Taxation solutions for cross border workers

Greenlights16 · 09-04-2021 10:53pm #1

Hi all,

I've been living in Dublin full time for 5+ years now and working for my current company for about a year. Very happy in job, as happy as any one i've ever had. However, I've been working remotely for that full year.

Lets say theoretically I am on full time salary of €75cents, taking home about €49cents after tax.

However, my circumstances have changed and I will be moving back to NI with my partner where I'm from originally in the next couple of months. I am aware that by law I should be telling HMRC that I will be living in NI but earning in ROI. My guess is that they will be looking a slice of my income also. We are buying a house in NI. I am not sure when, how soon or if ever HMRC will come knocking when I'll be paying a mortgage and other bills in NI.
I will be transferring my euro salary into NI bank account monthly.

I've been told the cross border worker agreement is a bit of a farce and the idea that HMRC and revenue align and you get money back from both at the end of each year does not always happen, so I don't want to be bitten twice. Irish Revenue take enough tax!

I will still have an address in ROI as I have certain commitments there where a utility bill or similar letter will go to.

I have not told my Dublin employer yet as we have all been working remotely from our homes in Dublin, and there is no word of returning to the dublin office a few days per week until september at earliest, so I have seen no need to. Plus I've been getting on very well and due for a pay rise next month after a good performance review.

I am worried that if i tell my boss, payroll/HR will get involved and say that technically i should then be paid in GBP through the London office, and the salary could be considerably less. Even worse, if they decide to stick me on an NI salary (they have no office in NI but are global) it would be terrible and not worth my while. The company are global and regularly send lads out to europe to work on jobs for a year or two so I'm sure they are used to sorting out tax residency etc. I have not asked anyone in that department about shadow payrolls etc.

I am a good employee and have caused no bother, work well and respected by my bosses and colleagues thus far.

Another suggestion I've been given is contracted work - It happens in our company quite a bit as we're a project management consultancy. If I were to table that to my firm - i technically leave as salary paid and go on contract, or become self employed, I will earn a lot more than taking home €49K after tax is what I'm told, but will obv have all my own book keeping to do. They might not buy that either.

Lastly, I am considering shutting the hell up and saying nothing, well... because until i'm asked it isn't a problem sort of thing!! For all purposes, I will be staying over in dublin at least half of the week or more, and returning to NI at the weekends to live. So for tax i am resident in ireland more than 180 days per year.....

I stand to be corrected. Thank you.

Meeoow · 10-04-2021 12:32am

Check out border people.info. There is plenty of info there.

tanit · 10-04-2021 11:59am

First of all, you need to tell your employer that you want to live in NI, no matter what you need to talk with your employer about you living on a permanent basis in NI.

They might have done previously arrangements of that type with other employees and might be in a situation of doing something similar for you. If your company has offices in the UK/NI it might be easier and, as I said, maybe they have already done something like that before. If they do not have offices/branches there, you living and working there might cause them a significant amount of headaches such as suddenly having to consider if they have or not a Permanent Establishment depending on the kind of job you are doing with all the tax consequences that come with it, etc. If they have offices, they will probably need to add you to a payroll there to simplify things and you will stop being taxed eventually for your salary in the Republic (if you have a property in the Republic any income from it would still need to taxed in the Republic and you would need to make use of DDT in order to declare it to the HMRC along with any other income subject to tax in the Republic)

You will need (you or the payroll department) to inform to Revenue and HMRC of your situation if you remain in Irish payroll and live on a permanent basis so that they can make the best arrangements for that situation

In short you need to speak with your employer as this might cause a significant amounts of problems for them and for you from the tax point of view. If you do not want to get a potentially lower salary what you need to understand is that the higher salary in Republic is due to the cost of living here and you cannot have it all, but if they are happy with you there is a chance that they might be happy to keep you at that level.

Meeoow · 10-04-2021 4:28pm

Thousands of frontier workers cross the border every day. The north and south have an agreement regarding tax and benefits.
There will be no problem living in ni and based in Dublin.
Your tax is deducted by your employer, and when you do your declaration yearly with hmrc, they basically claim it, so you actually pay income tax in the north.

Greenlights16 · 10-04-2021 4:41pm

Are you worse off , to sum it up? Are both jurisdictions taking a bit off of you, or would Revenue take less then because HMRC are looking tax from you

Meeoow · 10-04-2021 6:16pm

Greenlights16 wrote: »

Are you worse off , to sum it up? Are both jurisdictions taking a bit off of you, or would Revenue take less then because HMRC are looking tax from you

I sent you a PM there

embraer170 · 10-04-2021 6:31pm

I presume you are not commuting daily?

If you are resident and spending 180+ days in Ireland (with a place, bills, etc), do you need to tell anyone?

Taxation solutions for cross border workers

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