2025 ICC Proposal for temporary cross-border telework
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Taxation
ICC proposes a 60-day ‘safe harbour’ that would exempt employers from permanent establishment risks, employer tax and social security obligations when employees temporarily work across borders. The ‘safe harbour’ would eliminate compliance barriers that currently prevent flexible international teleworking arrangements.
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Five years after the pandemic, many organisations have largely returned to office-centric working models. Yet, the crisis fundamentally changed how we work, establishing new expectations around flexibility and remote work that continue to persist. In many ways, we accidentally discovered a way of working that actually fits how people live – one where handling a family crisis abroad didn’t preclude delivering excellent work.
This shift in expectations has created a new reality for businesses navigating the complex tax risks of flexible work arrangements.
ICC’s 2023 internal global survey of its members revealed that over 80% of employers receive temporary teleworking requests prompted by family circumstances, health-related needs, caregiving responsibilities, or the use of a secondary residence. Despite these arrangements generally being temporary and arising from normal life circumstances, employers frequently find themselves caught between employee expectations and regulatory uncertainty. These seemingly straightforward requests are hampered due to concerns around permanent establishment risk – the potential for creating a taxable business presence in another country – employer tax and social security obligations, and complex compliance requirements.
To address these challenges, ICC has proposed the introduction of a 60-day teleworking ‘safe harbour’, under which an employee’s temporary physical presence in a jurisdiction for teleworking purposes would not, in itself, give rise to a permanent establishment risk, or trigger employer-related tax or social security liabilities. The proposal aligns to the broader principles of international tax law, would not affect a country’s tax rights beyond a limited scope, and can be considered and reflected in the revised Commentary to Article 5 OECD Model Tax Convention and in the Commentary to the UN Tax Convention, without the need to work on a new article.
For companies, ‘safe harbour’ eliminates legal uncertainty, allows for project continuity and continued revenue generation, and transforms potential talent retention risks into a competitive advantage.
For people, it supports workforce well-being by accommodating short-term teleworking needs in times of personal, medical or geopolitical emergencies.
For tax authorities, it reduces enforcement and compliance burdens and eliminates low-risk, low-revenue case loads from already stretched resources.
For countries, it ensures that the employee’s country of employment retains its income tax revenue, while the temporary work location benefits from increased consumption and sales tax receipts.
The proposal is built around several key components: