German employment - UK resident.

[Darola]

I’ve been working for my current company for over 5 years and the last 3 has involved regular travel to Germany, where the head office is. I generally spend around 8 days a month max in Germany - which is 2 days a week/1 night. I have a UK contract and currently pay all taxes in the UK and claim expenses through work for travel.

I’ve now been offered a promotion, but due to Workers Council influence, my new contract would have to be German, with a German office as a base location. My boss has said this is out of his hands and my travel wouldn’t need to increase. I recognise I’ll need to get a 2ndry address in Germany to register for tax, but have no idea what I am setting my self up for by now getting paid in euros and paying German tax, whilst still been principally a UK resident. Including how I maintain my NI contributions so I’m still able to use NHS and later in life claim state pension etc.

Have done a bit of googling but there is a lot to take in for a laymen. If anybody can give some advice or point me towards a good resource it would really be appreciated.

[etf]

There are not too many advisers who have a good knowledge of International Social Security (me included) but the following may be worth looking at when reviewing your social security situation (I've also copied the article link below as the embedded links have not copied and pasted through to the text):

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/migrants/national-insurance-migrants/what-if-i-am-multi-state-worker

Migrants
If you are an individual who works both in the UK and another country within the European Economic Area (EEA), including Switzerland, there are special rules regarding your social security position. The rules apply if you carry out more than 5% of your work in a second country.

The UK left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020 and entered a transitional period, currently due to end on 31 December 2020, during which EU law continues to apply in the UK. The UK’s relationship with the EU beyond the end of the transitional period has not yet been finalised. Please note that the guidance below reflects the law as it applied before the UK’s departure from the EU, and as it will continue to apply throughout the transitional period.

These ‘multi-state workers’ normally pay National Insurance contributions (NIC) or social security contributions in the country that they are resident in, provided that they also perform ‘substantial’ duties in that country.

Residence is defined for social security purposes as the place where a person habitually resides, that is the place where the employee has the strongest personal connections.

Substantial is defined as being no less than 25% of working time and/or remuneration. So, if an employee is working in both the UK and also in their home country, they will still be insured in the home country rather than in the UK, so long as they spend at least 25% of their working time there and keep the relevant social and economic ties.

Where the employee is not performing a substantial part of his activities within his home member state (state of residence), the position is generally that he pays into the social security system of the member state where his employer has its registered office or place of business.

If you are unsure where you should pay social security, HMRC may be able to help determine the position. There is a form that you can complete to send to HMRC, on GOV.UK.

There is also further information on the EU website.

You can find a list of the EEA countries on our page EU and EEA countries.