Work for a few days whilst on holiday

[David R]

All I want to do is do a day or two's work in my company's Sydney office without taking my holiday allowance, so a full registered and paid day of worl, but I am told there are very strict rules about tax meaning I could not do so. I was only going to use a Visitors visa, and I am not looking for any sort of permanent work, this is slightly more than answering an email on my phone whilst on holiday. Is this allowed and where can I get official approval to do that? Thanks in advance

[paulhand]

If you are holding an eVisitor visa or ETA, then you are restricted to ‘business visitor activity’, defined as:

“business visitor activity: 

(a)  means any of the following activities undertaken by a person:

(i)  making a general business or employment enquiry;

(ii)  investigating, negotiating, entering into, or reviewing a business contract;

(iii)  an activity carried out as part of an official government to government visit;

(iv)  participation in a conference, trade fair or seminar in Australia unless the person is being paid by an organiser for participation; but

(b)  does not include either of the following activities:

(i)  an activity that is, or includes, undertaking work for, or supplying services to, an organisation or other person based in Australia;

(ii)  an activity that is, or includes, the sale of goods or services directly to the general public.

Note:    An example for paragraph (b) is making a general business enquiry of an organisation based in Australia and also undertaking work for the organisation as part of investigating a business opportunity“

I make no comment on the tax implications. 

[Marisawright]

15 hours ago, David R said:

All I want to do is do a day or two's work in my company's Sydney office without taking my holiday allowance, so a full registered and paid day of worl, but I am told there are very strict rules about tax meaning I could not do so.

There are two separate things here.  One is whether you're allowed to work while on a visitor visa (which Paul has answered).

The other is the tax implications.  That can be a minefield, and it won't matter what kind of visa you hold. If your company isn't willing to do it (and I can't blame them), then there's not much you can do.  You could quite likely end up losing half the payment in tax, anyway. 

I'm certain there are people who come to Australia on a visitor visa, and drop in to do a day's work at their Sydney office without any problems at all.  After all, the company is not likely to complain, so Immigration will never know.  The problem arises if you expect the Sydney office to pay you for that day's work. Then it becomes a matter of record and you're in trouble. 

I'm a bit confused, though. If you're on the payroll at your UK office, why would you expect to be paid separately for the day's work in Sydney?  Couldn't you just ask them to credit you with time in lieu?

[Jon the Hat]

I would say in my experience that a lot of international companies have people attending meetings etc. for a few days (or even a week or two) in their Australian offices as Business Visitor.  Inevitably during those trips they also do some remote work and I don't expect it would be an issue.

As Marissa said this assumes you are being paid in the UK not Sydney, and not doing any work specifically for the benefit of the Australia company.

[Blue Manna]

19 hours ago, David R said:

All I want to do is do a day or two's work in my company's Sydney office without taking my holiday allowance, so a full registered and paid day of worl, but I am told there are very strict rules about tax meaning I could not do so. I was only going to use a Visitors visa, and I am not looking for any sort of permanent work, this is slightly more than answering an email on my phone whilst on holiday. Is this allowed and where can I get official approval to do that? Thanks in advance

I may be a little different as I have Australian citizenship, but I regularly work for a couple of weeks a year in Australia. As far as I'm aware, as long as it's two weeks or less it's fine for Australia and UK tax offices. 

As I said, I have citizenship, so not sure of visa restrictions. But you should be fine from a tax point of view. But my boss does have to fill in a few forms to make this happen. Not sure if those are generic or just for my company.

Note, this isn't the same for every country. Apparently it's not allowed in India for example, which is ironic.

Edited June 4 by Blue Manna

[Ausvisitor]

As an Australian employee with PR and UK citizenship I am able to work in the UK for up to 8 weeks a year without tax implications so long as I am paid in Australia by an Australian employer and the whole trip is not longer than 12 weeks in the UK (can visit other countries on way there/back but can't work in them)

(Our company also doesn't allow you to use the local companies facilities - so working from home, Airbnb or hotel - due to insurance issues for the UK company)

We've spent hundreds of thousands stress testing this policy with immigration and tax authorities.

[Marisawright]

10 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

As an Australian employee with PR and UK citizenship I am able to work in the UK for up to 8 weeks a year without tax implications so long as I am paid in Australia by an Australian employer and the whole trip is not longer than 12 weeks in the UK (can visit other countries on way there/back but can't work in them)

(Our company also doesn't allow you to use the local companies facilities - so working from home, Airbnb or hotel - due to insurance issues for the UK company)

That's what I would have expected.   Interesting that you can't use the local company's facilities.  

[Blue Manna]

3 hours ago, Marisawright said:

That's what I would have expected.   Interesting that you can't use the local company's facilities.  

That's probably company specific. My company doesn't have facilities there. Surprised at the 8 weeks. I was told no more than 2. But it's hard to know what is government policy and what is company policy.

[Ausvisitor]

So we have a list of countries (where so long as you have the right to work) you can do this.

Each one has been assessed and the number of days/weeks differs for each based on taxation arrangements - it may well be that your company just set a "standard period" so that the admin was simpler 

[Marisawright]

46 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

So we have a list of countries (where so long as you have the right to work) you can do this.

I think this is the key.  The OP doesn't have the right to work in Australia so that would be the sticking point.

[Ken]

On 04/06/2024 at 15:57, paulhand said:

“business visitor activity: 

(b)  does not include either of the following activities:

(i)  an activity that is, or includes, undertaking work for, or supplying services to, an organisation or other person based in Australia;

(ii)  an activity that is, or includes, the sale of goods or services directly to the general public.

Note:    An example for paragraph (b) is making a general business enquiry of an organisation based in Australia and also undertaking work for the organisation as part of investigating a business opportunity“

I make no comment on the tax implications. 

I've highlighted what I think is the important part. If you are working for and getting paid by your UK employer and not your UK employer's Australian arm it's not going to be an issue in the short term. Obviously, you can't do it long term but exactly how long before (because you are working in Australia) you should have become a (temporary) tax resident isn't spelt out. The ATO stress far more the other rules of tax residency such as where you've set up a home rather than whether or not you are doing any work.

Edited June 6 by Ken