Hydrographic Surveyors and Norway work

[mishkin]

I realise this is an ROV site, but its great, I wish I can find something similar for us surveyors, but i guess we work in more or less the same industry and environment. I am an Australian who left the middle east after working 2 years for a company there on crap pay, crap conditions etc, etc, all the same wingers and complaints so i got out of there and went solo at Christmas. Been loving the 4 months off but now serious to get the work going again. Seems the market is just starting to rev up now (march 07) and I planned on going freelance, but been getting alot of nibbles of direct companies offering work. Now i am trying to wrangle a 300 pound a day contract with a company in Norway, but realised the tax implications involved after coming across this site. Has anyone had any good experiences working for a norwegian company? My idea is to work month on-month off . live in canary islands as a ‘tourist’ on my time off and save some dosh to pay off my house in oz, but seems more and more i’m better off perhaps staying in oz, working out here on Norwest Shelf, pay the local tax and live in my own house, maybe in the future.

[Ray Shields]

There are sections on this site for Surveyors but it is not used.

Norwegian tax rules are dependant on which country you are a vitizen of, I have no idea of the tax agreement between Australia and Norway.

Norwegian companies are one of the best to work for, they really do treat people well and working conditions tend to be the best. The tax is not something they can deal with, basically see if you can find out how much you will end up with in your pocket to work out whether its worth your while. I also thought Ozzies had to pay Ozzie tax no matter where in the world they live?

Fugro Survey in Aberdeen seem to be trying to take over the Survey worls, they have offices all over, might be woth speaking to them?

[mishkin]

Thanks for your reply Ray. Yes I’ve been in touch with Fugro Aberdeen, looking for something slightly different at this stage. And at the moment ozzies can work overseas tax free providing they meet certain criteria ie spend at least 180 per year out of oz, have a permanent residence overseas (accommodation incl. rigs, vessels offshore – so the tax dept say so on the phone), have no superannuation scheme in oz, and pay tax in the country you work in (zero in the middle east, asia etc). So it is quite easy to do provided you follow the criteria and have back up docs in case of an audit. Well since i’m single and am flexible to live almost anywhere i want at the moment, it makes things easier to move around/travel for now, and escape the australian tax man.

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