Global Expatriate Services

Austria is one of the 10 richest countries in the world. Like Germany, it owes this wealth to its high share of exports and tourism. In both sectors, globalisation is in demand and required; this especially applies to the free movement of workers in the inbound and outbound sector. Accordingly, the importance of international employee secondments (expatriates) also increases. Companies are increasingly sending employees to their own foreign branches or assigning them to projects abroad. Global companies are therefore confronted with an increasing complexity of (wage) taxation for cross-border assignments.

In order to ensure the smooth handling of a secondment, national and international tax legislation must be complied with. There are also opportunities for tax optimisation potential. This can raise a multitude of questions, especially in more complex situations. Our Global Expatriate Service experts help companies and their employees to answer these questions and find the best solutions. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the circumstances, WTS assesses and optimises the individual secondment case.

We offer customised tax and cost-efficient concepts, which can lead to a significant reduction of secondment expenses for both expatriates and companies, whilst at the same time meeting compliance obligations at home and abroad.

At WTS Austria we are predestined to give clear answers to cross-border employment conditions thanks to our international WTS Global network.

Our expertise in inbound and outbound issues includes:

• Advice on foreign employment, social security and tax issues.
• The billing of employees for foreign employers.
• The registration and de-registration of employees with social insurance, the financial administration, etc.
• Support with secondment agreements for inbound and outbound.
• Advice on the applicability of social security and double taxation treaties and their interpretation.
• Formulating inquiries to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance (EAS procedure) in cases of considerable doubt.
• Evaluating potential business location risks with the employment of employees in Austria for foreign clients in terms of a possible representative site or a comprehensive home office activity (permanent business establishment?) etc.