Considering tax implications in regard to global mobility

According to Mercer's 2019 Global Talent Trends study, when critical talent is scarce, people development becomes key to organizational competitiveness and sustainability. "Thus, it's not surprising that upskilling and reskilling have moved up the executive agenda from ninth to third position this year - and has risen to the number one spot for the insurance sector. As companies explore ways to keep employees adaptive and engaged, global assignments continue to be one way to help employees develop a growth mindset and prepare for the future of work.

Technology is leading to the redesign of work structures and workflows and talent strategies are trying to keep up and prepare to react to the impending disruption. Is your company considering how global mobility fits into an integrated people strategy? 

According to this article from BW BusinessWorld, "Despite the advent of technology, global mobility is on the rise."

If global assignments help to fill some of the talent gaps within your organization, then expatriate tax issues will need to be considered and addressed. This article speaks to a variety of upfront elements that need to be considered and developed to prevent compliancy issues developing. As we head deeper into year-end compensation activity, particularly around expatriate compensation accumulation that are a key foundational element to accurate GSOE's and proper tax filings, now would be the time to revisit your program's structures and processes to determine whether there are gaps that need to be closed. Some of the areas to consider:

1. Type of assignments and durations
2. Corporate structure
3. Policy - benefits and compensation
4. Host tax and its impact
5. Tax residency and your tax policy
6. Payroll - reporting
7. Expatriate tax payments - calculations, timing and payments

These areas of consideration establish a general framework for tax checks for an organization’s mobile workforce.

For more thought-provoking tax related posts:

The most and least tax-friendly countries around the world

Putting the global into your global mobility program

What is a GSOE and why is it important to my mobility program?

Take time to evaluate your expatriate tax program