Have you considered the impact of Covid-19 on the taxation of remuneration for the global workforce?
As many countries are dealing with travel restrictions because of Covid-19, the impact on mobile employees and their employers continues to have a great effect.
In this article, Global Mobility Group specialist Dr. Michael Grüne from Menold Bezler, explains the case of one of his German clients who faced a change of location due to restricted movement between Germany and Switzerland, and the subsequent implications for taxation.
In normal circumstances, according to the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between Germany and Switzerland, the remuneration received before 2020, by an employee who works in Zürich for a Swiss company but lives with his family in Stuttgart, was taxed in Germany. However, due to the global pandemic and travel restrictions, from 1 March 2020 he had to work from home on a full-time basis.
The question now is how to treat the taxation for 2020 where he is working from Germany and not Switzerland?
In June 2020, an agreement was signed between Germany and Switzerland that confirmed that: as the working days were only performed in Germany because of the measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, that the taxation of remuneration and the employee’s social security, may be claimed as working days spent in Switzerland.
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There may be many other instances across the world, where mobile employees have been effectively stuck in a country where they would not usually work, which are giving rise to several taxation and social security issues. For more information and support on global mobility issues relating to employees, members of the MGI Worldwide CPAAI Global Mobility Group are available help by providing employment service support to members and their clients.
If you would like to know more about the group and how you can get involved, you can visit the group website HERE or contact Nicki Lynn at [email protected]
MGI Worldwide with CPAAI is a top 20 ranked global accounting network and association with almost 10,000 professionals, accountants and tax experts in some 460 locations in almost 100 countries around the world.
