Tax tip: Foreign employees coming to the UK on business trips

Many UK-based companies with international operations have employees from those overseas operations coming to the UK for business meetings or other work-based activities. These companies often assume they don’t need to ‘do anything’ with such intra-company business travellers if say they are spending less than 183 days in the UK. This is because such individuals would – at least per common misconception – be automatically ‘exempted’ from tax via the relevant double tax agreements (DTAs).

However such employers may be obliged to account for PAYE on those UK workdays in the first instance even where there is a DTA between the UK and the other state. Employers who ‘ignore’ their obligations in this regard can become liable to penalties in the case of an HMRC employment tax audit.

The good news is that companies are able – subject to HMRC agreement – to arrange a short-term...