Self-Employed -v- Employee Foreign Income

Hi All,

Does anyone have any idea as to the advantages/disadvantages of going self-employed or staying as an employee of a company that is working abroad from a tax point of view.

Can basically send an invoice to a foreign based company or an irish based company but the work would relate to the foreign company (its a subsidiary), alternatively could go direct as an employee of the irish company and do the same work.

• Not worried about the VAT side of things if self-employed, can deal with that
• Will be resident in Ireland. Will be travelling abroad every 2nd week for 6 months
• Am aware of the need to register for income tax and the need to pay preliminary tax if going self-employed route
• The foreign country is in EU

Suppose the question boils down to is there any tax saving to the self-employed/employee question and if self-employed is there any difference between invoicing the foreign company or Irish company (aside from VAT).

I'm sure there is far more information needed for an informed opinion and ultimately will need solid advice from consultant if the area is fairly grey but open for discussion anyway!

Thanks

Is this correct ? :-
You are basically working for the same company and doing the same job whether you declare that you are self-employed or are employed. Therefore one assumes that you'll get the same renumeration on either basis. That is, your company will agree the same annual payment either way and leaves it to you what you prefer ?

As you say, more information is needed for an informed opinion.
Normally ,real self-employed people:-
- pay out of their pockets for time off - holidays etc
- have no redundancy protection
- can't sue anyone for unfair dismissal
- have no maternity (and soon ,paternity) benefits
- receive OAP a year later than employed (paye) people
- have a crap-load of paperwork that an employee doesnt bother with
- does not get the PAYE tax credit (though this is slightly mitigated by lower PRSI)

In either case you can claim for expences so there's no advantage either way.

I can see no advanatge in your situation in being self-employed. And I'd make sure I'd work for the company that is based in the state with the best employee benefits/economic strength etc.

I'd love to see a post from anyone that could point out an advantage in being self-employed in your situation .

I repeat -I'm assuming that you'll be doing the same work for the same people either way.

Yup, all assumptions are correct.

I too would like to see if there are any advantages to going self employed and as to whether it makes a difference which company is then invoiced.

I'm pretty sure of what I should do but am interested in at least discussing the various aspects

trg said:

Yup, all assumptions are correct.

I too would like to see if there are any advantages to going self employed and as to whether it makes a difference which company is then invoiced.

I'm pretty sure of what I should do but am interested in at least discussing the various aspects

Click to expand...

Well, will you be working under a contract of service or a contract for services... it sounds suspiciously like an employment, if as you say the circumstances won't be different under "self-employment"... http://www.revenue.ie/en/business/paye/guide/employers-guide-paye-intro.html#section5

In the current climate, it makes no sense for an employee in a secure job to opt for self-employment, while doing the same work, with all the insecurity that self-employment entails.