working abroad for less than a year

by **lloydr** on Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:47 pm

I have a strange question I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I was recently working abroad in Canada from May to September 2010, returning home 3 times for a week at a time during the period.

Whilst abroad I was working for the Canadian part of my company, but on a home based delegation, meaning that I was still in my role and being paid the same ammount and in British Pounds, and paying PAYE as usual.

The company now want to get me to fill in a self assesment form to claim some sort of tax back, and they say they will pay any due in Canada for me, the thing is I have to sign over the self assesment to one of the big accountanting companies who will do they whole thing for me, however I wont get any rebate if there is one due as I signed a contract that says I will not gain or loose anything out of going. Now Im not worried about gaining tax back for the days worked abroad as I still got my salary whilst there, however what I don't want is for me to have to keep filling in a self assesment form for the next few years because of this, as they are currently looking at closing my job.

Im not sur eif I made myself clear here so sorry in advance if I have not, but I don't fully understand what they want to do, or what impact it has on me personally.

by **Loza** on Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:37 pm

You are liable to UK tax on your overseas income, you appear to accept that.
It may be the case that you are also liable to overseas tax on the same income, in which case you may have a claim for double tax relief, against your UK liability.
It sounds like your employment contract is tax equalised meaning that the income you receive is protected against higher tax in the overseas country, the company may be seeking to recover this amount.

by **lloydr** on Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:41 pm

OK,

Ill fill the forms in then.

How easy is it to remove the accountants from having control over my self assessment? I only ask because I will be going self employed soon as Im being made redundant.

Lloyd

by **Loza** on Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:25 pm

You just write and tell them

by **lloydr** on Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:08 pm

Had a reply from the accountants, does this sound right?

"We would be looking to claim a credit in your UK Tax Return for taxes paid in Canada by your company on your behalf. As your company paid the tax in Canada, they would get the benefit of any foreign tax credit claimed on your UK Tax Return, leaving you in the same position in the UK as you would have been had you not gone on delegation."

Thanks.

Great Forum BTW