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Quentin Loisel
taxes on MSCA ITN early stage researcher (PhD position)
Dear all,
I was given a MSCA ITN scholarship for a PhD position at a university in UK.
However, I deal with a great problem regarding university's administrators.
They don't know to handle this scholarship.
So, they said to me that it won't be a bursary, I would be taxed as I would be treated as a staff member.
Could you kindly inform me if this is right?
Is there a formal documentation that I could forward to them?
Kind regards,
Maria
9 Comments
Hi Maria,
The administrators and Fernanda are correct. The Guide for Applicants for ITNs contains the following text:
Important notice: Living allowance The living allowance is a gross EU contribution to the salary costs of the researcher. Consequently, the net salary results from deducting all compulsory (employer/employee) social security contributions as well as direct taxes (e.g. income tax) from the gross amounts. A top-up may be paid to the eligible researchers from another budget source in order to complement this contribution. The rate indicated above is for researchers devoting themselves to the action on a full-time basis. Part-time employment for personal or family reasons can be accepted with prior agreement with the REA (the minimum MSCA working time must always be at least 50%). In this case costs will be reported as pro-rata of the fulltime (30 days/month) unit cost.
ESRs and IFs are treated as employees and not students. This is a more expensive way to implement the fellowships but ensures that the pension rights of the researchers are secured during the years of the fellowship. Retirement on full pension in many countries is linked to the number of years of contributions. You may be glad of those pension contributions in old age.
All the Best,
Brian
Hi Maria,
Unfortunately you still have to pay tax on your monthly allowance. In addition to that you will also pay contribution to NHS. Both will be deduced from your gross salary and you will get a net allowance. You can have an estimate of your net income by checking online(few free website allow you to do the maths).
As a full time student in the Uk, if you are renting a flat alone or in a house with students only, you are exempt from council tax and you will need to provide a copy of your student card to your council.
Hope this was helpful.
Najwa
Dear all,
thank you for sorting this out!
I got really confused but you just helped me so much!
This is a great group!
Kind regards,
Maria
Dear Maria,
The colleagues above are right. I would just add that UK Universities are notorious for using hyper-conservative exchange rates, so do make sure and ask your supervisor to check that your salary is not unduly reduced as a result.
You also have the option to stay out of the pension scheme. You would be paid more and also taxed more but nonetheless be better off financially. The question here is whether you want/need to accrue pension rights in the UK. My last MSCA Fellow chose to opt out, not least in light of Brexit-related uncertainty, but this really is down to your personal preference.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Pierre (MSCA Alumnus, ex-Supervisor, evaluator) - University of Warwick
Hi Maria,
As a Early stage researcher (PhD student) I have faced the same situation. Although, in my case I was told by the university for that matter before I started. You just have to make sure your tax code is the right one. Since it was my first working oportunity here in the UK I was allocated with an emergency tax code (TX or something like that), and my first tax was of large amount. Make sure you arrange that if you have the same issue. After that is settle, they should give you the normal tax that is usally given to emloyees (1250L I think) and they will refund you later on.
Kind regards,
George
Although your MSCA salary is taxed unlike regular UK PhD stipends, don't forget you're still making a lot more than any other students at your university! In fact you're probably making more than the postdocs and lecturers!
Dear Maria,
same here. I am both a PhD student and a registered member of staff. I came to the UK under the working visa, and I pay my tax from the salary instead of paying tuition fees.
Kind regards,
Ks
Hi Maria,
I think it's not the main problem, as every PhD fellow under Marie Curie/General Ph.D. candidate is usually treated as a staff member worldwide not a typical student.
Regarding Marie Curie ITN fellow, you have to pay tax from your net salary i.e social security, pension contribution, your health insurance etc but it depends on the country's coefficient "cc" because it varies from country to country where ESR is located so, the main task for you is to figure out how much tax you have to pay every month from your salary, even your mobility allowance (600 euros) per month will also be taxed every month. For this, you need to contact the Marie Curie ITN fellows in England (especially at your university) who are already pursuing PhDs in the UK.
Best,
Abid Ali
Hi Maria,
They seem to know how to handle it: you are indeed supposed to be treated as a staff member in the UK.
You may want to see a recent document made by Eurodoc: "EU-H2020-MSCA-ITN-European Training Networks"
I find it easy to read and helpful, the main page of this study is here: http://eurodoc.net/doctoral-training-wg/doctorates-across-europe
Kind regards
Fernanda