International remote work (workation, digital nomadism, full-remote across countries) is no longer niche. According to WEF 2025 data, 31 % of tech SME employees in Western countries worked at least 2 weeks from another country in the past 12 months. The majority did it without informing their employer. From HR’s perspective: a time bomb.

Good news: allowing and framing international remote work is now a major attractiveness lever. Bad news: without a clear framework, employers face tax audits, social security adjustments, and even criminal risk (undeclared work).

015 legal risks to know

A French employee working 3 months remotely from Portugal exposes their employer to:

• Employee tax risk: beyond 183 days in a country, tax residency can switch.
• Social security risk: without an A1 form (EU), they may contribute in the host country.
• “Permanent establishment” risk: if the remote worker has a commercial or decision-making role, the employer may be deemed to have a taxable presence locally.
• Local labor law risk: some local laws (working hours, leave, dismissal) may apply after a few weeks.
• Health/accident risk: a workplace accident abroad may not be covered if no bilateral convention applies.

02Employee tax: the 183-day rule

The OECD model tax treaty stipulates that beyond 183 days of physical presence in a country over a rolling year, the employee can become a tax resident there. Consequences:

• Obligation to declare income locally.
• Possible double taxation, resolved via bilateral treaty.
• Status changes for capital gains, dividends, etc.

Practical recommendation: start monitoring at 90 days in a third country. The HRIS must provide this automated count.

03Social security & A1 form (EU)

In EU/EEA/Switzerland, Regulation 883/2004 allows maintaining the home social security regime if:

• The temporary mission doesn’t exceed 24 months.
• Activity isn’t habitually performed in multiple States.
• The A1 form is requested before departure.

Outside EU, check for a bilateral social security agreement. Without one: possible double contribution.

04Permanent establishment risk

The most underestimated risk. If an employee makes strategic decisions (signing contracts, hiring, commercial roles) from another country for several months, the local tax authority may consider the employer has a permanent establishment there — owing local corporate income tax on a portion of revenue.

High-risk roles: sales, leadership, signing engineers. Low-risk: developer, designer, support.

05Expenses, equipment, deductible costs

• Which expenses are on the employer vs employee?
• What’s the expense workflow (the HRIS must handle multi-currency)?
• How is equipment (laptop, screen) provided and returned?

06Build a multi-country remote policy

A solid policy covers:

• Whitelist of authorized countries (default: bilateral social/fiscal conventions in place).
• Maximum duration per trip (often 30 or 60 days).
• Annual cumulative cap (often 90 days).
• Request process: prior declaration, A1, manager + HR + legal approval.
• Specific insurance / health coverage.
• Confidentiality, IT security (VPN mandatory, MFA).
• Availability hours.
• Immediate suspension for non-compliance.

07HRIS tooling

A global HRIS must natively:

• Track declared location weekly.
• Automatically count days per country over rolling 12 months.
• Trigger alerts at 90 / 120 / 183 days.
• Pre-fill A1 form requests.
• Centralize signed policies per employee.
• Support multi-currency expenses from the host country.
• Maintain audit history.

Illizeo integrates all of these in its International Mobility module, fed by the Time and Expense modules.