Working Remotely from Spain on an extended basis

NYmaybe21

Hi all. Have been working for the same Financial Services Company for over 10 years. My job is such that I work in Limerick but the Team I work with/for are in the Main office in Dublin. As such I have been working remotely from my Team for 10 years. Since Covid I am WFH. Last year, I applied to HR to work remotely from Italy for a month. It went v smoothly - no issues. Same standard of work, which I have always been complemented on..

I am now considering proposing working remotely from Spain for a more extended period. I have looked into the tax/residency element & would be pretty sure that my Company would not agree to letting me work abroad remotely under current pay structure. I have looked at registering as a Contractor / Autonomo - which would relinquish my Company of their responsibility re tax status/residency etc. Has anyone ever done this? My job is not particularly specialised but I have good experience & as stated before would be highly enough thought of. Is there anything else to consider.

Then re moving from a Salary to Contract - currently on €42k..Have not had a payrise in 10 years I have been there (due to recession/restructuring etc). I am considering proposing a contracted salary of €52k which would take into account Company no longer having to pay PRSI, Pension contribution / Health Insurance. Does this sound reasonable?

Would appreciate any input... Thank you...

Hi,

If you have a valid case of being able to manage a team fully remotely for the last 10 years I would not see an issue.

Main concern would be the pay systems as your company has said and tax liability.

Might be good to present a case study from an international company, I could suggest a few.

The contract route might be great also, but some companies do not like this. It also means you can ask for money money based on day rates as all the tax etc is now with you as a sub-contractor. There are and is new legislation coming in about this also, be mindful.

Its incidental, but if you need to be behind firewalls etc, they MAY have an issue here ( I don't see it myself)

Mad Benny

I worked as a contractor over 10 years ago. Getting paid was the biggest challenge. At times I was waiting over three months for payment of an invoice.

It's a big step you're taking. Do you need to tell them? Could you use a VPN that hides your location? If you're happy after a few months then go down the official route.

As you've already worked for them before in Italy, this may not be an issue ... however, work in FNS can depend on your physical location, because the law surrounding a financial product / transaction depends on the country of origin. As I say since you've done it in Italy already it may not be an issue, but I wouldn't be trying to chance it using a VPN either.

omanomad

That’s mental you have not had a pay rise in 10 years, why didn’t you move company?

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058226123/working-remotely-from-spain-on-an-extended-basis

They would also not have to allow you any annual leave or public holidays.

So you might quote 52k annually, but to get that you have to work 52 full weeks.

Rough rule of thumb is that the contractor rate should be twice the employee rate, to allow for things like that. Maybe a bit less if there are no agency feels to be paid.

And no pay rise at all for 10 years? I guess that's cos they know you aren't going to leave. Benefits of remote working:-)

Mad Benny

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118432795#Comment_118432795

Why wouldn't you chance a VPN? Just curious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118433186#Comment_118433186

There are very strict laws in finance, it isn't worth the risk of being involved in something that has different laws from the country you're physically located in to the one you're actually located in - there are huge penalties for anything that hints of fraud. Even insurance can be an issue, if you do something wrong your companies insurance will back you but if you're in a different country and maybe their insurance doesn't cover for there. Def not worth it.

backwards_man

One consideration to check out is whether or not your comoany currently does business in Spain, or if they have a legal entity already there (not an office). If they do not currently do either of these things there could be a whole lot of laws and logistics that they are not willing to get on top of just to pay you there. Its not as straight forward as sending money to your bank acct each month.