Workshop: Expatriate Payrolls—Compliance Requirements and Global Administration

May 19, 2009

Speakers:
Ray Pascuzzi, Partner, International Executive Services, KPMG, LLP, Houston, Texas
Nita Patel, Senior Manager, International Executive Services, KPMG, LLP, Houston, Texas

Expatriate Payroll Compliance: Learning by Doing

While success in automating payroll processes has reduced the average ratio of payroll professionals per U.S. employee at a company to one to many thousands, payroll professionals who administer expatriate payroll max out in capacity at around 150 expatriates per payroll professional, said Ray Pascuzzi,  partner, International Executive Services, KPMG, LLP, Houston, Texas. This is because the compliance requirements—and subsequent administration of expat pay to meet those requirements—are so complex, Pascuzzi noted May 19 at the Expatriate Payrolls—Compliance Requirements and Global Administration preconference workshop session at the American Payroll Association's 27th annual Congress, held in Long Beach, Calif.
 
There is neither a single college-level course one can take, nor any one good source of information, nor “any silver bullet” for staying compliant, Pascuzzi noted as he and fellow presenter, Nina Patel, answered several questions from the audience. A lot of it is learning by doing, he said.
 
Patel, a senior manager in the same KPMG unit as Pascuzzi, said that for income tax reporting purposes, "all the stuff has to run through payroll." The "stuff" includes cash compensation and valuation of benefits in-kind, which is all considered income for U.S. purposes when a U.S. company sends a U.S. citizen or resident alien on an overseas assignment. Benefits in-kind can mean special travel allowances, education expenses for children, and items such as bottled water, she said.
 
Patel also noted that income tax withholding can stop on any expatriate who begins a long-term assignment in a country that has mandatory tax withholding. All that is needed to document this is the Internal Revenue Code section language that allows withholding to stop for such countries, said Pascuzzi. This should remain on file for audit purposes, he said.
 
For U.S. expats working more than 330 days in countries that do not have mandatory withholding, Patel noted that the expatriate needs to file Form 673, Statement for Claiming Exemption From Withholding on Foreign Earned Income Eligible for the Exclusion(s) Provided by Section 911, as this instructs the employer not to withhold on the first $91,400 in foreign earned income (for 2009; this amount is indexed annually).
 
A key part in making expatriate payrolls more complex is that other personal income has to be considered when making tax equalization decisions, said Pascuzzi. Employers should keep numbers current in a system through monthly monitoring. Accruing quarterly is only "okay," said Pascuzzi. Compiling annually is "better than nothing."