Working from another country - Rules & Regulations?

x00065954

With the misery and high costs of literally everything, I really dont see any future for me here in Ireland anymore. In my 30s, living at home with parents, have 50k+ savings yet still cant afford anything half decent on the property market as a single applicant, petrol and groceries going up (everyone gets the point).

I have always wanted to live in Spain or Portugal as I did a lot of travelling in my 20s. Luckily (or unlucky) I work in the IT sector and have been working from home since covid started so I am pretty used to the idea of remote working now. I know my current employer would not allow it but my question is how does remote working from abroad work relations to tax and payslips? Also, does GDPR play a big role in this now in regards to working from a different country all together? Anything else I am missing out here that could be important?

As I'm sure everyone feels the same, I just feel terribly let down by the government and with literally everything going up, I just dont see anything here for me anymore unfortunately as I came back from living in Australia. Hope to hear from anyone that may be able to help.

Fr Tod Umptious

The company that you work for has to be registered with authorities of that country to pay an employee in the country you are working in.

What that involves or how difficult it is for the company I've no idea.

And you are incorrect that we all feel terribly let down by this government.

I don't.

Peregrinus

If for lifestyle reasons you want to live and work in another country, you're really limiting your opportunities by aiming to work for an Irish employer. Obviously, far more opportunities will be open to you if you are open to working for a local employer and, working in IT, your skills and qualifications should be readily transferrable. You're even in an industry where your competence in English will go a long way towards compensating for any deficiency you may have in the local language.

The answer to your question, though, is that if an Irish employer wants to employ you permanently as a resident of (say) Portugal it will be a pain; they will have to register for and comply with the tax and regulatory obligations that affect employers in Portugal. Unless they love you a great deal, or already have a branch in Portugal, they are not likely to want to do this.

But there may be a way around the problem, if you cease to be an employee and instead become a contractor. Your Irish employer is much more likely to be open to this. Then burden of tax, compliance, etc, then falls on you. That shouldn't be unmanageable, but you would want to check out what it involves in the country you choose to live in before you commit to anything.

As long as you are working with the EU, GDPR obligations will be exactly the same as they are in your current position. That's kind of the point of the EU.

PS: Don't go into this with excessively rose-tinted spectacles. You'll find that petrol, groceries, etc are also going up in Portugal. The factors that are driving inflation in Ireland are not unique to Ireland, and are not particularly the fault of the government. But, yeah, your aspiration to buy a house someday is likely to be much more attainable in several other countries than it currently is in Ireland.

Wanderer78

i know someone working in IT thats heading off around Europe for the next few months, luckily their current employer is happy with this situation, but in order to avoid the complexities of taxation, they have to keep moving, i think they can stay a maximum of 3 months per destination, this suits them, so happy days....

Jim2007

Well your most obvious challenge is how to get residency in an EU country. As an EU citizen you have a right to move to another state to take up employment there but you have no rights to live anywhere as a remote worker. You can get away with it for a few months here and there because nobody checks. But if as you seem to suggest you want to settle down and build a life for yourself it’s a non starter. So if you really want to do it you will need to seek local not remote employment.

You should also realize that inflation etc is a global issue and every government is struggling to address it right now. Furthermore home ownership as a policy is an Anglo sphere thing and most European countries do not favor it over other forms of wealth accumulation, so you need to look carefully at a country’s policies, customs and norms if that is your objective.