# Confused over options for US residence/UK earning



## barrowboybarry (May 13, 2021)

Hi,

I'm a new member here, planning to move to the US this fall with my partner. I can work remotely/from home, and I have the chance of staying with a UK employer being paid in GBP. This suits us well, since we have some UK financial commitments still and will do for some time.

But how does taxation work in a situation like this? 

The other relevant thing is that my US visa will be a spousal visa.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

This gets a bit messy because your primary obligation would be to pay US taxes on this income - you would be living and working in the US, the location of the employer is not relevant here. Your UK employer has probably agreed to this without understanding the full implications.

You can try to ask the employer to stop withholding any UK tax or social insurance payments and simply pay you the full amount. Then you file a US tax return and pay what is owed. (Otherwise you'd be paying UK tax first, then US tax, then trying to get the UK tax returned to you.) It's probably easier to change your status to contractor, set up as self-employed once in the US, then bill the employer. You can still be paid in GBP to a UK account, but there's no UK tax obligation.


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## barrowboybarry (May 13, 2021)

Nononymous said:


> This gets a bit messy because your primary obligation would be to pay US taxes on this income - you would be living and working in the US, the location of the employer is not relevant here. Your UK employer has probably agreed to this without understanding the full implications.
> 
> You can try to ask the employer to stop withholding any UK tax or social insurance payments and simply pay you the full amount. Then you file a US tax return and pay what is owed. (Otherwise you'd be paying UK tax first, then US tax, then trying to get the UK tax returned to you.) It's probably easier to change your status to contractor, set up as self-employed once in the US, then bill the employer. You can still be paid in GBP to a UK account, but there's no UK tax obligation.


Thanks so much, but what are the implications of me being on a spousal visa, as I understand things I can't work in the US for a US employer on this. The whole thing is a lot more complicated than I had imagined!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

barrowboybarry said:


> The whole thing is a lot more complicated than I had imagined!


It usually gets complicated pretty quickly in these sorts of situations. If you don't have work authorization, then no, you can't do it. This is something of a bugboo for many employers, who just assume that if you're working for them, they can just continue to pay you from their regular payroll system. 

On some visas, the spouse can request work authorization - which would give you the OK to work as a contractor (meaning that you would be responsible for paying your own taxes, social security and expenses). I don't know the details for requesting this, but your spouse's employer may be able to get the information for you. But you would be paying US taxes, Social Security (i.e. retirement) and it could complicate your US tax returns a bit (since you'd be filing as a self-employed business).


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

If the spousal visa doesn't allow you to work, then it might be difficult to do this above board and pay US taxes as one should.

One could of course simply continue working for your UK employer as if nothing had changed. Say nothing to the US government, continue paying UK taxes. Pretend you're still living in Blighty. When your visa status changes and you become employable in the US, look for a job there or switch to being a contractor. The problem with this approach is that your employer would eventually figure out that they are party to your pulling a fast one on the IRS, and they might not like that.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

PS to the above.

If your spousal visa doesn't allow you to work in the US, then technically it doesn't allow you to do *any* work for *any* employer - even remote work for a UK company. This is of course silly, since you're not competing for American jobs, but such is the law. Your options are to either change your visa status or work under the table. The latter is very easy to do, highly recommended if you're only going to be in a country for a year or two, but it isn't really a good long-term plan.


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