opt out notification advantage

[jolinc]

I'm a Hongkong resident and IT freelance, I work for US firm in Hongkong through UK agent, the agent asked me to sign "opt out notification" form, so does it mean I donot have employement relationship with agent and no need
for me to pay 40% UK income tax?

if I sign "opt out notification", actually I will not pay any tax because Hongkong tax authorization will not know I am employeed by overseas client.

But the drawback is agent can terminate contract immediately or not paying any single cent after I work for a month because we are montly settled. am I right?

I don't want to be hired under the client direcly, I want to be freelance

waiting for reply, thanks

[malvolio]

I'm a Hongkong resident and IT freelance, I work for US firm in Hongkong through UK agent, the agent asked me to sign "opt out notification" form, so does it mean I donot have employement relationship with agent and no need
for me to pay 40% UK income tax?

if I sign "opt out notification", actually I will not pay any tax because Hongkong tax authorization will not know I am employeed by overseas client.

But the drawback is agent can terminate contract immediately or not paying any single cent after I work for a month because we are montly settled. am I right?

I don't want to be hired under the client direcly, I want to be freelance

waiting for reply, thanks

No. Not even close...

There's a link on the right of the page to the "Agency Workers Regulations". I should read that first.

[NotAllThere]

As someone not resident in the UK, not working in the UK, the opt-out/opt-in I would have thought was meaningless. You won't be liable for tax in the UK unless you're physically working there. However, not reporting earnings to the tax authorities in Hong Kong is tax-evasion and is a criminal offence in most countries. Just thought you might like to know that. For your interest here is what can happen to you if you get caught - looks expensive.

[Wanderer]

No. Not even close...

There's a link on the right of the page to the "Agency Workers Regulations". I should read that first.

Perhaps you can show me the error of my ways, but as far as I know there is no way to opt out of the "Agency Workers Regulations".

The UK agency will almost certainly be demanding that the contract be formed under English law so most likely what jolinc has been asked to do is opt out of the Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations. My advice is to refuse to sign the opt out.

The jurisdiction where jolinc lives and pays tax is a different matter. I can't see that any tax is due in the UK if someone doesn't live or work here however, it's not clear how the contract with the agency would work. Do they want you to form a Limited company in England or will they pay you in HK? What currency is the contract paying? So many questions.. I would suggest that you get professional advice before you start or you could make a very expensive mistake which will only become apparent later on....

[malvolio]

Perhaps you can show me the error of my ways, but as far as I know there is no way to opt out of the "Agency Workers Regulations".

Ah. Quite right, I'm mixing up my regulations...

[jolinc]

help

Hi,
pls help me

Do they want you to form a Limited company in England or will they pay you in HK? I don't have company, they pay me directly

What currency is the contract paying?

USD.

what else you need to know, I don't know why they ask me to sign opt-out form,pls help

Perhaps you can show me the error of my ways, but as far as I know there is no way to opt out of the "Agency Workers Regulations".

The UK agency will almost certainly be demanding that the contract be formed under English law so most likely what jolinc has been asked to do is opt out of the Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations. My advice is to refuse to sign the opt out.

The jurisdiction where jolinc lives and pays tax is a different matter. I can't see that any tax is due in the UK if someone doesn't live or work here however, it's not clear how the contract with the agency would work. Do they want you to form a Limited company in England or will they pay you in HK? What currency is the contract paying? So many questions.. I would suggest that you get professional advice before you start or you could make a very expensive mistake which will only become apparent later on....

[cojak]

Oh FFS - just sign it - it's not tax and they can't get you there, what do you care?

We are not your lawyer or your accountant - get advice in HK.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

No. Not even close...

There's a link on the right of the page to the "Agency Workers Regulations". I should read that first.

There is no opt out from AWR Mal only from the Conduct of Employment Businesses and Employment Agencies legislation

[BlasterBates]

Hi,
pls help me

Do they want you to form a Limited company in England or will they pay you in HK? I don't have company, they pay me directly

What currency is the contract paying?

USD.

what else you need to know, I don't know why they ask me to sign opt-out form,pls help

Whether you sign it or not seems to be irrelevant. I wouldn't worry about it. Main thing is you get paid directly in Hong Kong and you sort the tax out there.

[Wanderer]

I don't know why they ask me to sign opt-out form,pls help

I gave you a link to the sticky which explains the opt out. You will need to read that and make up your own mind what you want to do.

The general rule is that you pay tax in the country you live in so it's most likely that you will continue to pay tax in HK as normal. You need to take advice from a tax professional in HK and discuss your situation with them because it may be complex and making the wrong choices will leave you with a big tax bill or even criminal charges for tax evasion.

Sorry that we can't help much more than that but we mostly deal with UK residents and a few in Europe.

Good luck