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I'm planning to leave the UK for around 12 months and work freelance in a non-EU country. I know there are many things I need to get right in terms of registration and financial declarations, tax status, residency status, which countries I need to register as a business in, which countries I need to declare what types of income in, which countries I can/should have registered addresses in, how much I need to record and disclose to tax officials in each country about how much time I spend in each country, etc etc.

What is the name of the type of professional specialist I should seek advice from?

  • I've already spoken to a financial advisor, and he was helpful but somewhat out of his depth with the international angle.
  • It seems similarly outside the expertise of a typical accountant or business advisor
  • I don't think an international tax advisor is right either (I'm not trying to avoid or minimise tax, just make sure I do everything properly and can explain to clients clearly what my status is)
  • If it's a lawyer I need, I don't know what type or specialisation.

Update: following a comments discussion with DumbCoder below, I've looked into accountancy firms who advertise themselves as being "accountants for freelancers" and "accountants for contractors" and there do seem to be several; I've found one firm who seem to know enough about working overseas to have written advice documents on it. This seems like one good approach.

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    It seems similarly outside the expertise of a typical accountant or business advisor What made you think so ? For corporate tax matters it has to be an accountant you should go to.
    – DumbCoder
    May 13, 2015 at 13:07
  • What type of accountant should I seek out for questions about freelancing overseas? I imagine most tend to deal with single country arrangements?
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    May 13, 2015 at 13:09
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    Don't make assumptions on your own. Have you asked any accountant yet ? Some do deal in multiple countries, but you would need to search for them and ask them.
    – DumbCoder
    May 13, 2015 at 13:12
  • That's why I'm asking! From your comments, it sounds like accountants are what I need. All I need next is some idea of what type of accountant to look for - whether there's any particularly relevant specialisation or type of accountancy I should seek out (or should I just get any accountant - is it reasonable to expect them to find out anything they don't know e.g. policies in my host country?)
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    May 13, 2015 at 13:16
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    I've edited the comments a bit to keep them focused on the question.
    – GS - Apologise to Monica ♦
    May 16, 2015 at 8:22

2 Answers 2

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You are definitely looking for an accountant / tax advisor. (Tax advisor being a specialised accountant.)

Smaller accountants are less likely to have experience with ex-pat taxation, but will deal with more freelancers. Larger companies are likely to charge more, as they are more likely to mainly deal with large companies.

The professional institution pages may help you find a relevant accountancy firm, for example see ICAEW's "Find an accountant" page (other accountancy institutions are available).

Source: A close relative of mine used to work as a tax advisor, handling the UK tax affairs of UK employees sent abroad by their employers. She worked for one of the "Big 4" accountancy firms.

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You have not provided sufficient information for an answer. How to approach an international assignment depends on both your current position in your home country ( homeowner, married etc), the type of work, expected visit home, age, and other factors.

For 1 year contract, you could continue using your UK limited company while dispatching yourself to the other country, as per European union rules e101.

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  • This doesn't answer the question asked. The question is "Who do I need to talk to?", not "What should I do?".
    – AndyT
    Nov 9, 2016 at 17:02
  • Well, there are a number of people you could talk too
    – Matthew
    Jan 31, 2021 at 18:21
  • I feel like we're talking at cross-purposes. The original question said "I don't know who to talk to". A useful answer is therefore "Talk to this person". If there is not enough information to answer, then that should be left as a comment (although as a new user you're probably not allowed to leave comments yet). Only answers should go in the answer box. Perhaps it might be useful for you to visit the Tour page, to understand how stack exchange sites work: money.stackexchange.com/tour
    – AndyT
    Feb 3, 2021 at 13:12

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