WFH in HongKong: do i need pay VAT and other UK taxes?

[nivek2046]

I am a programmer. All my clients are in the UK. I work and live in Hong Kong only.

(1) Do I need to pay any UK taxes?

(2) VAT?

(3) Do I need an NI number?

(4) Do I need to register as a sole trader in the UK?

thanks

[bsh]

I guess it depends if your business is registered in the UK. Then I would say yes.

[aw451]

The first question is what is your company structure? Regardless of which one you choose, you will pay salaries tax in HK.

[bdw]

Regarding VAT treatment of cross border services, if you are a non UK resident supplier of e-services to a UK business, then you do not register for local UK VAT, you do not add a line for VAT charges to your invoice, and your clients should pay you the full value of your invoice without deducting any withholding tax.

You just send your clients a monthly doc file with a heading "nivek2046 Limited Invoice" and then charge them in HKD and request payment into your HK bank account. I guess you could probably request in GBP to a HK bank account if you wanted, GBP to a UK bank account might not pass a "pub test".

In HK you should register a company and all that shit and pay taxes in HK. But this is a "should" and if you didnt probably you won't get caught and you are living a tax free life. Until you get caught.

[riversidejr]

In general, VAT will be handled by means of the so called "reverse charge" mechanism, i.e. you will send your clients an invoice without any indirect taxes and they will have to calculate the UK VAT (assuming the place of supply of the service is in the UK) and pay it to the UK tax authorities. It will not be a cost for your clients in case they can fully deduct this VAT as input VAT.

As to other UK taxes, in case you are not considered as a 'disguised employee' I doubt that you would have to pay any tax or social security in the UK, but I am lacking the detailed knowledge on the respective UK regulations.

[nivek2046]

Regarding VAT treatment of cross border services, if you are a non UK resident supplier of e-services to a UK business, then you do not register for local UK VAT, you do not add a line for VAT charges to your invoice, and your clients should pay you the full value of your invoice without deducting any withholding tax.

You just send your clients a monthly doc file with a heading "nivek2046 Limited Invoice" and then charge them in HKD and request payment into your HK bank account. I guess you could probably request in GBP to a HK bank account if you wanted, GBP to a UK bank account might not pass a "pub test".

In HK you should register a company and all that shit and pay taxes in HK. But this is a "should" and if you didnt probably you won't get caught and you are living a tax free life. Until you get caught.

Thanks.

If I am tutoring Cantonese to the people and/or busineses in the UK (via Zoom), is the above the same?

[bdw]

Thanks.

If I am tutoring Cantonese to the people and/or busineses in the UK (via Zoom), is the above the same?

Yes I believe that tutoring Cantonese to people in UK via zoom is an e-service so the above would apply.

However there is a difference if you are tutoring consumers (b2c) vs providing a tutoring service to businesses (b2b). If you are providing a consumer service, then there is a requirement to collect VAT and the details below applies to you. I suggest you stick only to b2b and then can ignore all this.

[nivek2046]

Yes I believe that tutoring Cantonese to people in UK via zoom is an e-service so the above would apply.

However there is a difference if you are tutoring consumers (b2c) vs providing a tutoring service to businesses (b2b). If you are providing a consumer service, then there is a requirement to collect VAT and the details below applies to you. I suggest you stick only to b2b and then can ignore all this.

thanks..

If I am just tutoring Cantonese to friends, then it's not b2c, is it?

I am not a business!!

Should I just accept Paypal only?

Google Pay wouldn't work in my case, I think.

Is Apple or Samsung Pay better?

[bdw]

thanks..

If I am just tutoring Cantonese to friends, then it's not b2c, is it?

I am not a business!!

Should I just accept Paypal only?

Google Pay wouldn't work in my case, I think.

Is Apple or Samsung Pay better?

Sure if you are just tutoring to friends then its all irrelevant and dont worry about creating any business or tax concerns and just collect money via wise or paypal or whatever. From your first post, I thought you were a computer programmer and I took "clients" to mean businesses. But if computer programming is actually teaching cantonese and if clients are actually friends then its a completely different story

If you are providing a tutoring service to strangers in the UK, rather than friends, then you still dont need to create a business in UK, but you do need to charge VAT from the person and then pay the VAT to the UK government. I think it used to be through the MOSS portal (mini one stop shop) but I think this might have changed recently.

[ArrynField]

There’s a threshold of £85K for VAT Registration

https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat#...e%20threshold.