Living Abroad and Working from Home Tips

It’s generally accepted that the British collective ‘dream’ is to live abroad and soak up the sun – however, we’d like to suggest that the ultimate dream is to be living abroad and working from home so that you can move when you’re ready and not when you’re retired, and so that you can sack the boss and set your own agenda.

If you fancy living abroad and working from home and you have the ideas and the business acumen to get on and make it happen, in this article we’ll reveal the top five tips that you need to know to make sure your dream runs smoothly.

Whilst working from home can seem like a very easy option, you need to make sure you have factored in all of the red tape and protocols before you take the plunge and change your life for the better!

Register Yourself and Your Business Abroad

Even in Europe where there is a cross border policy allowing EU citizens the right to travel and set up home pretty much where they want, you still have to register your presence in a given nation if you intend to reside there.  In other countries such as Australia or Canada for example, you have to have permission to reside before you even move.  And of course, even though you’ll be working from home and probably working for yourself, you still have to register the fact with the local tax authorities…because after all, you will be earning an income, and that income will be taxable – sorry!

Find Out About Tax and Social Obligations

Find out in advance of a move what your taxation and social payment (NI equivalent) obligations will be.  Some countries tax even more than the UK so you don’t want to accidentally move to such a country do you?!  At the same time, certain countries within Europe have a similar social system to the UK, and perhaps payments made into it can count towards your British pension entitlement in years to come.  You need to speak to an international accountant ideally, or to one in the new nation and the UK before you leave to ensure you know what you will be obliged to pay and to whom.

Get an Accountant!

Before you even begin working and trading you need to have enlisted the services of a good accountant who can tell you all about the record keeping you will need to do up front before you get into bad habits!  For example, your accountant will be able to tell you what your deductibles are for tax purposes, how to get into good accounting habits and what you can do to legitimately keep your tax bill down to an absolute minimum.  A good accountant is worth their weight in gold…so take a recommendation and find a decent one who can help you.

Look After Yourself!

As a home worker and a business owner who is therefore solely responsible for bringing home the bacon, you have to look after yourself.  You need to think about the insurances you should perhaps have in place, from life insurance to critical illness cover.  You also need to be comfortable living on sometimes erratic earnings.  One month you could earn a fortune, a few months later your business may be having a very lean and quiet time.  So you have to get into a position where your family’s income is secure if something should happen to you, and where you can cope no matter how erratic your earnings.

Don’t Forget Your Pension

If you’ve previously been employed in the UK and were lucky enough to have been part of your employer’s pension scheme, moving abroad and becoming self-employed will of course affect your entitlement to this pension.  Alternatively if you were contributing into a personal pension, you may find that once you relocate, offshore pension options are more suited to your new circumstances.  You need to look into your pension plan provision sooner rather than later because you and you alone will be responsible for putting money away towards your eventual retirement.

The good thing about offshore pensions such as QROPS is that they can be as flexible as you need them to be now that you’re potentially erratically earning.  Even if you can’t contribute one month and the next month you want to add in a lump sum, you can find a tax efficient retirement savings vehicle offshore to suit your needs.  But don’t put off organising your pension, because the longer you leave it the longer you will have to go on working before you can even contemplate retirement!