It is possible to avoid being a taxable resident of any country and therefore legally avoid being liable for taxes anywhere; it's the main reason why the super-rich own massive yachts.
- It's possible, but difficult to be a resident of nowhere. There are a whole bunch of rules that might end up making you resident somewhere for tax purposes, but being explicitly resident trumps everything, so you could make like a filthy tax dodger and set yourself up in a tax haven. Also, it helps massively to not be American.
- If you're going to pull this, remember that you are technically working wherever you are, and you need to get your visa in order. Immigration officers in different countries might have different ideas about what constitutes a security threat, but the one thing they all agree on is that visa violations are serious business. Being deported anywhere can jeopardise your ability to get visas anywhere else.
- If you're constantly on the move, anything that requires you to provide proof of address is going to be a ballache.
- If anyone tells you that cryptocurrencies are the way to go for handling your finances, summarily ignore anything and everything that person says. At best they're naive, and at worst they want you to hold their bags.
>>13466 > If you're going to pull this, remember that you are technically working wherever you are, and you need to get your visa in order.
As someone who's been doing consulting for fifteen years I can tell you that's (almost?) impossible.
Work visas are still almost entirely based around the concept of moving somewhere in order to fill a vacancy in a company in that country. The vast majority of countries simply have no visa for "I work for a company in the UK but I'm going to do some consulting for their client in New York for two weeks" or "I'm actually self employed and resident in the UK but I'm going to be doing my work on my laptop while in your country for a bit".
The whole concept of remote or temporary work doesn't really figure into most countries work / visa rules and I suggest that anyone who wants to "work from home while abroad" have a decent wodge in your bank account and claim you're usually self employed but taking a holiday.
BTW, I'm assuming that you're tax resident in the UK and pay self-employed income tax / NICs like a good boy. If that's the case then just go to Japan as a visitor and keep paying the tax in the UK. As long as you're not opening bank accounts, buying property, or trying to obtain a tax number the Japanese tax people aren't even going to notice you.
If you're thinking of trying to tell HMRC that you're going abroad and getting six months of tax free life then forget it; you only need to be in the UK for 90 days to become tax resident (for a given percentage of your global earnings), so six months abroad is just going to make your tax return overly complicated (and likely HMRC will tell the Japanese tax lot that you owe them 6 months of income tax (especially if there's a dual taxation agreement between the two countries), which won't end well).
>>13467 >"I work for a company in the UK but I'm going to do some consulting for their client in New York for two weeks"
You need a "B in lieu of H" visa. Has the turnaround and validity of a B with the work entitlement of an H, and allows re-entry.
>"I'm actually self employed and resident in the UK but I'm going to be doing my work on my laptop while in your country for a bit".
Again, "B in lieu of H". Though in general it's not advised to take anything other than a burner laptop into the US unless you're happy for TSA to offer you the choice of scraping all the data off it or an early return trip home.
Interesting. I've never seen anyone use these. Sadly they don't work if you work for US company while living outside the US.
Do many other countries have visas like this? The only similar one I was aware of is the Israeli B/1 "Work in Israel up to 45 days (SEA)" visa - https://visaguide.world/asia/israel-visa/b1/.
>>13471 > Sadly they don't work if you work for US company while living outside the US.
I'm double guessing myself there, I think. Technically if you live in the UK and work for a US company then you're self employed in the UK. Although you'd probably have to at least set up a limited company and pay yourself a proper PAYE wage in order to swing this visa, which is all very painful.
>>13471 You wouldn't be working for a US company while living outside the US. You'd be carrying out work for your UK company while temporarily in the US.
Technically I'm "paid" by a US based consulting company and I declare taxes in the UK as self-employed. Would that be a good enough excuse to get a "B in lieu of H" visa?
I feel like showing up to the consulate and saying you're self employed in the UK and going to work for a US company for a few weeks unlikely to go over well and that you'd have more luck if you had a proper limited company with PAYE payroll set up.
>>13474 >saying you're self employed in the UK and going to work for a US company for a few weeks unlikely to go over well
It really does not. The only issues I've ever had at the US border was when I was in this situation. It was bona fide too, my company in the UK had employees, accounts, etc; we were doing a couple of weeks work on an installation - temporary - but it's the only time I got stopped at the border and then taken off to an interview room. Terrible and frightening.
If you're going over on a visa waiver you should just say you're visiting a client, it's never failed me in maybe a dozen work trips (knock on wood). It's a really stupid grey area where meetings are fine but actually doing work that money is changing hands for requires a work visa.
Or if you're really paranoid just go in via Las Vegas and get a connecting flight the next day. Just try not to max out your entire expense budget on blackjack and the drugs every damn cab driver will oh so subtly hint they can get you.