NIM33570 - special cases: international - people going to or coming from abroad: row: apportionment - what can be excluded from NIC?

Note: This page is under review and the content may only be appropriate to periods beginning before 1 January 2021 and for those covered by a Withdrawal Agreement.

Section 2(1) Social Security Contributions & Benefits Act 1992 Regulation 145 Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001

Reason for the apportionment

To be liable for NICs in the UK under Section 2(1) SSCBA 1992 and Regulation 145 (1) SSCR 2001, some duties of the employment have to be performed in the UK, however the legislation is drawn wide enough to allow for some temporary or incidental duties of the employment to be performed outside the UK, if the UK is where the employment duties are usually performed.

• An employee who has employment based in the UK who goes abroad for a time on a short business trip or holiday abroad, and who departs and returns to the UK and continues in the UK scheme is merely temporarily absent from their UK employment. No apportionment is required.

but

• An employee meeting the criteria in NIM33565 would not be regarded as being merely temporarily absent from their normal employment in the UK. Therefore that part of the salary that relates to the days the employee is working outside the UK for their overseas employer can be excluded from NICs.

Duties performed for the purposes of the UK host or the overseas employer?

Only payment for those duties that are performed overseas for the purposes of the overseas employer can be excluded from earnings for NICs.

To ascertain whether duties are performed for the purposes of the UK host business or for the overseas employer consider:

• Have the UK company funded the employment costs of the employee?
• Is there a new contract or letter of secondment attaching the person to the UK business?
• Which company benefits from the work the employee does overseas?