GTN Mobility Tax Blog

As the future of work continues to evolve, providing a “positive employee experience” is top of mind for companies. While some organizations have gone back to in-office working arrangements, many have retained a full or partial remote workforce culture. These businesses see the provision of a flexible workplace as critical to not only retaining key employees, but also in recruiting top talent to fill essential job duties. And while this incentive is a benefit for the employee and employer, there are important duty of care responsibilities that need to be considered when you have a remote workforce.

Picture this.

Due to COVID-19 and the sustained impact, your company has made the decision to continue to allow employees to work from home going forward.

To you, the HR Manager, “home” means employees must work from the address on their paycheck, but to the employee, “home” just means they can work remotely from anywhere they choose. And some have chosen to work in another state for the next several months, while others have chosen to work in another country.

Your mobility tax provider informs you that your remote workers are potentially creating reporting and withholding tax risks and compliance requirements for themselves and the company when they work outside of their Home jurisdiction. You now realize you need to know exactly where everyone is working so you can begin to address any potential compliance risks that are arising.

An employee is likely to see an offer of an international assignment as a vote of confidence from an employer and an opportunity for career advancement. However, there are a number of questions the mobile employee should ask of his or her employer prior to accepting the international assignment, especially when it comes to questions related to regulatory requirements (e.g., immigration, tax compliance) and compensation and benefits issues in both the employee’s Home and Host countries.