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Is it possible for a multi-national company present in multiple countries to arrange a work contract in one country and have the employee work in the other or both countries?

In particular, the two countries in mind are France and the UK. And I am interested in maintaining a status in one of those countries. Will tax laws complicate this as to where I will end up paying taxes?

Are there any resources you suggest to read? Should I discuss this in an HR interview?

PS: The company is offering a contract in of the two countries.

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  • It is probably better to tell if working abroad was mentioned in the contract.
    – Sandra K
    Sep 26, 2018 at 18:48
  • @SandraK Could you clarify a bit more?
    – user10853
    Sep 26, 2018 at 19:08
  • It is certainly possible; I have done it several times. Just make sure the company will pay for a good tax accountant - and claim lots of lovely expenses ;-) At the very least, they should be paying accommodation and travel costs. Sometimes, I have had a per diem, especially when working in expansive companies.
    – Mawg says reinstate Monica
    Sep 27, 2018 at 6:41

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Yes it's possible, but there are few things to consider.

Both UK and France are in EU. If you have citizenship in any of EU countries, you can move and work freely.

When Brexit happens and UK leaves EU the free movement/working may end.

You (typically) pay taxes to the country where you have permanent residence and work contract. But the details depend on the laws of UK and France, as well as any mutual tax agreement they have.

If you spend enough time within a year in another country, you may need to start paying taxes there as well as to your home country. And this double taxation is usually resolved by the tax agreement between the countries. In the cases I'm familiar with, this limit was over 180 days, or 6 months, within a year.

Also, you didn't include this in your question, but your social security is also affected. I'm not sure if this is EU wide regulation, but as far as I know after spending 3 months consecutively in another EU country, social security in your home country ends.

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    Specifics of the EU are important. The rules are much more open/lax here.
    – Kilisi ♦
    Sep 27, 2018 at 2:28
  • What if I am not an EU or UK citizen but have a temporary residence in one? Any resources I can refer to?
    – user10853
    Sep 27, 2018 at 9:36
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    @user10853 It should still be possible to arrange this. I'm not exactly familiar with this, but you likely need a working visa when you travel across borders. And obtaining this visa shouldn't be a problem as you already have residency and job in one of the countries.
    – Sopuli
    Sep 27, 2018 at 11:14
  • It's important to add two things here: 1) the definition of a "year" differs in EU countries. Sometimes a year is defined as a calendar year, in some cases as 365 days in one sequence 2) It's really about "spending 183 days abroad" and not "working 183 days abroad". Stays matter, not work.
    – BigMadAndy
    Sep 30, 2018 at 9:56
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Is it possible for a multi-national company present in multiple countries to arrange a work contract in one country and have the employee work in the other or both countries?

Yes, it's quite possible.

I worked for such a company (although the two countries were different than in your specific case).

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The labor, social security, and taxation laws are complicated and different when even moving within EU. Contract and place of employment might affect the situation separately in social security taxes and actual taxes.

Your company needs to ask a specialist in this task if their accounting department does not know much from similar situations.

An example My sister’s husband has a contract with a German company but because of a project he had with the same German company in a chemical plant in France, he had to pay something differently while being in France with the same company. Taxation has also to do with the country of closer connection (where are your financial interests), so things get complicated.

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  • Additionally filling taxes in country that you do not know the local language would require some support from the company (if you want to recover any withheld taxes).
    – Ge Peace
    Sep 29, 2018 at 18:35

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