Working Remotely back in UK - anyone doing this?

[lima53]

Hello All,

After almost 12 years living in Brisbane we have decided to move back to the UK, probably next year now as we are waiting for the current situation to improve.

I work in IT development and have been at the same company for 11 years.  I have always had some flexibility with working from home and due to recent events I (along with the rest of the company) have been doing so permanently for the last few months.  This has proved very successful and as a result, the department are looking at implementing this on a permanent rostered basis for everyone.  We also have a few employees who work remotely but live interstate. 

My question is this.  I am hoping to approach my company about the possibility of letting me work remotely back in the UK.  I would like to know whether anyone has done this?  What are the implications with regards to tax?  Do you get paid in AUD or Sterling? Also, how did you manage the time difference?  This is the only downside I see.  My guess would be that I would have to do the Australian hours so that I can 'participate' within the team which would mean I would be doing the 'graveyard' shift back in the UK.

Any thoughts / information / advice greatly appreciated. 

Thank you! 

 

[Marisawright]

I am self-employed and work for overseas clients all the time.   I guess it depends on the nature of your work, but I find the time difference only matters for meetings, phone calls and texts.   It actually works quite well for other things, because responses can actually feel faster. Say they send a query on Monday night - if you were in Australia, you might not even open it till Tuesday morning.  Whereas if you're in the UK , you open and action the email during their night time, and your response is waiting for them the next morning. 

You'd need to ask the company whether they're prepared to pay yiour salary direct into a UK bank account.  However, since you'll be losing money due to bank exchange rates that way, you might be better holding on to your Aussie bank account and having it paid in there.  Then you can transfer it yourself at better rates, when it suits you.

You'll be classed as a non-resident for Australian tax purposes. That doesn't mean you don't pay tax, it just means you pay tax at different rates.  You'll need to do an Australian tax return to declare your Australian income. 

You are liable to pay tax on worldwide income in your country of residence.  That means you'll have to declare your Australian income on your British tax return, too.  But you won't be taxed twice, because you will also declare your Australian tax paid and they'll take that into account.  

 

 

 

[MacGyver]

I don't know about the tax implications, but from a practical perspective you could look at transferwise borderless accounts for salary payment. You could get paid in AUD into your Australian account and at the click of a button move it into your linked GBP account.

I use this setup for travel purposes as the card functions as a local visa debit card in various countries. I think it was originally designed for use by contractors/freelancers so they could be paid in various local currencies. Revolut offer a similar service but I find transferwise better.

Might be one less hurdle to overcome as you won't need to convince your employer to pay you in GBP but will also have instant access to funds in your linked GBP account.