The situation
A set of employee requests to work from another country
A Madrid software company with a Lisbon subsidiary has received fourteen requests this year: staff in Madrid who want one to three months working from Portugal, and Lisbon staff who want to spend the winter in Valencia. HR has approved them one by one. The CFO wants a policy before one of them turns into a tax registration.
The risks are known in outline: residence, social security, a permanent establishment, local employment law. The policy has to turn them into rules people can follow: how many days, which approvals, which countries, what happens when someone stays too long. Each rule needs the law behind it.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Social security can switch with the work
- Under Regulation 883/2004, a person working only in another member state is in principle subject to that state’s legislation. Temporary stays can be covered by the posting rules with an A1, and cross-border telework by the multilateral framework agreement where both states have signed it.
- Tax residence turns on days and home
- Spain and Portugal each apply their own residence tests, built around a 183-day count and where the person’s home or centre of interests is. Even without a change of residence, salary for days worked in the other country may be taxable there unless the treaty’s 183-day exception applies.
- The employer can create a taxable presence
- An employee working regularly from a home in another country can, in some circumstances, create a permanent establishment for the employer, especially if they conclude contracts there. The policy should limit duration and the kind of work done abroad.
- Mandatory employment law travels with the work
- Under the Rome I Regulation, a choice of law cannot deprive an employee of the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where they habitually work. A long enough stay can change which country that is.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Employee of a Spanish S.L. wants to work from Lisbon for four months, keeping his Madrid contract and payroll. What are the social-security, income tax and permanent-establishment consequences, and what limits should our work-from-abroad policy set?
You start with
A set of employee requests to work from another country
- 01
Describe the requests
Give the countries, durations and roles. azta searches the EU coordination regulations, the Rome I Regulation, the tax treaty and the Spanish and Portuguese legislation.
Cited research· Free - 02
Draft the policy
Ask for a policy with day limits, approvals, excluded activities and what happens on breach. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro - 03
Put it in the company format
On Enterprise, firm templates apply the company’s policy layout and disclaimers, so the draft is ready for HR and the works council.
Firm templates· Enterprise - 04
Export for approval
Export to Word for the management team, with the research kept for the file.
Word export· Pro You send
A draft work-from-abroad policy covering tax, social security and employment law
What you get
A draft work-from-abroad policy covering tax, social security and employment law
Policy · draft
Working from abroad: policy for Spain and Portugal
Scope and limits. Employees may work from another EU country for up to 30 working days in a calendar year with their manager’s approval. Longer stays need approval from HR and finance, who will check social security, tax and employment law before the stay begins.
Social security and tax. For approved stays, HR applies for an A1 certificate before departure where one is needed. Employees must not become tax resident in the other country through the stay and must tell HR if their plans change. Days worked abroad are recorded in the time system.
Activities. While abroad, employees may not negotiate or sign contracts on the company’s behalf or meet customers in the host country. Requests to move abroad permanently are handled as a relocation, not under this policy.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
12 minutes a month
At €140 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 50
- Capacity at your rate
- €7,056
- More work-from-abroad policy reviews a quarter
- 1.6
- Return on Pro
- 21.8×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The policy choices: day limits, approvals, which countries.
- Each individual approval and the facts behind it.
- Immigration questions for staff who are not EU nationals.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it cover staff who are not EU nationals?
- Their right to work in the other country is a separate immigration question. Ask about it specifically and azta researches the national legislation it holds.
- Can the policy use our company template?
- On Enterprise, firm templates apply your letterhead, fonts and disclaimers to every document.
- What about requests for other countries?
- Ask in the same way. azta researches tax and employment questions across Europe in the original languages.
