Global mobility micro-PEs and how businesses can manage them

Businesses that engage international talent, with employees in multiple countries, could create corporate tax exposure where they are working. Start-ups, high-growth and mid-sized businesses may disproportionately be impacted by the high costs of managing corporate taxes and employer tax compliance in new country locations, creating a “micro”-permanent establishment (micro-PE) that may have only small tax cost exposure.

Richard Tonge, Grant Thornton’s Global Mobility Services Practice Leader, has written an article exploring the impact of micro-PEs that was published in Bloomberg Tax Sept. 9. In the article, Tonge reviews the evolution of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s approach to “permanent establishment,” how mobile employees and remote working can create “micro-PEs” that may have little substance but can complicate tax compliance if not recognized, and how regulators may approach these complexities in the future.

Download our pdf of the Bloomberg Tax article, “Micro-PEs and Global Mobility: Balancing Risk and Pragmatism” to learn how businesses with globally mobile workers can respond to this situation.