Category Archives: International Payroll

Two Tax Planning Strategies to Reduce Expatriate Costs

Author:
Eric Loff – Global Tax Network

The tax cost of an international assignment can be significant and companies struggle to find ways to manage these costs.  This article outlines two straightforward strategies for reducing the tax costs of your expatriate program.

Where do those excess taxes come from anyway?
Excess tax costs associated with an international assignment include the actual taxes paid by the employer on behalf of the employee which exceed the employee’s tax burden as calculated under the company’s tax equalization policy. But don’t worry. There are a variety of tax planning techniques that can reduce these excess tax costs. Two common ones are:

  • Paying benefits-in-kind in lieu of cash payments
  • Proper timing of the assignment

Read on to learn how these tax savings strategies work. Continue reading

New York Totally Expat Show – April 3, 2012

Join us at the New York Totally Expat Show on 3 April

The Forum for Expatriate Management’s Totally Expat Show will be returning to New York on 3 April 2012. We will also be visiting Chicago for our Mid West Show on 1 June 2012.

  •  North East USA at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York on 3rd April 2012 – Register to Attend
  • Mid West USA at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Chicago on 1st June 2012 – Register to Attend

The International HR Forum is a proud partner organization of The Forum for Expatriate Management, and Birches Group LLC will be attending the New York Totally Expat Show on 3 April 2012. Do come along and visit us. With over 500  attendees, this is likely to be the biggest Global Mobility event  ever held in New York.

These truly unique global mobility events will include a major exhibition with a large number of leading service providers and a rolling program of seminars (which will be certified by HRCI for GPHR credits).

Entry is entirely FREE for corporate HR professionals.  Just  Register to Attend!

Service Providers can attend for just $290 for FEM Members ($350 for non-Members). Just Register to Attend!

Topics to be covered are listed below.  For full descriptions of the topics, see the seminar program.   Additional speakers and topics will be announced shortly.

  • Meet the Experts – Global Immigration Compliance Trends
    Experts from Fragomen and other leading specialists
  • Latest Trends in Global Mobility Policy and Practices
    Debra Frost, Vice President, Client Services, Cartus
    William Sheridan, Vice President, National Foreign Trade Council
  • Business Process Automation in Global Mobility
    Mark Rabe, VP Business Development, Equus Software
  • US Reporting Requirements for Foreign Assets – What Global Mobility Managers need to know
    Beth Penfold and Katrina Haynes, Grant Thornton
  • An Overview for Companies new to Expatriation
    Pat Jurgens, Director of Tax for AIRINC
  • Emerging Trends in Global Mobility Transformation
    Glen Collins, Senior Manager, International Executive Services, KPMG
  •  Technology and Global Mobility – The Next Generation
    Frank Patitucci, CEO NuCompass Mobility
  • Strategic Intercultural Support: Insuring the ROI on the International Assignment
    Dean Foster, President and founder, DFA Intercultural Global Solutions
  • Is Cross Cultural Training really worth it?
    Diane McGreal, Director Berlitz Global Leadership Training, Americas Region
  •  Spousal assistance : overview of best practices based on a global sampling of 200 multinational corporations
    Alain Verstandig, President and Denise Michelle Starrett, Senior Consultant NET EXPAT Inc
  • Managing the Global Mobility Function
    Brian Friedman, Founder and CEO, Forum for Expatriate Management

Register to Attend!

 Just these Corporate Attendees

AIG * Amphenol TCS * Associated Press * AXA Equitable * Axiom Law * BNP Paribas * Boehringer Ingelheim * Bunge Limited * Citibank * Citicorp * Coach * Columbia University * Corning Incorporated * Covance Inc. * Criteo * D&B * Deloitte * Discovery Communications * Dragados USA * DSM Services USA * Fidessa corporation * Foot Locker Inc. * Harris * HSBC * IBM * ING Financial Services * Ingersoll Rand Company * JPMorgan Chase * KPMG LLP * Marsh & McLennan Companies * MetLife * Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP * Morgan Stanley * Nielsen * Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation * NYSE Euronext * NYU * PTC * Ralph Lauren * Resources Global Professionals * Sikorsky Aircraft Corporate * Sony Music Entertainment * Teach For All * Terex Corporation * The Hershey Company * The NPD Group Inc. * The Royal Bank of Scotland * Tiffany * Towers Watson * Toys’R’Us * UNDP * Unilever * United Technologies Corporation * White & Case LLP * William J. Clinton Foundation *

Equalization or Protection – A Taxing Question

Guest Author:
Jennifer Stein – Global Tax Network

[Editor’s Note:  We are happy to welcome Jen Stein as a Guest Author.  Jen is the Managing Director of the Global Tax Network Chicago office.  She has more than 15 years of experience in expat and foreign national tax preparation and consulting, starting her career with Arthur Andersen, and then Ernst & Young, where she served for over 14 years.]

Taxes are one of the most complicated and expensive aspects of an international assignment.  To control these costs, most companies utilize a tax policy as part of their international assignment process.  The two most common approaches are tax equalization and tax protection.  How do you decide if one of them is right for your company? Let’s start with some definitions.

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Permanent Establishment and the International Assignee

Chris HallGuest Author:
Chris Hall – Global Tax Network, LLC

We are delighted to welcome Chris Hall as a Guest Author.  Chris is the Managing Director for Global Tax Network in New York.  GTN is an award-winning firm that assists clients with expatriate tax matters headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He is a Chartered Tax Advisor with over twelve years of experience.  Chris has worked in the UK, Canada and the US.  Before joining GTN, he held positions with Arthur Andersen and Deloitte.

The concept of Permanent Establishment (PE) is one of the fundamental principles used by taxing authorities to claim jurisdiction over a corporate entity deemed to be doing business in their location. When sending people to work in overseas locations it is important to consider the impact the PE concept might have on the company as a whole.

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Ten Questions HR Should Ask When Your Company Expands Internationally

Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC

Companies are increasing the pace of international expansion, constantly seeking new opportunities and new markets.  One of the most commonly asked questions through our Ask the Experts feature and on other sites is how to prepare, from a human resources perspective, for international expansion.  It might be opening a new office, or just hiring one or two sales reps, but either way, there’s work to do.  If your company is expanding to a new country, what questions should you ask (and answer) as an international HR expert to help prepare your firm?

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International Payday Rules – Even More Countries

Author:
Jacque Vilet – Vilet International

Last month’s article entitled “International Payday Rules from A to Z” was well-received by our readers.   Many of you requested the same information for some more countries.   This post is a follow-up, with even more countries!

As a reminder, we will focus on some basics:   legal rules affecting paydays and legal currency allowed for payment of wages.  These provisions are for local national staff, not expatriates. Everyone knows that the most important employee relations issue is to pay employees correctly and pay them on time.

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International Payday Rules from A to Z

Author:
Jacque Vilet – Vilet International

Have you ever wondered about the legal requirements that impact how your employees are paid around the world?   Or, if you have an employee(s) in a start-up operation in a new country, do you know how they should be paid?

This article addresses a few facts about country payrolls that you might like to know.   We will focus on some basics:   legal rules affecting paydays and legal currency allowed for payment of wages.  These provisions are for local national staff, not expatriates.

Below is a table showing the requirements for one country from A to Z with the exception of “X” and  “W”.   There are no countries starting with those letters.

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Employment in France – A Quick Checklist for Employers

Guest Author:
John Tinsley – Compandben.com

Editor’s Note:  This post is written by John Tinsley, Managing Director and Owner of Compandben.com, a Geneva-based HR consultancy.  John is an HR practitioner with over 25 years of experience in Europe and the Middle East.  John’s company offers assistance to employers in finding reliable local payroll partners in over 100 countries.  He also provides consulting services in areas such as labor contracts, employee handbooks, benefits, and compensation.

Employment in France has some unique requirements and challenges.  For employers establishing businesses in France for the first time, the following checklist is a handy guide of what to consider:

  1. All employees in France are notionally attached to a “Convention Collective” or Collective Agreement for their industry. The agreements are very similar but there are variations between industry in terms of vacation, social charges, and termination indemnities, so employers need to define what their business is. As an example,”Telecoms” wouldn’t be detailed enough. “Provision and implementation of routers for wide area networks” would be ok.
    Continue reading