Running a practice remotely

Living abroad most of the year

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Hello

I am CONSIDERING living in Malawi a south-east African country for about 6-8 months a year. At the same time, I intend to carry on running my practice remotely. 

Being totally paperless will enable me to do this. 

I would be grateful for accountants to share their experiences. Accountants who are doing or intend to do the same - running their practice from another country. 

What are the challenges? Good experience?

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Replies (13)

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Caroline
By accountantccole
11th Apr 2022 08:47

Our main operations are based in France - at least 50% if clients are UK based. We survived the no travelling allowed period OK but I would normally be in the UK to see clients every couple of months. Boss is more frequently in UK.
Post is probably the biggest issue - just need to make sure you have a decent forwarding person though.

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Caroline
By accountantccole
11th Apr 2022 08:48

Obviously compliance with local rules and regs/ tax compliance/ visas if you are working from another country / controlling your business from abroad

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By lesley.barnes
11th Apr 2022 09:43

My only thought was have you checked how reliable is the internet connection in Malawi?

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
11th Apr 2022 10:49

I think you main issue will be your client's and staff perception

Given you have a 'real' office in the UK I think from earlier posts with staff in it, I guess that is less of an issue. I think from your posts you are also quite 'hands off' with clients? ie they dont speak you that much, your staff deals with them? In which case much less of an issue than if you are the main point of contact and client will quickly notice the overseas ring tones etc. Time difference is not too bad, its what +2 or something?

Id be more worried about the staff and how you are going to keep them close and not ending up in their own little bubbles.

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By abelljms
11th Apr 2022 11:55

IF you tell most webshites you're sitting in the middle of Lilongwe High Street doing tax returns, or a uk bank works out you're logging on East of Dover, they will block you all the time - it will be a fritemare. You could of course 'lie' and use a vpn to pretend you're in Surbiton when logging on, even that doesn't always outwit bank software.
And that's on top of asking your clients permission to take their data outside uk jurisdiction, and getting the permission of your Institute to do this, etc......zz

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Replying to abelljms:
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By paul.benny
11th Apr 2022 13:49

abelljms wrote:

And that's on top of asking your clients permission to take their data outside uk jurisdiction

Good point. You might want to check on your GDPR obligations. Even if you're wholly paperless, some personal data will end up outside UK/EU.

Thanks (4)
Replying to paul.benny:
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By abelljms
15th Apr 2022 08:41

paul.benny wrote:

abelljms wrote:
And that's on top of asking your clients permission to take their data outside uk jurisdiction

Good point. You might want to check on your GDPR obligations. Even if you're wholly paperless, some personal data will end up outside UK/EU.

Many people don't realize (Barclays/HSBC etc.) that if someone is looking at a telly in an overseas jurisdiction, YOUR data IS IN that jurisdiction. It doesn't matter that the Server the serf is accessing to answer your question is in London. If the data was going to be hacked, they're definitely going to hack it off the back of a PC with a couple of bent wires jammed in a socket, not in London etc.

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By jndavs
11th Apr 2022 12:04

On a practical (IT) level you probably will need to implement an RDP solution if you do not have one already (or possibly something like Owncloud).
If your staff are dealing with the post, that's one less issue. A remotely accessible document management system would enable you to deal with correspondence.

Thanks (3)
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By lme
14th Apr 2022 09:27

On the people management front, I ran an online business for 10+ years, with excellent staff who were quite happy to see me only once a year in person! I did try and get them to meet more regularly but it didn't make sense so in the end I gave up trying and just insisted on going through our client book together in person once a year. I think we got on better than we would have done had we had to sit in the same office space.

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By eppingaccountant
14th Apr 2022 10:38

I suggest that you sell your UK practice and start up a new one in Malawi.

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
15th Apr 2022 14:11

This will be the beginning of the end of your UK practice.

Regards,
Eeyore.

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By free-rider
15th Apr 2022 16:26

I run a whole online practice with 4 staff members. Everyone is working from home and quite often away from UK as well.

All our clients are aware of the set up and I personally looking to work from EU at least 4-6 months a year starting from the 2023.

As long as your IT systems, connection and communication with stuff and clients are organised, see no issue there.

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By booksbalanced
19th Apr 2022 12:32

Just be aware that because your 6-8 months makes you UK non resident:
You need to ensure awareness of how running a business from Malawi alters where you pay any tax on that income
Also, any ID checks on you, as a Non-Res, may become more difficult and that may affect you when your UK firm wants to outsource (eg New Ltd Co Set Up at CompHouse) - the outsource company has to do due diligence on your company and its PSC's / owners. A non-UK address makes that a bigger issue, especially if you end up losing your UK driving licence, once it expires.
Your UK state pension entitlement may be affected if your UK salary falls below NI - the UK salary would only be paid for work performed in the UK, under some countries' laws, with your new country's firm invoicing your UK firm for the work undertaken (and hence taxable) in that country (although my knowledge of this is only tiny, and not actually for specifically Malawi)
I will repeat, I am no expert, just trying to offer some pointers for you.

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