employment status..

[ASB]

Interesting. I've actually been looking into this from the reverse angle recently (hiring a part time employee in France) and it appears that there is a legal obligation in that case (with potential criminal consequences). Do you have any links to explanations of this from a UK perspective, i.e. that it is a preference of HMRC rather than a requirement? I thought it was pretty much standard everywhere that, to employ someone in another country, you have to satisfy the same requirements as a local employer.

There was a thread recently in which I put up some links from the stuff on HMRC website. But that is covering the situation of a Foreign company with no branch but UK based employees. This was in the context of a US citizen. The law for TAX and NI are different. Also whether the employer is EU or not changes some things WRT to NI. There is a difference between HMRC procedures and expectations and actual legal requirements. However HMRC are the ones with the power.

In terms of an employee in France there are some strict French rules as BB pointed out.

[jamesbrown]

If you want hire someone in France you need to setup a business there, this is why getting your employee to also run/setup the French subsiduary would be a good idea, even if it is partttime. I think being self employed would be a good idea here too.

You can't simply employ someone from a foreign company, not registered in France, apart from short term visits, and you have to handle all the French regulations.

Obviously you can do this from your Ltd but it would be a separate branch entirely with it's own set of accounts, i.e. the effort is the same as setting up a French company.

The profit attributable to the work your French employee is carrying out would be taxable in France.

That's my understanding , and why for this kind of venture you want partners i.e. other companies/self employed.

Exactly, and that's why I'd much prefer subcontracting a company/self-employed person in general, but it wasn't a (straightforward) option in this case - it's tied to a specific source of funding with onerous requirements on subcontractors. Based on what ASB is saying, it sounds as though it might be simpler for a foreign employer hiring someone in the UK. I knew France was a tough one in terms of employment law (with criminal vs. civil consequences too).