# US citizen living in UK, working for US company



## JB1611 (Aug 25, 2011)

Hey all,

Apologies if I am posting this in the wrong place.

I am a US citizen, currently on a student visa in the UK. I will shortly be switching to a spousal visa. I have been offered a remote job from a company I used to work for in the US. It's computer work which I can do from my home here in the UK.

My question is: is this allowed? I have done work for them on and off, and get paid in my US bank account. US taxes are deducted from my wage. I just want to know how I can continue to work for them so that everything is "above board"? I don;t want to do anything that could jeopardise my visa.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!


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## rifleman (Jun 24, 2011)

Intetesting question. I seem to recall that a student visa allows you to work up to 20 hours per week. It does not matter who you are working for, you cannot exceed those hours.
The reason is simple. You are here principally to study and you cannot be doing that if you are working longer hours.


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## JB1611 (Aug 25, 2011)

Yes that's correct, I can work up to 20 hours. But I'm wondering about when I'm on a FLR(M) spousal visa opposed to a student visa?

I have another question - I am thinking of returning home to the US for thanksgiving and Christmas. Does anyone know if there would be any issues with me working casually whilst I'm over there? It would be for 6-8 weeks I imagine. As a US citizen working in the US, I'm just wondering whether that would have any impact on the fact that I have a partner and spousal visa for the UK?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

JB1611 said:


> Yes that's correct, I can work up to 20 hours. But I'm wondering about when I'm on a FLR(M) spousal visa opposed to a student visa?
> 
> I have another question - I am thinking of returning home to the US for thanksgiving and Christmas. Does anyone know if there would be any issues with me working casually whilst I'm over there? It would be for 6-8 weeks I imagine. As a US citizen working in the US, I'm just wondering whether that would have any impact on the fact that I have a partner and spousal visa for the UK?


Yes, you can do any kind of work with your FLR as spouse, including remotely for a US employer. There is an income tax issue to sort out, as a UK resident you are liable for UK tax. If you pay tax in US (deducted at source perhaps), you can set that off against UK tax liability.

As for working in US during visits, again no problems. There is tax implication, and you are still liable for UK income tax for the work you do in US, but your US tax can be set off.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

On a spouse visa (or actually, even on your current student visa) you are considered to be working in the country where you are physically located while doing the work. If you are residing in the UK, you should be paying UK taxes and social insurances and should be eligible for the overseas earned income exclusion (form 2555) when filing your US taxes.

Working while in the US over the holidays shouldn't disrupt your exclusion - except that if you're qualifying under the "physical presence test" you may be expected to be taxed in the US on work done while you are physically present in the US. And be careful not to spend more than 30 days during the year in the US, which could jeopardize your right to take the exclusion - at least under the physical presence test. (Under the bona fide resident test, that may not be a problem for you.)

Especially once you have your spouse visa, you really should be billing your "employer" in the US for your work and declaring it as self-employment income to the UK, with no US taxes being withheld from it. (I'm not sure how the VAT on service income is handled in the UK. You should check with an accountant on that.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## JB1611 (Aug 25, 2011)

Thank you both for your replies.

I'm not familiar with a lot of the jargon, so am I correct in thinking that if I return the the US soon after receiving my flr visa and do some work over there for my old company, I still need to declare this (how?) because my current residency is in the UK? 

Thanks!


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## rifleman (Jun 24, 2011)

JB1611 said:


> Thank you both for your replies.
> 
> I'm not familiar with a lot of the jargon, so am I correct in thinking that if I return the the US soon after receiving my flr visa and do some work over there for my old company, I still need to declare this (how?) because my current residency is in the UK?
> 
> Thanks!


That depends upon what structure you use to trade. If you simply work as self employed you will need to do a self assessment tax return annually. If you set up a company to employ you then you should set up a Pay as you earn scheme.

Talk to HMRC and/or an accountant.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

JB1611 said:


> Thank you both for your replies.
> 
> I'm not familiar with a lot of the jargon, so am I correct in thinking that if I return the the US soon after receiving my flr visa and do some work over there for my old company, I still need to declare this (how?) because my current residency is in the UK?
> 
> Thanks!


If your current residency is in the UK, you need to declare to the UK tax authority for sure. And also you need to file US tax returns as a US citizen. Unfortunately the US is one of the few countries that requires all its citizens to file returns no matter where in the world they are resident. You won't get double taxed, but you need to sort out your US tax status (i.e. to get your "employers" to stop taking US withholding from whatever they're paying you).
Cheers,
Bev


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