Getting first contract in Belgium - Help!!

[ace00]

Belg

I got a few q's too:

1. I've been told that I cannot use my UK Ltd. for my 10month contract in Belgium. How come? Would this apply for a 3-6 month contract?

2. Anyone bought property in Belg, claimed tax, sold after 5 years? Did it work out worth the hassle?

3. Anyone recomend Umbrellas / accountants in Belg?

Thanks for any advice.

[fridge]

So who's selling what? I suspect some dogy umbrella is tyring to get its name and some business here on 'CUK' that really p****s me off.
Ive not met one dutchman yet who understands the uk tax system so how it works re IR35 so how come they do now?

[julian_sweet]

Could form an SPRL

If you are DEFINATELY staying less than 6 months use a uk umbrella if you can find one that will work in Euros and you know and trust. Get yourself a citibank euro account or HSBC if you are already with them. The Umbrella should do the limosa you will need a copy. Not that hard to fill in online.

If staying more than 3 months you need to register at the commune. You will need passport, birth certificate, contract, E101, limosa, passport photos. If they do not know about limosa then they may know Dimona(the old scheme). In Brussels this takes 2hours minimum and about 3-4 visits. Take every id you can of think. They will then ask for something you forgot.

Me I was fed up with Management companies so I formed an SPRL in Belgium.

Should retain about 70% plus if you include the expenses but only get a small salary. Can consider it if you are here for a couple of years and have 12400 to start the bank account ( stays in the company you dont lose it). Annual cost similar to management company but far less pain and no offshore tax evasion for that extra 5 to 10%.

[Cooltone]

contact www(dot)itecs(dot)nl for a quote

[Cooltone]

I currently contact in Belgium and I work with a number of other contractors. How you play it all depends on the length of you contract. If you are in belgium for more than 183 days you are consider resident for tax purposes.

This is where the umbrella companies come in.

Here is a very rough illustration: (So get prof. advice!)
By working for the UC you retain your UK resident status. A minimum UK salary paid into your UK bank account to keep your NI going, but minimising tax.

For the work in Belgium you are paid another salary, say 4000 euro/mth. This is taxed (say, 1800 euro), so 2200 is paid into a Belgium bank account.

The rest (minus UC fees) is paid as dividends (euro) into whatever bank account you want (ie offshore). If visit the UK less than 93 days these dividends are tax exempt.
Be aware that (from the next tax year, I think) HMRC count travelling days as being in UK, doesn't matter what time you travel.

Get a quote from www.itecs.nl

hope that helps.

[tim123]

what about an NT tax code???? I know very little about it - but I know it can be done. Anybody else help on this???

Obviously.

An NT code only affects the amount of tax that is taken (or not) in advance, on a month by month basis.

It has no effect on the amount of tax that will actually be due for the year.

tim

[bid1]

what about an NT tax code???? I know very little about it - but I know it can be done. Anybody else help on this???

[Fred Bloggs]

I have just thought of a way to avoid tax in Belgium/EU. Become a European Commissioner.

[Fred Bloggs]

I look for at least 800 Euro a day before I start getting interested. I know of no legal way to avoid paying all due tax working in EU countries.

[Ardesco]

-By doing some basic calculations under UK Tax I will take home about £44K and under the Belgian system about £34k (assuming 0 expense entitlement)

Thats sounds too high under UK Tax. I would make your take home more like £33K. Have you accounted for Employers NI as well as employees? (take another 13% off)

[Ardesco]

First of all Tax Avoidance is 100% legal and a right of every citizen in this country. Don't get Tax Avoidance mixed up with tax evasion which will result in you getting locked up in prison.

Listen to your accountants advice RE: tax avoidance they are telling you legal ways to reduce your tax bill.

Secondly can you not get the T&C of your contract modified to make you outside IR35? If in doubt get some professionals on the case like Bauer & Cottrell or QDOS. You may be surprised with the outcome and it will save you an absolute fortune in tax.

I wouldn't do a Euro gig for £60,000 a year when it's IR35 caught, you are probably better off on a £40,000 permie job in the UK with less paperwork and hassle all round.

[oracleslave]

-My contract is worth about £60K/79.5K Euros a year and I will fall foul of IR35

Have you had it professionally reviewed and been told this as a fact? Is there no way to make changes to potentially move it outside? Otherwise as Mr Bloggs suggests it just doesn't sound worth it.

[Fred Bloggs]

I really can't see it being worthwhile for that kind of money. You'll get a job back in the UK on more money in my opinion, I presume you are UK resident ofcourse. Good luck with it.

[Jimmony]

I recently decided to quit my nine to five and take on a contract position in Brussels through a Belgian agency, having spent the last 2 weeks looking into the issues such as should I go with an umbrella or become a limited company and what tax am I likely to be paying and to who and what's this LIMOSA rubbish the initial excitement has worn off and I'm left thinking "is it worth it?"

So I thought i would put together what I have so far and put it to the ContractorUK test and see if I can regain some of that lost excitement, here are my findings If someone can support or debunk them with some real life experience or expert knowledge then please do.

I will stress at this point that despite the advice of most of the accountants I have spoken too I have no interest in avoiding tax though if there are any risk free and more importantly LEGAL ways of making my tax more "efficient" then I would be greatful to hear about them.

so here goes.....

-My contract is worth about £60K/79.5K Euros a year and I will fall foul of IR35

-I can either use a UK umbrella company for 183 working days, set up a UK limited company or become Belgium self employed (any thoughts on that?)

-Due to IR35 I cant split my income into Salary and dividends through a limited company

-By doing some basic calculations under UK Tax I will take home about £44K and under the Belgian system about £34k (assuming 0 expense entitlement)

-I have 183 working days in belgium before I will officially be liable to start paying their taxes

-I can continue to pay UK national insurance so I won't need to pay Belgian social security payments

-I need to register with LIMOSA (still need to read more on this one)

-If i have a uk limited company then as the seat of control is in Belgium it will be considered to be based in Belgium (still not sure of the implications of this)

-Any payments from Euros to Pounds or back will incur an exchange fee so need to build that in somewhere.

That's about all I can think of right now I feel better already for just writing it down! if you can expand on this then that's great.

cheers and thanks for reading this far