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andrewbunce
Community Member

Location choice for freelance who lives between the UK and Brazil...

Hello
I have a question regarding location choice in Upwork. I am a freelancer who has just begun using the platform. I live between the UK and Brazil, dividing my time between the two, I have citizenship in both and pay taxes in both for the proportion that I earn in that country, following the tax rules of each.
As I cannot set my location to both (and I have seen from searches that changing the location can be problematic) I currently have my location set to the UK. But in this instance I pay VAT on work that I do when I am not physically in the UK (from my conversations with HMRC I only have to pay tax on work that I do when I am physically in the UK).

My question is... if I set my location to Brazil will I be exempt automatically from paying VAT? And therefore are there any disadvantages to doing this and having it set as Brazil instead of the UK? I'm not sure having access to 'UK only' jobs is worth the advantage at the cost of paying VAT, especially as half of the time that I am not actually in the UK. I guess I will potentially be paying VAT when I don't need to but conversely I could not be paying VAT when technically I should so I am caught between the two.

Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

7 REPLIES 7
prestonhunter
Community Member

Ultimately... Upwork's system is simply not so sophisticated that it can fully record or handle situations in which a freelancer lives simultaneously in multiple countries.

 

This topic has been discussed here:

location issue

Ok thank you very much. I guess the situation is as it is then and I'll have to make a decision on where I set the location based the advantages or disadvantages of each.

Thank you for your quick response.

Well, one thing you can NOT do is fill in this form:

 

Specify the countries you currently live in simultaneously:

a) ____________

b) ____________

c) ____________

 

No such form exists on Upwork. So, due to the limitations within the Upwork system, you must specify a single location. Obviously Upwork intends that to be "the country" you actually live in. Which, for a person who actually lives simultaneously in multiple countries, means making a choice. Just make sure you can back up that choice with your paperwork, in case Upwork asks you to undergo an identity verification process.


Andrew B wrote:

Ok thank you very much. I guess the situation is as it is then and I'll have to make a decision on where I set the location based the advantages or disadvantages of each.

 


No.

You need to set your location to where you actually physically are.

When you are in Brazil, change your location to Brazil.

When you are in the UK, set your location to the UK.

 

It has nothing to do with what is most convenient for you, it has everything to do with where you actually, really are at any time.

So every few weeks I will have to change my location on the site. Is that an easy process to do? Will I be able to receive my payments into the same UK bank account when I switch my location to Brazil? Will I still have access to that option?

 

Thank you for your reply.

re: "So every few weeks I will have to change my location on the site."

 

Upwork does NOT want you to change your location every few weeks.

 

Upwork moderators and Upwork help documents have been very clear about this.

 

If you are going to be living in ONE place for six months or longer, then you definitely should change your Upwork location to that place.

Ok thank you very much for your help.

 

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