To WFH while on holiday abroad so I don’t use up holiday entitlement?

[RaspberryFarfait]

We have already have a big holiday booked this year and DH also wants to spend a month in his home country with his parents during the summer holidays.

He doesn’t WFH, so will use all holiday entitlement, but I do. Colleague is also on leave for some of that time so I wouldn’t normally be able to be off as need to cover.

WIBU to not book holiday, travel over there and work as normal, without telling work. I only work part time and it’s certainly doable.

Only problem is will I be able to log in remotely from abroad? Has anyone done this?

Don’t want to ask work yet as they’ll cotton on!

Only one mention of GDPR... going out of the Eurozone means that you are very likely to be in breach of GDPR! Even checking work emails on your mobile phone...

No, you can't. I would fire you for doing this if you were in my team. It'd be classed as gross misconduct.

But your work may well be different and the only way to know is to ask.

@onlyjustme Cripes, I imagine checking emails on holiday is very widespread and probably expected by many companies!

Agreed, tax isn’t the only issue here…

As you say most countries (EU and elsewhere) have a shortish list of activities that allow Brits visa free entry for business purposes - for example meeting colleagues, signing contracts, conferences and short term training/recruitment/shadowing of personnel.

Arriving overseas with the intent of working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for a UK based company for a period several weeks might raise eyebrows if word got out.

@Cameleongirl yup... someone I know took a work laptop with them to India and got into all sorts of trouble. I think her immediate team knew but IT found out and it was raised as a GDPR breach. [Not my workplace but I have highlighted it as an issue with my boss when a colleague was planning to visit family abroad and would potentially cause a similar problem...]
As far as I am aware the UK still exists in Euroland for GDPR purposes... but going beyond it...

YANBU. No-one at works needs to know. Go!

@Oblomov22the permanent establishment clause of the tax treaty between the UK and the country the OP is travelling (usually Article 5) to would be one example of tax legislation/ regulation to consider. The local tax law defining permanent establishments would also need to be considered.

If OP’s working from her holiday location triggers a permanent establishment in that country then they may be required to file a corporation tax return (and possibly pay corporation tax). The risk of this depends on a number of factors e.g. the type of role the OP does, whether this is a one off arrangement or something that repeats.

A single trip is unlikely to give any issues but the reality is once one employee is allowed to work remotely abroad, others will want the same opportunity and then HR and tax departments have to track the employees presence across a number of different countries, consider any implications of a number of colleagues working from a popular holiday destination etc - some are able/ willing to do this and pay for the tax advice needed to stay compliant, others aren’t.

You aren’t correct in saying that there are no tax consequences - sorry

Actually just checked and you need to be physically present for 6 months to be liable for income tax in the country I’m going to.

We also use a VPN to log in remotely already.

As we are going by car, I can even take my monitors with me, roof rack for clothes!

Will lay it out to boss tomorrow.

Just to clarify - where I said “they may be required to file a corporation tax return” in my above post, I meant OP’s employer

In my old company they are only allowed to work abroad for 10 days in a calendar year and only in a country where the company has an office (although you don’t need to go into the office, it is just so there is a legal entity there for the previous mentioned tax reasons)

I know of at least two people who have been disciplined for exceeding the 10 day rule and I had to give someone a warning for looking at their work emails on their phone unauthorised as IT flagged it

TBF none of my colleagues have family living abroad and it wouldn’t be something I’d think of for a hotel holiday. We will be staying in PILs massive house and I can set myself up in the basement as cooler. Wouldn’t consider it otherwise!

Use a VPN which will make it seem
like you're in the UK. Sorry I've just skimmed this thread so this may have already been suggested.

I worked from Spain last week as I have an Irish passport however my colleague who holds a UK passport was refused permission

How on earth would the tax authorities be any the wiser though?
Work IT systems I'll grant you might be an issue but you can get a fixed IP address for a specific country as part of your VPN account and then it should just look like you're in the UK. Nord is good enough to fool Netflix for instance.

How on earth would the tax authorities be any the wiser though?
But it’s breaking all sorts of regulations. Any reputable company will be very hot on these rules, and won’t want to be sneaking something past the tax authorities that could have serious repercussions for them.

You would absolutely get the sack for trying to circumnavigate the IT security at my work. They probably wouldn’t mind you working remotely for a month though.

@Snowiscold
What regulations?
Please link.

@Snowiscold

Or alternatively, stop posting factually incorrect information.

I often work from my parents home in Spain. The rules are that you have to be in UK 183 days per year in order to maintain your financial residency. My company are happy for me to spend the other days wherever I want.

www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/residence

I work in the EU - this is expressly prohibited for tax and insurance purposes. GDPR would be a huge issue if working outside EU through an unsecured network.

@Oblomov22
www.gov.uk/visit-eu-switzerland-norway-iceland-liechtenstein/business-travel-extra-requirements

It nothing to do with tax UK passport holders cannot work in Spain even for a couple of weeks, even for a UK employer without a visa, of course you would probably get away with it and wouldn’t be caught by the but my firm will not allow an employee to work from a foreign country undertaking business on their behalf when they don’t have the legal right to work there. And anyone sneaking over better hope no one rings them as the ring tone will give them away immediately

Your working illegally in Spain without a visa

Interesting responses. I just met an old colleague who's daughter has a remote job in the NHS. She's been travelling from country to country spending a few weeks in an air BnB working and using the evenings to explore new places. Technically she's from outside of the EU but as a young graduate she probably hasn't considered the tax impact because her employers consider her to be working in the U.K.

@Snowiscold

Your link: "if you’re planning to stay for longer than 90 days in a 180-day period"

None of that applies.

@hellesbells

"undertaking business on their behalf when they don’t have the legal right to work there. "

Once again, that's not relevant.

I can't believe the drivel that is being sprouted on this thread. Posters claiming things that are rubbish.