What if your employees want to telework from home in a cross-border situation?

As an employer, you may be faced with situations in which your employee works for you, temporarily or regularly, in a country other than his/her usual country of employment. BDO has created a Teleworking tool for this kind of situation.

An employee can be working from home for several days a week in a country other than his/her usual place of work or can be working exclusively for you from another country for a more extended consecutive period (e.g. several months). In such cases, the question arises of the applicable labour and social security law, and the impact on a corporate and personal income tax level.

Shortly after the start of the first COVID lockdown, governments in Belgium and in our neighbouring countries, inspired by international organisations, took several important decisions that impacted these cases. They concluded bilateral tax agreements and took social security decisions that ensured that in many situations the tax and social security contributions levied on the wages of frontier workers in cross-border cases with neighbouring countries could remain unchanged.

However, if you are still offering your employees the possibility of cross-border telework since these (temporary) COVID-19 measures have been lifted (or if you are envisaging this possibility), there are many elements you should examine carefully (beforehand) to avoid adverse (para)tax consequences for both the employee and the employer concerned.

Our Teleworking tool offers a first insight into the applicable Belgian rules and points of attention for cross-border teleworking for the following topics:

  • Personal income tax (i.e., tax residency of the employee and country of taxation of the salary);
  • Payroll (withholding tax) and compliance obligations;
  • Corporate income tax (i.e., risk of creating a permanent establishment);
  • Labour law (i.e., which law is applicable – the tool has a limited geographical scope: i.e. EU-zone except Denmark);
  • Social security law (i.e. which law is applicable – the tool has a limited geographical scope: i.e. E.E.A. and Switzerland).

Throughout the tool, you will be provided with immediate feedback on specific topics. After completing the survey, you will also receive an overview of this feedback via email. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your trusted BDO advisor in case of questions.

Disclaimer

This tool offers an initial insight into the situation and possible points of attention on the topics mentioned above from a Belgian perspective. Even though it was built with great care, the feedback in the tool has been written in general terms and should be seen as containing broad statements only. The tool is also limited in time (Last update: November 2023) and in scope (only teleworking from ‘home’ is envisaged).
Given the complexity of the matter, individual analysis of the concrete situation will each time be necessary. BDO is not responsible for the accuracy of the information provided or any consequences of its application.

BDO, its partners, employees and agents do not accept or assume any responsibility or duty of care in respect of any use of or reliance on this tool and will deny any liability for any loss arising from any action taken or not taken or decision made by anyone in reliance on this tool or any part of it.

BDO has the experts to help you analyse the impact cross-border teleworking has on your company. Feel free to contact your usual BDO contact or, for comprehensive tax and legal advice, you can contact BDO at tax@bdo.be.