Why don't remote jobs let you travel?

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Classic_Mammoth_9379@reddit

It’s not just tax law in the UK, it’s tax and related employment law in whatever country you end up in that causes a problem. When I last looked, about 4 weeks seemed to be a safe lower bound that shouldn’t cause issues irrespective of where you travel to.

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thepastadance@reddit (OP)

I have dual citizenship in an EU country, and I'd only look to spend time in countries that follow the 183 day rule for taxation (so wouldn't be considered a tax resident). Could it still be a tax issue in the UK then?

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IxionS3@reddit

Not being a tax resident in a country doesn't mean that money you earn working in that country isn't taxable there.

It also doesn't necessarily mean your employer won't acquire legal obligations in that country.

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jibbetygibbet@reddit

They have no way of knowing if you will or won’t. It causes obligations for them, not only you. In many countries the employer must incorporate in the country in other to employ someone in it, pay other taxes etc. Their insurance won’t be valid. Timezone issues. Some countries are an IP theft risk. There’s a likelihood your attention to your job could wane if you’re basically ‘ working while on holiday’. Business travel may be disrupted.

Lots of reasons really.

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iamdecal@reddit

You might do that, other people might not - it’s just not worth (them) worrying about who is compliant and who isn’t.

Plus, A blanket bad saves having to explain what someone else is doing it and you’re not allowed to to what ever dick would inevitably spoil it for everyone else

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sihasihasi@reddit

My last employer, when we went fully remote, made a big play of the fact that you could work from wherever you wanted (provided that we stayed within the HMRC rules, of course).

I was very jealous of a colleague who had a grandmother with a house on the beach in Spain.

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Beartato4772@reddit

It's tax mostly, we're allowed 30 days for that reason.

But there are countries that for the reasons others flag are blocked entirely, most of the middle east right now for obvious reasons but also, more annoyingly, India are dicks about it.

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Accurate-Herring-638@reddit

I work abroad permanently, so not sure it's the same for UK companies, but for us one of the reasons is also insurance & sick pay. If you get ill or injured while working abroad it can get quite complex in terms of who is responsible for paying any costs.

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RoyofBungay@reddit

It's uaual taxation and domicile rules, or in my case the systems I use are geolocked.

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Jezbod@reddit

Yup, we block all access from any country other than the UK, unless it has been approved before hand.

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AF_II@reddit

Visas (working remotely often means you don't qualify for a visa exemption or tourist visa)

Taxation

Data transfer

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thepastadance@reddit (OP)

I have dual citizenship in an EU country so don't need a visa, and I wouldn't be considered a tax resident in the countries I'd spend time in (as long as it's less than 183 days). Surely this wouldn't cause any tax problems?

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Psychological-Bag272@reddit

The 183-day rule is often misunderstood. It mainly relates to an individual’s tax residency, not the full set of obligations a company has to consider.

From an employer’s perspective, the issue isn’t just where an employee pays income tax. Allowing someone to work from another country can create wider risks such as triggering a permanent establishment (which could expose the company to corporate tax in that country), as well as local payroll, social security, and employment law obligations. These risks can arise even if the employee is there for fewer than 183 days.

There are also practical considerations. If one person is allowed to work remotely from abroad, it becomes difficult to refuse others. In larger companies, this can quickly become complex and hard to manage.

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thepastadance@reddit (OP)

Thank you for explaining, I wasn't aware of this. What if I spent 6 months abroad in 6 different countries (1 month in each) where I don't need any visa in a year? Surely 30 days couldn't lead to my company having to pay corporate tax? It's less than the number of days holiday+remote work would amount to anyway.

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Psychological-Bag272@reddit

Practically speaking, you’re right that short stays like \~30 days in each country are generally low risk if 1 - 2 people do it, but in a company of 1000 people wanting to all do the same thing. What does it look like if a company has 25 people doing remote sales from France for a month? The amount of productive work during that time can easily trigger permanent establishment issue plus local employment law, payroll, and compliance obligations which don’t always depend on hitting a specific day threshold.

So even if one person doing this across a few countries might be fine in practice, it becomes much harder to manage at scale or to apply fairly across a company. That’s usually why they default blanket policies.

We once approved an EU national to work across multiple EU countries for up to six months, with the condition that they did not spend more than 30 days in any single country. This was a rare exception, their child required specialised medical treatment across different locations with a clearly documented treatment plan signed off by doctors, and the individual being a strong performer. So flexibility is possible, but the bar is extremely high.

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Psychological-Bag272@reddit

Tax law in the UK and in other countries. It is not going to be possible for any company to allow so many people to be everywhere across the world. The accumulative impact is too vast.

Also, most people do not actually have the work authorisation in the country they want to go 'work remotely for a few weeks/months'. So many people seem to think a visitor or business visa permit them to do their full responsibilities.

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thepastadance@reddit (OP)

I have dual citizenship in an EU country so don't need any visa, and I wouldn't be considered a tax resident as long as I spend less than 183 days (according to the laws of the countries in which I'd spend time). Could it still be a tax issue in the UK?

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Kyber92@reddit

My old company kinda dodged this by having people that lived abroad work as self-employed contractors. I did here some muttering that it wasn't really above board

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Kian-Tremayne@reddit

Tax law, foreign employment law and in some cases security and regulatory concerns.

“Remote” in a job description means you don’t have to come and sit in the office. It doesn’t mean you can work absolutely anywhere you like.

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Xaavuza@reddit

Regulations.

I work hyrbid in finance and the rules I have to follow vary depending on the country meaning I could be in breach of law if I were to travel and work as I may not be aware of and follow the financial regulations of the country I am in..

This is exactlt why my employer made us do 3 days back in the office mandatory when we used to be fully remote because some idiots kept travelling abroad whilst working and putting the company at risk of fines from the FCA and other international regulators.

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chris_567295@reddit

You likely handle or have access to personal data about your colleagues, clients, and maybe their customers too. Data protection laws can be much weaker in other countries, so your company doesn't want to run the risk of you taking your laptop with their data abroad, and the authorities in that country compelling you to hand over the data.

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Surreywinter@reddit

Yes - as others have said, it’s tax

Personal tax and permanent establishment

The company has to ensure it has no exposure on any of these and the rules differ depending on the countries, your personal situation, your role (for some PE scenarios) - your HR department doesn’t have the expertise to evaluate each permutation and asking professional advice costs money

So it’s easier for small companies just to say “no”

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PolgaraEsme@reddit

It’s to avoid you working in one country whilst actually living in another. That can cause problems because of different tax rules, different employment law, different statutory entitlements (sick pay, holiday entitlement, bank holidays, maternity, paternity, and adoptive leave, minimum pension requirements and so on). And that’s before you start thinking about GDPR and data security generally.

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