UK London Contractor Living in Germany

**BlasterBates** · 24 April 2009, 07:22

Tricky one. If you do this longterm you'll be tax resident in both places. I know, I do something similar. It is even trickier that you work in Germany and the UK....oooh this is very unusual.

You should talk to a German accountant and a UK accountant, about where tax is due, otherwise you'll get into hot water.

I think quite probably you'll have to work as a German Freiberufler, two days a week and charge the UK Ltd for services provided, to do it truly legally.

However because you're billing in the UK and travelling once a week you could probably do it all through your UK Ltd and declare that income in Germany.

Note ...dividends are taxed twice, i.e. you'll pay on top of UK tax German tax, with credit given for UK tax.

Employment income or Corporate earnings aren't.

If you could look closely at residency in both countries and see if you can avoid it in one of them. In Germany you'll satisfy resdency if you're registered there, regardless of whether you are physically there, i.e. you rent a flat. If you stay in hotels you can avoid residency through the number of days you stay there.

Tax rate for divis in Germany is around 25% so if your tax in the UK is say 20% you'd pay a topup of 5%.

**Brussels Slumdog** · 24 April 2009, 08:07

Originally posted by Andy Stone View Post

Hello,

I'm a UK contractor who is now living in Germany, but about to start a contract in London. First month will be 5 days a week in London, and from then-on each week will be 3 days in London and 2 days working from home in Germany.

Does anyone know what the best options are for me to minimize my taxation?

Many thanks
Andy

Hi Andy,
I'm also a UK contractor but I live in Belgium. I always use a UK umbrella company when I work in the UK .The payroll charges in the UK are minimal.
You will also contribute to your UK pension while using a UK umbrella.This may
be useful if you have worked previously most of your life in the UK
I am not currently self employed or a limited company.
Your First month will be 5 days a week in London, followed by 3 days in London and 2 days Germany. What if the company changes its mind and won't
let you work from home?
It depends on your current German set up.
Do you want to continue paying Germany Social security for your family.

**darmstadt** · 24 April 2009, 08:18

I have a similar situation where I'm resident in Germany but I do work abroad a lot, luckily for me its in various countries so I don't have to worry about tax (apart from 1 year where I spent over 183 days outside of Germany) and don't bill the UK. As BlasterBates said, the only person who can really answer this is an accountant. You may be lucky to find one who is knowledgeable on both UK and German taxation to answer this. Remember if you're going the Freiberüfler way and are registered for MwST here, don't charge the UK client this on your invoices.

UK London Contractor Living in Germany