# UK citizen working for a US firm on a J1 , want to work short term in UK



## darshan9486 (Mar 27, 2016)

Hi, I apologise if this has been covered, I am new to this website, I think I posted on the wrong board earlier - thank you in advance for any help you can give.

I am a UK citizen working for a US company on a J1 visa; I have been working for a proprietary trading firm in Chicago. I need to travel to UK with my wife, and would also work out of the UK remotely, only briefly, but working from UK remotely for 2-4 weeks per year.

The company does not have a UK office, it is a US based firm only, so I'd be working off a PC that was logged onto the PC in Chicago remotely, and trading from there. Can my firm allow me to do this? If so, what is the tax exposure for me/firm? 

I'd rather travel as an employee, and I am already receiving a salary - what is the best possible way to ensure my tax liability is limited to the UK and that my company doesn't have a tax liability in the UK?

Thank you again


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

The simplest way would be for you to pretend that you're on a 2-4 week vacation in the UK and do nothing. You're still drawing your US salary, it's not important that you're temporarily located somewhere else.


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## darshan9486 (Mar 27, 2016)

Thank you - my company are mostly worried they are going to be liable to pay tax, and before they approve a trip, want to be sure they won't face tax exposure to me working there. 
They don't have a UK presence, so didn't think they would be exposed, but they are an LLC and as I would be trading remotely, they are worried they may have some liability to HMRC. I agree, it really shouldn't be an issue, but just wanted some clarity on their exposure as well. Would you happen to know about their exposure?


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm not a lawyer. I have no idea if, technically, you or your employer would have any UK tax exposure under these circumstances. Personally I would just go and say nothing. But if your employer is paranoid, they should seek out and pay for a legal opinion from someone with the training to provide a credible answer.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

It's up to HRMC of course. I'm assuming you are a U.K. (or other EEA/EU passport holder) for purposes of this answer.

From what I've been able to find HMRC has no time threshold, much like New York State. (Please check me on that.) However, you would be eligible for a Personal Allowance of £10,600, with the citizenship assumption noted above. That is, your first £10,600 of U.K. source income (all added together) for that tax year would be tax free. For example, if you work 50 weeks per year, and 2 of those weeks (1/25th) you work in the U.K., and you have no other U.K. source income, then you shouldn't owe any U.K. income tax until your annual U.S. employment compensation gets a fair bit above £250,000. This also assumes that you're paid a steady wage and not paid a bonus or commission tied specifically to something you do while you're working in/from the U.K. That said, you're still supposed to file a self assessment tax return to prove all this.

This is my interpretation digging through HMRC's instructions. Again, please double check.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm a big fan of the "nobody can detect that you're doing it" approach to working remotely while visiting other countries. But clearly your employer feels differently.


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