# Working as a remote employee for a US company in Spain.



## ksjazzguitar (Dec 22, 2010)

OK, time for another questions. I apologize if this is territory that has already been covered in other posts, but these things keep changing, every situation is a little different, and of course these are the things that keep me up at night.

Just to review our situation, I am a US citizen and my wife was born in Peru but became a US citizen. She recently got her Italian citizenship recognized (through her Italian ancestor) and will be receiving here Italian PP shortly. We plan to move to BCN, sometime in the first half of 2022. She will be going as an EU citizen and I will be going as her spouse.

The question is about employment/tax status. I make good money, working 100% remotely for an American company as an employee (W-2). They have people all over the globe but they don't have a physical presence in Spain so they cannot have me as a Spanish employee and can't keep me as an American employee working in Spain (as was explained to me, because of US law). That means either keeping a residence in the US and working through that location (as was suggested by someone at the company), paying US taxes, etc ... or switching to a contractor status. For now I'm imagining that staying an employee makes the most sense. I have a friend that has a home and I can use that as a permanent address.

I'm not looking to break any laws or "get away with something". I want to respect the laws of both countries. I assume I will have to file taxes in Spain - I'm not sure what I would have to pay. I may eventually have to convert over to something else, but for now I'm just looking for something to get through the first couple of years as we make the transition. It's a good job and I'd like to hold onto it, but I would consider switching jobs if I had to.

I'll probably end up talking to an attorney but I was curious if anyone had an idea so at least I can get my head pointed in the right direction. Are there legal or tax concerns in either the US or Spain?


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

Well in one of those situations you are basically saying you intend to use a friends address to allow you to pretend you live and work in USA whilst living in Spain where you work. ? Sounds fairly dodgy to me. The second situation sounds like you will be a freelancer which would mean being automino in Spain. That would be legal. You are going to be told you can have dual residency and dual tax domiciles etc- and we will go round in circles. If you speak Spanish phone Hacienda and ask them, or get someone to do it for you, you will get the appropriate answer but here on this forum we will just slog it out forever and you will just end up choosing the answer you like


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## Do28 (Dec 21, 2010)

I agree with Kaipa, talk to the Spanish tax office as you will get so much conflicting advice here. I did and the answer I got was very different from forum advice. But using a friends address is dodgy to say the least. If you are in Spain full time and your wife is here full time then you would be considered domiciled. You would need to register as an autonimo in Spain I should think but get some proper advice. Like me you will still have file US tax returns as well.


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## ksjazzguitar (Dec 22, 2010)

Sorry, the "using a friend's address" is old hat to me - I worked on cruise ships for years and was constantly having a separate tax domicile (my friend's address) from my physical residence (whatever ship I was on, with its own mailing address). It was never an issue in the US. True, it may get thorny in dealing with two governments that have different rules.

I don't know, maybe this too thorny. Like I said, I'll probably do an interview with a lawyer at some point. It would be nice if they are knowledgeable about tax and immigration issues, if anyone has a recommendation.


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