[StuW]

Not a great start to a thread I know but bear with me..

My Boss here in the UK has just offered to keep me employed even though we're off to NZ next month. Basically I can do my job anywhere I have access to email & phone and I'm wondering the best way to sort out getting paid.

Am I better off staying on the books with PAYE and getting paid into my UK bank account and transferring the money into NZ.

Or, should I become a consultant / limited company (in the UK or NZ - not sure which would be best) with an offshore bank account, sorting out the tax and NI myself when the money comes into NZ,

Or, something else I haven't thought of (except not paying the tax or NI anywhere )

Any help would, of course, be greatly appreciated, as the potential financial benefits could be massive.

Thanks


Stu

[markkellaway]

Hi Stu,

I'm actually trying to arrange the same thing with my employer. One of my "incentives" for them is going to be the fact that they pay me as a contractor, so I pay tax etc. in NZ. I also think that, if I'm going to live there, I ought to contribute properly. I haven't worked out all the details yet as far as transfer of funds etc. is concened but I'm sure that won't be too difficult to arrange.

Mark. :P

[Timbo]

I assume both of you have been granted PR without job offers.
If not, then how are you getting in when still working for uk based co.? Curious thats all.

[StuW]

Hi Timbo

Fair enough question. My wife is from NZ so I was able to get my hands on one of those elusive 'green cards'!

Be interested to hear how you get on Mark, I too think it's only right to pay my way in NZ (it's also easier to get expenses written off against the business).

As far as funds transfers go, I should think somewhere like HIFX would be able to sort out a better rate of exchange than a bank.

[markkellaway]

I'm "hoping" I get PR without the job offer, if the 18a requirements are put in then 'll just have to get a job there. It seems to be the case at the moment that those on the POL are getting PR with no further requirements, which is what I'm hoping for. As has been indicated by Foolsgold99 in another thread it seems that the 18a requirements (3 months in skilled job) are placed on you if you get in with the help of a job offer, but not if you don't.

With regards to the money transfer 'll be investigating the HIFX route also. They do a system where you can set up a regular transfer from a UK account to a NZ one. I do need to find out the UK tax situation in that instance though, not sure how it will work. If anyone here has further info on the tax rules in cases like ours I'd like to hear them. :nice1

Cheers,

Mark. :P

[richard]

Stu, you have got some pretty comprehensive replies on UK2NZ so I won't repeat everything said there but if you can swing it it is well worth the hassle. I am coming to the end of a 3 month contract working for my old UK employer and hopefully they will renew for another few months.

I am fronted by a friend who has his own consultancy so I send him invoices and they then invoice my old employer. It was done that way as they were already on the approved suppliers list for my old employer.

My pay goes in to my old UK bank account and as and when I need funds I bring some over. I have arranged for my bank account interest to be paid with no tax deductions so as long as I remember to put it on my tax form in NZ I will pay tax here instead.

There is loads of useful info on the NZ IRD website and the forms in numerical order can be found here:-

http://www.ird.govt.nz/future-IR/forms-guides/number

IR3 is the tax return, ir292 explains the residency test, ir375 is the GST guide, ir289 is about provisional tax payments, ir10 is the accounts information form, ir295 is a general intro to NZ tax, ir283 is residence withholding tax, ir260 is about depreciation.

I read those and a few others then went to see an accountant here and he wasn't able to tell me much more than I had found out from the pdf's.

IR20 from the UK tax web site is worth a read too.

[StuW]

Thanks Richard

Very informative reply. :nice1

1 immediate question: You say that you've arranged for your bank to pay your interest with no tax deductions. Is something you just tell the bank to do? Do you then claim the transferred money as a 'salary' with tax taken off in the traditional wayin NZ?

Thanks

[richard]

Hi Stu

You just fill out for UK IR form R105. I bank with IF and they actually provide a copy of the form on their website with a pre-prepared letter to print off and send back them.

After I sent the forms to them IF wrote to me asking me to clarify my NZ address which I did and now I don't get charged tax on the interest.

I was an employee in the UK but being self employed in NZ seems to be a lot simpler than in the UK. The amount you invoice for your time is your wage coming in then you just offset any expenses against it. The NZ IR publish a monthly exchange rate chart which I believe you then use to work out what you officially earned in NZ dollars for that month.

[Wannaway]

To get your UK source interest paid gross you need to fill in the form with the bank. This is making a declaration that you are becoming non uk resident from the date you leave the UK and you need to supply a NZ address otherwise the bank will not be able to process it.

The interest ( worldwide income) is still chargeable to tax in NZ so you get your IRD no. on arrival or before and will need to declare all income on the tax return here in NZ so appropriate amount of tax can be deducted.