International Mobility of Employees

What is the best practice in this case? Should we second them, or transfer them? And what if they are active in multiple countries? Will anything change when we charge costs on to our foreign branch like our financial department wants us to? And do those same regulations apply when we recruit talented foreign employees to work in Belgium? Our advice? Every situation is different and requires careful consideration in advance.

Do you know all the tax and social security regulations that apply to international employment?

Whichever way you look at it, international employment remains a difficult exercise. The applicable legislation is different in every country. It is often a question of finding the right balance between keeping your costs down and the protection, motivation and retention of employees, and compliance with various obligations and formalities. Apart from that, the regulations that apply within the European Union differ from those in relation with third countries. All of this does not make international employment any easier.

International expertise, pragmatic and tailored to your situation

Every domain applies a set of international legal instruments that determine where and to whom you have to pay your social security contributions and taxes, as well as which labour law applies to your foreign employee(s). After all, you will not be able to determine your foreign employees’ salary packages, fringe benefits or supplementary insurance until their legal status has become clear. All of this can be handled much more conveniently if you can rely on an international team of legal experts, tax consultants and labour law specialists. And if you don’t have such a team, we do! For you. We aim to achieve sustainable and pragmatic solutions, tailored to your situation.

BDO will help you with what you’re looking for

You can rely on our experts for general tax and legal advice with regard to international employment. We are also happy to assist you in handling various formalities in the international employment process and resolving specific legal issues associated with secondment or transfers. You can apply to us for assistance with, among others:

• Formalities associated with international employment (A1, Certificates of Coverage, Limosa declarations, declarations for the building and construction sectors, etc.)
• Immigration formalities (work permits, professional cards, residence permits, etc.)
• Calculation of taxes and social security contributions
• Personal tax and non-resident tax returns
• Applications for the Belgian special tax regime for foreign executives and specialists (expats)
• Help with tax procedures
• Coordination of payroll administration (payroll services)

More information about international mobility

Through the global consolidation of knowledge and regular consultation, we have acquired indispensable expertise and experience, and we monitor international employment developments daily. We invite you to download Expatriate Newsletter, our periodical newsletter. Thanks to the high-performance international network of BDO offices, we can offer you assistance not only in Belgium, but also in more than 150 countries across the globe.