Brexit and Coronavirus: the End for International Commuting?
Not that long ago the world of employee international mobility generally revolved around secondments and international relocations. Larger businesses operated expansive global mobility programs, with detailed and specific policies backed up with in-house HR and tax specialists and supported by a host of providers (assisting with the various immigration, relocation, and tax requirements).
Smaller businesses often acted in a more ad-hoc or bespoke way, but with similar outcomes. For the majority of businesses this meant:
- long term secondments (often 2 or 3 years) to help meet business needs;
- short term secondments (often 6 to 12 months) to plug gaps and backfill requirements or to provide developmental opportunities; and
- permanent transfers for employees who wanted to move to another country.
All of these arrangements had specific tax and social security considerations (together with many others!), but the similarity of the arrangements within each type of secondment meant that situations could often be grouped together in categories and dealt with in a very automated and prescribed manner, with some extra thought needed for infrequent specific complexities or exceptions.
Then came the international commuters.
Prior to the onset of the pandemic there had been yearon-year growth in international commuter arrangements which showed no signs of slowing1 . International commuter arrangements often appeared attractive to both employees and employers. Employees were able to gain international experiences, step into new roles, and even “try out” a new country, without the need to uproot their families or sever ties (albeit temporarily) with their home country. Employers often saw these arrangements as quicker to implement compared to secondments.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. Not only do commuter arrangements almost guarantee complexity from a tax and social security perspective, the diverse nature of the way in which they are undertaken means they are nowhere near as standardised as traditional secondment arrangements – meaning that policies have to be longer and more flexible, and the costs of professional advice are often higher (and needed more often).
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