of companies with mobile employees have unidentified tax obligations in at least one jurisdiction.
The exposure is invisible until it isn't. Treaties misread. Thresholds crossed without notice. Declarations missed in jurisdictions your legal team has never heard of. The question isn't whether you have a problem — it's which one.
Source: KPMG Global Mobility Survey, 2024 · OECD BEPS Monitoring Report, 2024
— average penalty for misclassified cross-border workers
That figure excludes interest, reputational cost, and the internal hours spent reconstructing payroll records that were never designed to withstand a cross-border audit. The median case we see involves a company that believed it had no permanent establishment exposure. The assessment disagreed.
Undeclared payroll — 18-month secondment
Senior engineer seconded from US parent. Host country employment contract not established. Social security contributions missed entirely. Wage tax assessed retroactively.
Settled via voluntary disclosure. 40% penalty reduction.
PE triggered — regional sales director
Director habitually negotiated contracts in Singapore without a registered entity. IRAS determined a dependent agent PE existed for 3 fiscal years.
Assessed + interest. Entity registration now required.
Totalization gap — bilateral treaty gap
Employee moved between UK and France post-Brexit. Certificate of Coverage no longer valid. Double social security contributions assessed for 14 months.
Partial refund secured. New coverage framework established.
"The assessment arrives after the employee has already returned home. The entity is gone. The records are incomplete. At that point, you're not negotiating — you're settling."
— Senior Tax Director, Fortune 500 Manufacturing Co.
— the threshold that changes everything
Article 15 of the OECD Model Tax Convention establishes a 183-day rule as a safe harbour — but it comes with conditions most companies fail to satisfy. The remuneration must not be borne by a permanent establishment, and the employer must not be a resident of the host state.
The economic employer concept — now adopted by over 40 jurisdictions — renders the legal employer irrelevant. If the host entity controls the work, absorbs the cost, and benefits from the output, it is the employer for withholding purposes. The 183-day safe harbour does not apply.
"Economic employer doctrine has made the legal employment contract almost irrelevant in 40+ jurisdictions. What matters is who controls the work and who bears the cost."
— OECD BEPS Action 7 CommentaryStrict economic employer doctrine. Days counted across calendar year, not 12-month period. Short-term business visitors trigger wage tax withholding from day one.
German tax authorities actively audit secondments. No de minimis threshold for social security.
Post-Brexit, UK applies domestic PE rules independently. Economic employer concept adopted from 2021. HMRC can assess PAYE obligations regardless of formal payroll location.
Shadow payroll requirement for employees paid from overseas. Specialist PAYE dispensations available.
France applies an expansive interpretation of dependent agent PE. The economic employer test applies from day one of French work activity. French social security is mandatory for all residents.
Exceptional complexity post-Brexit for UK–France mobility. A1 certificates critical.
One of the shortest business visitor exemption thresholds globally. IRAS applies a strict economic employer test. Dependent agent PE triggered by habitual contract negotiation.
Withholding tax obligations arise for non-resident directors. Regional headquarters arrangements available.
India applies both a fixed place and service PE test. The 90-day threshold applies to service PE. Physical presence of even one day can create a taxable nexus under domestic law.
India does not have a totalization agreement with many countries. Double social security common.
China counts days cumulatively across 12-month periods, not calendar year. The State Administration of Taxation takes an expansive view of PE. Technology transfer arrangements create additional risk.
Individual Income Tax reform (2019) significantly changed residency rules. Annual reporting mandatory.
Netherlands has adopted the OECD 2017 PE commentary. The 30% ruling provides a tax advantage for incoming highly skilled migrants but requires advance application.
30% ruling applications must be filed within 4 months of employment start.
ATO applies the economic employer concept strictly. Superannuation obligations arise for all employees working in Australia, regardless of payroll location. Backpacker tax applies to working holiday visa holders.
Superannuation guarantee charge: 11.5% of ordinary time earnings (2024–25).
The brief
arrives before
the exposure does.
Most global mobility teams discover their compliance gaps the same way: an assessment letter from a tax authority they've never corresponded with, in a jurisdiction the employee visited for what seemed like routine business.
ComplyGlobal was built on the premise that the treaty framework is knowable — that with the right analysis, applied before the assignment begins, most of the exposure disappears. The remainder can be managed through structure.
Our work is intelligence work. We read the OECD commentary so your board doesn't have to. We translate Article 15 exceptions into payroll instructions. We file the A1 certificates before the employee boards the flight.
The clients who come to us after the assessment letter pay more and recover less. The clients who brief us before the assignment starts rarely receive one.
"Our CFO asked me to translate the OECD commentary into a risk matrix before Thursday. ComplyGlobal had it on my desk by Wednesday morning, with a recommendation already attached."
— Global Mobility Director, Pharmaceutical MNC, 180 assignees
Assignee Tax & Payroll Compliance
End-to-end management of host and home country obligations. Hypothetical tax calculations, tax equalization settlements, and shadow payroll establishment.
Permanent Establishment Risk Advisory
Pre-assignment PE risk assessment, economic employer analysis, and post-assignment audit defense. Board-ready risk matrices delivered within 5 business days.
Social Security & Totalization Strategy
Certificate of Coverage applications, dual contribution analysis, and treaty gap identification. Retroactive recovery of overpaid contributions where bilateral agreements allow.
Global Mobility Policy Design
Compensation package structuring, dual contract arrangements, and mobility policy frameworks that preempt compliance failures before they occur.
The 2025 Global
Compliance Map.
34 jurisdictions. PE threshold tables. Economic employer adoption status. Social security totalization gaps. Voluntary disclosure windows. Everything your mobility team needs to brief the board — compiled from OECD publications, bilateral treaty updates, and 2024 tax authority guidance.
How exposed is your mobility program?
5 questions · 2 minutes · Instant score
How many employees does your company have working outside their home country?
Urgent matter?
Received an assessment letter?
If you've received correspondence from a foreign tax authority, time is critical. Voluntary disclosure windows typically close within 30–60 days.
Emergency Briefing — 24hr Response