Longer-term secondments to the UK

This note primarily covers the PAYE and National Insurance position of seconded employees working wholly or partly in the UK. The note does not cover other available relief from income tax for travel and subsistence payments commonly referred to as detached duty or temporary workplace relief associated with secondments of less than 24 months, relocation expenses and ‘home leave’ travelling expenses of an employee’s family, which are subject to special rules to qualify for relief. For more on those rules, see the Home leave and employee travel guidance note.

For the purposes of this note, a seconded employee is one who is:

• •working wholly or partly in the UK for a UK resident employer on assignment whilst remaining employed by an overseas employer
• •assigned to work wholly or partly in the UK at a recognised branch of his own employer’s business

An employee is always either resident or non-resident for a complete tax year, although split-year treatment may apply. If an individual is non-resident (see the Statutory residence test guidance note), only the earnings relating to UK workdays will be taxable in the UK (the non-UK earnings of a non-resident are not taxable, even if remitted to the UK). The concept of ‘ordinary residence’, which would have been applicable to employees undertaking longer-term secondments to the UK, is no longer relevant from 6 April 2013.