Contract to spouse's business

D

dee run

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Bit of a complicated one...
- I work for a company that is 60 per cent owned by my wife. Her sister owns the other stake. The job I do (digital marketing) can be done remotely.
- We want to move to Andorra, for a couple of years at most.
- I've been told I need a work permit to work in Andorra because it's not in the EU - the easiest way to do this (I think) is to use their new Digital Nomad visa (soon to be launched). I was thinking that I can start my own business and contract my services to her business. I could provide services to other businesses but realistically I would mostly be working for her business. I do understand the difference between an employee and a contractor and the defacto employee concept.

My question is - can I do this? If we weren't married I reckon, moving from employee to contractor and then moving abroad would be straight forward enough - I know other people that have done that. I got stung with not having a tax free allowance because we are married and I'm worried if there is some regulation that would stop a spouse contracting for a company their partner owns.

What kind of person should I ask for advice on this? is it a tax consultant. I'm not sure I trust our accountant to advise me on this. Could anyone give me a recommendation?
 
You haven't explained the logic behind why you wish to do this. Perhaps you can't, and that's ok - it's not particularly wise to publish every personal detail online - but all this seems a lot of bother for what might be marginal to non-existent advantages.

Otherwise the proposed arrangement doesn't sound like self-employment and your company's accountants are quite likely to raise objections to it on the wholly correct basis that if implemented it could drag the company into bother with Revenue.
 
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Is the move to Andorra for personal reasons or for some tax planning reasons?
Has the move to Andorra anything to do with the business?

I am assuming it is for personal reasons, but that is an important consideration.

What will the set-up be after the move?

An Irish company continues to operate in Ireland.
A 60% owner and employee of the company works from Andorra.
The other 40% owner continues to work from Ireland.

It would seem to me that your wife probably needs the tax planning advice on this more than you do.

I think that a lot of this would depend on the tax situation in Andorra rather more so than in Ireland. But both are important and you would need to speak to someone in Andorra.

Brendan
 
Does it have to be Andorra? Its a tiny state & you could perhaps commute from Southern France or Northern Spain & that way you would still be in the EU.
 
Hi, thanks for your responses.
I want to move to Andorra for personal reasons. My brother is already there, contracting for an Irish company. He's able to pay quite low taxes, do lots of skiing and travel around mainland Europe. We're in our 30s, no kids. I'd like to live like he does! The move has nothing to do with the business really (but I can see that it could neg impact it which I don't want to happen). After the move the set up would be that my wife would be tax based in Ireland (because she has no choice) and I would be tax based in Andorra. She gets her salary, paid by PAYE and spends >180 days in Ireland. I would bill her company for my services. The tax advisor my brother uses can help me on the Andorran side. My concern is more Revenue and the issues.

I get its a bit convoluted. Does being married to and work for a company owner mean that we are pretty stuck in Ireland (unless she sells her stake in the company)?

No I guess it doesn't have to be Andorra, but wouldn't we have a similar problem in another country. I get that we could work without a permit in Spain maybe because it's in the EU...but it sounds like we might both be locked into being tax resident in Ireland.
 
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