping companies are more likely to engage in my services without having to worry about inside/outside IR35.

Last week I had a chat with a recruiter about a company in Ireland but because they have a branch in UK they would have had to deal with IR35 regulations. It did make me wonder what I would need in place to take on international contracts.

[WTFH]

Hi All,

I've been thinking about taking contracts from non-UK countries. Is there anything I should be aware of eg. do I need work permit/visas to take on contracts in those countries? I'm hoping companies are more likely to engage in my services without having to worry about inside/outside IR35.

Last week I had a chat with a recruiter about a company in Ireland but because they have a branch in UK they would have had to deal with IR35 regulations. It did make me wonder what I would need in place to take on international contracts.

OK, so you're looking to take foreign contracts, and want it to be with companies that don't have a UK presence.
You need to work out what the requirements are for working abroad, and which countries you may have rights to work there without extra paperwork.
You'll also need to work out how you go about invoicing (currency, etc), the tax implications, and when you're thinking about rates, consider the cost of travel.
If you're looking for remote contracts, i.e. where you stay in the UK and deliver the work, that's slightly easier.

[jamesbrown]

Work permits and visas are only required for non-incidental or productive work actually performed in other countries, not for contracts delivered from the UK to clients in other countries. You need business insurance that covers it, particularly if North America. You need some understanding of how to negotiate with overseas clients, including contractual terms (preferably, UK jurisdiction and governing law) and rates/currency (preferably GBP). It isn't that complicated - the hardest part is building the contacts to get the work. Chapter 8 and Chapter 10 IR35 apply as normal, meaning that if Chapter 10 doesn't apply (e.g., because there is no UK entity in the supply chain), then Chapter 8 does apply. In other words, it is not a vehicle to "not worry about IR35".

[jamesbrown]

Where are you actually intending to do this work?

[northernladuk]

Are you just wondering or have you made any serious inroads in to this? Looks like just a flight of fantasy from what you've put there as your questions are almost impossible to answer as it will depend where the work is.

How far down this path are you past wondering?

[funkyContractorITUK]

I'd be looking to work remotely from my office in the UK.

Thanks for the tips so far. I'll take a look into how much business insurance is etc.

Currently, I'm looking into other contracts in EU mostly because of timezone differences.

[funkyContractorITUK]

northernladuk I haven't travelled to far down the road just yet but I don't want to be caught with my pants down if a company calls me up from outside UK and they don't have branches in the UK and they would like to use my services. I'd like to confidently say things I have in place to be able to work with them.

[eek]

northernladuk I haven't travelled to far down the road just yet but I don't want to be caught with my pants down if a company calls me up from outside UK and they don't have branches in the UK and they would like to use my services. I'd like to confidently say things I have in place to be able to work with them.

Unless you are especially skilled in a niche area it’s not going go happen

[jamesbrown]

I'd be looking to work remotely from my office in the UK.

Thanks for the tips so far. I'll take a look into how much business insurance is etc.

Currently, I'm looking into other contracts in EU mostly because of timezone differences.

In that case, you don't need to be concerned with work permits/visas, but you do need to be concerned w/ IR35 (as usual).

That said, as eek suggests, you need to have a niche skillset (in which case timezone won't be an issue) and a solid list of contacts to find overseas clients consistently. You may get lucky once or twice, but most clients will not look overseas unless they need a specialist skillset or they're looking to save money on a commoditized skillset, and they won't be looking at the UK for the latter. I doubt there's a market in between these extremes that isn't easily satisfied with local suppliers. Having gone down this route myself, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Developing a niche skillset is high risk, especially if it's related to a particular framework/methodology/software stack, rather than an academic skill (e.g., a niche branch of engineering). For large clients, you'll probably need to team with local SMEs to bid on work because the legal/compliance of large clients generally tell procurement to sod off when attempting to engage tiny foreign suppliers

[willendure]

Currently working on a B2B contract with a Swedish company. There is no need to consider Swedish emplyment law or visas, since it is just one company purchasing something from another in a different country. The contract was written under UK law but pays in Euros, which I am ok with but there has been a small fluctuation in the exchange rate. In my case, the contract was written for the supply of fixed deliverables at a fixed cost. Occasionaly I have devliered late and had to put in a week or 2 of my own time to complete, out of an overall time frame of 6 months. But I like the autonomy and all of this makes a strong case for it being outside of IR35, should I ever have to make that argument.

I got a sniff at a US contract paying $150/hour last year, but unfortunately did not get it. That rate has left me inspired to try and find some work for a US business. The main problem there is I don't have any useful contacts or understanding of how to find contracts in the US.

Yes, niche skills otherwise the client does not need to look further afield. But you can have niche skills that sit within a portfolio of more mainstream skills too, to avoid the risk of being forever pigeon holed as only capable of working in some niche area.

As others have said, hard to generalise since every situation will be slightly different, but I thought I would share my experience as a positive one.