Contract work in continental Europe

[creampuff]

Right, as per my other thread I may have a job coming up in Holland.

It will be contract with a duration of <6 months (hopefully a lot less as I don't really want to go to Holland and the pay sucks).

I've worked contract in the UK for a long time and have my own limited company.

The plan is, I'll use my UK limited company to work in Holland.

My understanding is:
- I will not have to pay Holland income tax
- I'll have to add Holland VAT to invoices and pay that in Holland
- I will not have to pay UK VAT
- I will have to pay the UK 20% company tax on profits

Is this correct? The agent is going on about applying the Dutch "30% rule" which reduces your Dutch income by 30% for income tax purposes for foreigners. But as far as I see it, I will not have any income, Dutch or otherwise. My company will have profits and I can pay myself dividends out of those profits or not but that has nothing to do with anything going on in Holland.

[Pablo16v]

I worked in Holland for 2 1/2 years but I was on a staff salary which was covered by the 30% rule. There was a couple of expat contractors but for the life of me I can't recall what sort of deal they were on. There's a great website called Expatica, which contains a wealth of information about living and working in Holland so probably worth having a trawl through that. Check the forum too.

http://www.expatica.com/nl/employment

HTH.

[creampuff]

Thanks for the link. The latest plan from the Dutch agent (as per other thread I've got one possible contract job in the Netherlands and one permanent job in London which are likely to happen) is that I'll just be paid out of the agent's UK office in pounds and pay 20% UK company tax and either no Netherlands tax at all or maybe NL VAT which would be added to the invoice. This should work out as it is only a few months work.

[spikeyhead]

I rather suspect that if you're going to be working in the Netherlands then you'll end up paying Dutch tax.

Note that Holland is just a county, like Yorkshire but without such generous people.

[anonymous-user]

You will still need to pay local tax, but I can only use Germany as a reference.

As far as I am aware I pay my income tax in Germany but NI contributions to the UK as I am still contributing to my UK pension / state pension.

Can't see a country letting you work there and not pay tax ....

[FredClogs]

creampuff said:

Right, as per my other thread I may have a job coming up in Holland.

It will be contract with a duration of <6 months (hopefully a lot less as I don't really want to go to Holland and the pay sucks).

I've worked contract in the UK for a long time and have my own limited company.

The plan is, I'll use my UK limited company to work in Holland.

My understanding is:
- I will not have to pay Holland income tax
- I'll have to add Holland VAT to invoices and pay that in Holland
- I will not have to pay UK VAT
- I will have to pay the UK 20% company tax on profits

Is this correct? The agent is going on about applying the Dutch "30% rule" which reduces your Dutch income by 30% for income tax purposes for foreigners. But as far as I see it, I will not have any income, Dutch or otherwise. My company will have profits and I can pay myself dividends out of those profits or not but that has nothing to do with anything going on in Holland.

Are you working direct to the end client or through a UK agency?

You'd need to be a permie with a contract specifically stating you're on the 30% rule to be eligible for it (at least that was the system in Denmark).

If you were a sole trader of employed this would be more straight forward but as a ltd company you have more options, but it depends on quite a few factors. I'd get some proper advice, if I were you...

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...


http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...

Edit: You'll want to avoid dutch income tax, I think they'll assume dividend from your LTD company as straight income.

Edited by FredClogs on Wednesday 14th October 12:51

[creampuff]

FredClogs said:

Are you working direct to the end client or through a UK agency?

You'd need to be a permie with a contract specifically stating you're on the 30% rule to be eligible for it (at least that was the system in Denmark).

If you were a sole trader of employed this would be more straight forward but as a ltd company you have more options, but it depends on quite a few factors. I'd get some proper advice, if I were you...

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...


http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...

Edit: You'll want to avoid dutch income tax, I think they'll assume dividend from your LTD company as straight income.

If it goes ahead I'll make sure I'm in the Netherlands for less than 6 months so I would remain resident in the UK for tax purposes.

The contract would be between my LTD company and the UK branch of the agent, who have both a Dutch and a UK office.

The second of your links says I'd still pay Dutch income tax on Dutch income, but as I see it I still have zero Dutch income - it would be UK company income subject to UK company tax. The only personal income is dividends, which I can take or not take or take when I happen to be in the UK.

[FredClogs]

creampuff said:

FredClogs said:

Are you working direct to the end client or through a UK agency?

You'd need to be a permie with a contract specifically stating you're on the 30% rule to be eligible for it (at least that was the system in Denmark).

If you were a sole trader of employed this would be more straight forward but as a ltd company you have more options, but it depends on quite a few factors. I'd get some proper advice, if I were you...

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...


http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...

Edit: You'll want to avoid dutch income tax, I think they'll assume dividend from your LTD company as straight income.

If it goes ahead I'll make sure I'm in the Netherlands for less than 6 months so I would remain resident in the UK for tax purposes.

The contract would be between my LTD company and the UK branch of the agent, who have both a Dutch and a UK office.

The second of your links says I'd still pay Dutch income tax on Dutch income, but as I see it I still have zero Dutch income - it would be UK company income subject to UK company tax. The only personal income is dividends, which I can take or not take or take when I happen to be in the UK.

It seems the most sensible thing to do, if like you say you only plan to work there for a short period and retain the UK as your "home". But obviously where tax authorities are concerned (and I doubt the dutch ones are any different) sensible isn't always the modus operandi.

As an aside I'd keep whatever you do to yourself, when I was in Sweden it was very obvious that the local guys who were paying >50% tax weren't all that interested in hearing stories from UK contractors about bank accounts in Jersey and how they expense for this that and the other.

[Moonhawk]

Trexthedinosaur said:

You will still need to pay local tax, but I can only use Germany as a reference.

As far as I am aware I pay my income tax in Germany but NI contributions to the UK as I am still contributing to my UK pension / state pension.

Can't see a country letting you work there and not pay tax ....

Depends on the local rules.

I am taking a contract in Iceland and you only become subject to local income tax if you exceed 183 working days out there.