# Canadian working remotely in UK



## AndyF020166

Hi All,

I was after some guidance if possible. I am a UK citizen living in the UK and my Canadian wife is moving to here in May. She will be here on a Spouse visa. She works for a Canadian company and can work remotely from the UK - Or can she? Does a spousal visa allow her to work remotely and if so, does she have to pay taxes here? In Canada or both?

any help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## Bevdeforges

Not sure how the UK visas work as far as how soon the spouse of a UK citizen can work - but whether she finds a job locally or is working remotely for her former employer, she will be working in the UK and thus subject to UK taxes and social insurances.

There appears to be some process in Canada (like in the UK) for notifying the tax people that you are giving up residence (vs. just making a temporary move to another country), but she well may still wind up paying taxes on any Canadian sourced income (investments, bank accounts, etc.)

We've got a couple of Canadians who may be able to give you a bit more detail, plus you should try to get hold of a copy of any UK-Canadian tax and/or social security treaties. Usually available on the website of the tax authorities, even if you have to dig a little bit.
Cheers,
Bev


----------



## Nononymous

And here's the Canadian who might know a bit more. This is certainly possible, but a few questions first:

1. Does a UK spousal visa allow her to work at all? You'll have to find the answer to that, I'm not the Brit.

2. Is this a permanent move or is she planning on returning to Canada in a few years? (Presumably accompanied by you.)

3. Is her job in Canada a regular salaried position (with benefits and tax withheld at source) or is she a contractor?

4. Does she have assets of any kind in Canada? Retirement savings in RRSPs, real estate, and so on.

General principles:

1. If her UK visa does not allow her to work, then that would in theory apply to remote work for a Canadian company. In practice it's near-impossible to detect, provided she is discreet. 

2. If she is living in the UK, that is where she would pay her income taxes. That is where she is using public services.

So, based on all that, some general scenarios:

If it's a permanent move she should declare Canadian non-residency, to be free of any future obligations to file Canadian tax returns (except possibly on some Canadian income sources such as rental or investment). This is not entirely trivial if she has established herself financially - it's not something you quickly do if you're out of the country for a few years. There are capital gains to be paid on some financial assets, upon departure, but she can keep a house and retirement funds and so on. The CRA provides detailed guidance on this. Note also that in becoming non-resident she would give up the right to use provincial health care on visits home.

The alternative to non-residency is to file Canadian returns, but taking a credit for any taxes paid in the UK. Since the UK is her country of residence, she'd pay tax on her Canadian income to the UK first, then presumably owe little or nothing to Canada. How that would work if she stayed on salary is a mystery though - in the worst case she might tax withheld from her wages but still need to pay UK taxes in full before claiming it back on her Canadian return. Probably a nightmare, and a lot of paperwork.

It's generally simpler then for her to resign a salaried appointment and continue working as a contractor. She would submit invoices and be paid in full (either to a Canadian or British account) then file UK taxes as self-employed. I have no idea how this works in the UK, with health insurance and social security and so on. Also I'm not clear on whether she would charge VAT for an offshore client. 

So in summary...

If it's a permanent move, resign the position and become a contractor, and declare non-residency from Canada, and pay UK taxes as self-employed.

If it's a temporary move, for a year or two, then while it's maybe not strictly speaking entirely legal, it's probably far easier to just pretend she never left Canada - draw a regular paycheque, pay Canadian taxes like she did before, maintain the fiction of residency, and say nothing to the UK authorities. This is also the approach to take if she's not actually allowed to work on a spousal visa. Not sure then what she'd do for health coverage, but that's another issue.


----------



## vtrefilin

Hi AndyF020166, just wondering if you and your spouse have found a solution to this tax puzzle. We are in exactly the same situation - it would be great to learn from your experience.


----------

