Lakshya raj khatri
Eugenio Pescimoro
PROLOY TARAN DAS
MSCA GF from Spain, Madrid, social contributions
Hi,
I will soon start the outgoing phase of my MSCA GF. The beneficiary is the University of Madrid and in the outgoing phase I will be in New Zealand. When I got my working contract, I realized that the payment is way lower than I expected. I figured out (and many before me I thinkg ^^) that this is since the UoO deduced all employer social contributions from the grant money before calculating my gross salary. This deduction is in Spain about 30%. That means, my gross salary is about 57k per year instead of 74k per year. Still okay, but a bit disappointing since it might give me less money than a standard NZ post doc contract, depending on how this will be taxed (in NZ or in Spain).
I have a few questions, maybe someone was in a similar position and/or knows a bit about Spanish working laws:
- is there a way to opt out of some of the social contributions either on employer or employee side? Obviously I will not go to a doctor in Spain and I am not sure whether I can even use my pension if I go back to Germany (where I am originially from).
- how do I handle this tax wise? Do I pay taxes in NZ or in Spain, or in both countries? (they have a double taxation agreement, but I dont fully understand how that works)
thank you very much,
Florian
1 Comments
Dear Florian Sedlmeir,
Here a few points, as far as my little knowledge goes:
- As per my understanding, your salary during your outgoing phase should be adjusted to the country coefficient for New Zealand. That means, your salary in the outgoing period should be different from your salary in the incoming period.
- I would be surprised if the social contributions could be "escaped". The MSCA grant normally must be handled by providing the fellows a proper employment contract, with all security/benefits this implies. By the way, there are European agreements which means that if you shift from Spain to another EU country after the fellowship, it should be possible to obtain benefits from your work experience there. Again, this is to be carefully checked for each type of benefit.
- Usually, it is the beneficiary that provides you your contract. This means that you would be employed by your institution in Spain throughout the grant period. Only in case the third country does not accept such a situation, the contract could be established in the third country (this is as per my memory, there are type A and type B contracts).
- I have been on a GF and throughout the grant, I had to pay taxes in the European country (of the beneficiairy). I suppose that it could depend on the laws of New Zealand whether that applies to your case. For medical questions I had to opt for a specific insurance to make sure I was covered in the TC.
Please excuse any incomplete information and countercheck them!
With best wishes,
Barbara