Anyone contracted in Gibraltar (and possibly lived in Spain)?

[doconline]

Hi,

I realise this is a UK board, but thought someone might have experience of contracting in Gibraltar anyway. Plus it's difficult to find specific forums for contracting in Gib. I am considering moving to Southern Spain and contracting in Gibraltar (lower cost of living, nicer weather etc) and just wondered if anyone else had done it in the past or was doing it now. I currently contract in the UK, but would prefer to close my UK company down, and then register one in Gibraltar if that's the best way to go. I realise this might be a bit dodgy as I will be working in Gib and living in Spain. But presume that I will pay personal taxes in Spain, and corp tax in Gib?

I'm a front end developer, looking at the gaming industry in particular. Would prefer finance, but I'm not sure if there are many dev teams based in Gib for the companies based there? If anyone has any pointers / websites they can send me to except the usual expat forum types I would appreciate it.

I've already tried a few recruitment agencies there, who are really positive about the situation, and say it should be fairly easy to get a gig given my experience, but then they dry up a bit when I ask for more info about the living / tax situation (I guess they are not getting paid for it, so would help more if I got a gig through them).

[unemployed]

I got a gui front end in magaluf once
That's Spain ain't it?

HTH

[Hobosapien]

The code monkeys are wild in Gibraltar.

[FatLazyContractor]

I got a gui front end in magaluf once
That's Spain ain't it?

HTH

He is referring to backend where there isn't much gui.

HTH

[DaveB]

Hi,

I realise this is a UK board, but thought someone might have experience of contracting in Gibraltar anyway. Plus it's difficult to find specific forums for contracting in Gib. I am considering moving to Southern Spain and contracting in Gibraltar (lower cost of living, nicer weather etc) and just wondered if anyone else had done it in the past or was doing it now. I currently contract in the UK, but would prefer to close my UK company down, and then register one in Gibraltar if that's the best way to go. I realise this might be a bit dodgy as I will be working in Gib and living in Spain. But presume that I will pay personal taxes in Spain, and corp tax in Gib?

I'm a front end developer, looking at the gaming industry in particular. Would prefer finance, but I'm not sure if there are many dev teams based in Gib for the companies based there? If anyone has any pointers / websites they can send me to except the usual expat forum types I would appreciate it.

I've already tried a few recruitment agencies there, who are really positive about the situation, and say it should be fairly easy to get a gig given my experience, but then they dry up a bit when I ask for more info about the living / tax situation (I guess they are not getting paid for it, so would help more if I got a gig through them).

I looked into this a while ago. The majority of people working Gib live over the border in Spain as the cost of living is much lower. However, you are at the mercy of Spanish border control who can close it on a whim, meaning you get trapped one side or the other. There are no trains in that area of Spain, so you will have to commute by Car or Bus. The bits of Spain in easy commuting distance to Gib are mostly grotty industrial ports, not really great places to live. Take a look at the satellite view on google maps. You need to go further afield for somewhere prettier. You will need to speak at least a little Spanish if you do live across the border as it's not huge ex-pat area and English isn't commonly spoken.

[doconline]

I looked into this a while ago. The majority of people working Gib live over the border in Spain as the cost of living is much lower. However, you are at the mercy of Spanish border control who can close it on a whim, meaning you get trapped one side or the other. There are no trains in that area of Spain, so you will have to commute by Car or Bus. The bits of Spain in easy commuting distance to Gib are mostly grotty industrial ports, not really great places to live. Take a look at the satellite view on google maps. You need to go further afield for somewhere prettier. You will need to speak at least a little Spanish if you do live across the border as it's not huge ex-pat area and English isn't commonly spoken.

Cheers for the reply. I've been down to that part of Spain before and would probably live a little further along the coast, there are some nice places within a 30 - 40ish minute drive of the border, and then park up and walk over to Gibraltar. Spanish language is OK, I spent a year in Spain before so can get by day to day, not fluent by any means though, but that would come with practice and living out there again.

It's more the business / company side of things I am wondering about. Setting up a LTD in Spain is a pain, plus tax is pretty high in Spain. I don't really want to be working through an UK LTD, in Gibraltar and living in Spain, as that sounds like a lot to keep on top of and a headache waiting to happen.

[PurpleGorilla]

+1

La Linea is a complete armpit. Which you need to get through first, before the border.

[Malcolm Buggeridge]

Park at Parking La Focona in La Linea, 5 minutes from the border, walk across and get a bus the other side - may take a little longer when there's a plane landing/taking off as you have to walk across the airport runway.

Estepona is about 50 km up the road - use the autopista; you can often count the number of other cars you see on one hand.

[SimonMac]

I looked into this a while ago. The majority of people working Gib live over the border in Spain as the cost of living is much lower. However, you are at the mercy of Spanish border control who can close it on a whim, meaning you get trapped one side or the other. There are no trains in that area of Spain, so you will have to commute by Car or Bus. The bits of Spain in easy commuting distance to Gib are mostly grotty industrial ports, not really great places to live. Take a look at the satellite view on google maps. You need to go further afield for somewhere prettier. You will need to speak at least a little Spanish if you do live across the border as it's not huge ex-pat area and English isn't commonly spoken.

This, realtions are very poor at the moment, and although closing the borders is rare, Guardia Civil has imposed ridiculous checks causing massive delays.

Gib is a thriving place for the betting companies at the moment who moved from IoM, but most of the dev work is outsourced to the likes of Playtech in Israel or Tallin so its day to day operations that need to be based in Gib

[vetran]

He is referring to backend where there isn't much gui.

HTH

oh the back end can be quite gooey though!