Sending employees overseas: ensuring successful relocations

A discussion of the practical, tax and legal implications of a globally mobile workforce including best practices for transferring US employees overseas and the impact of the new Statutory Residence Test in the UK.

As companies grow rapidly and expand overseas, they are frequently asking their local workforce to travel to, and often relocate to, their international offices on a temporary basis to develop, manage and grow their business or to export their Silicon Valley culture into new markets.

As a result, globally mobile employees are increasingly common and companies are often caught out by the myriad issues that arise as their employees move across borders.

To complicate things further, as of April 6^th, 2013 the UK authorities have put into effect new rules concerning tax residence in the UK.  The Statutory Residence Test (SRT) will determine whether an individual is resident or not resident in the UK for the purposes of income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax. This has a huge impact on our members. The importance of understanding the practical implications of how this will affect individuals and businesses with ties to the UK should not be underestimated.

To help our members navigate these rules, Fitzgerald and Law and Osborne Clarke will be hosting an informative session on October 17^th, 2013 regarding exactly what employers and individuals should be aware of regarding their global workforce. Other discussion topics raised will include the legal background to secondment arrangements, how US laws will interact with the SRT, Overseas Workday Relief and Social Security, as well as obligations regarding UK Withholding Taxes under Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Shadow Payrolls.

The event will be hosted by Fitzgerald and Law's Jonathan Boyfield who has had over 20 years' experience of various expatriate tax related issues, working  with international businesses and government agencies and Osborne Clarke's Sian Story who is based in Silicon Valley and has spent a number of years advising US companies on issues relating to globally mobile employees.

Speaker Bios:

Sian Story,  Senior Associate, Osborne Clarke, Silicon Valley

Sian is a UK qualified lawyer based in Osborne Clarke's office in Palo Alto, California, specializing in employee benefits and incentives, including establishment and operation of UK approved and unapproved stock option plans and employee benefit trusts. Sian has particular experience in advising US companies extending US stock option plans to include UK and other European employees and can assist with a range of queries associated with the relocation of employees into the UK.

Sian also has experience of advising on the treatment of stock options following M&A transactions, corporate takeovers and mergers, and is a member of the UK Share Plan Lawyers Organization.

In addition, Sian advises US companies on structuring the establishment of their overseas operations, particularly focusing on the HR and tax aspects - regularly interacting with the lawyers in the Osborne Clarke Alliance and further afield.

Sian read law at the University of Bristol, and completed a post-graduate diploma in legal practice at BPP Law School in Leeds. She trained with Osborne Clarke and relocated to California in 2010.
 

Jonathan Boyfield, Partner, Expatriate Tax, Fitzgerald and Law

Jonathan has over 20 years experience in UK and US expatriate tax planning and consulting gained at Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche, where he worked in both London and North America before returning to the UK in 2001.

Jonathan specializes in expatriate tax planning and compliance for non-domiciled individuals and for UK nationals leaving the UK. His "big four" experience has given him extensive knowledge of the secondment programmes of a number of multinational companies across industry.

Jonathan also advises Inward Investment clients of Fitzgerald and Law in connection with their internationally mobile employees. He specializes in remuneration planning for international secondments in order to achieve maximum efficiency from a tax and social security standpoint for both employer and employee.