DPNI scheme setup: employ UK staff with no UK entity.

Yes, it's HMRC's own mechanism for exactly this situation, not a workaround. DPNI schemes are documented in HMRC's PAYE Manual at PAYE20100 (and DCNI at PAYE20090). Check them yourself on GOV.UK. A specialist but completely standard arrangement.

Both are "direct payment" schemes. In broad terms, DPNI covers Income Tax and the employee's National Insurance together; a DCNI collects only the employee's own National Insurance. Neither carries the employer's National Insurance: where that is due, as it usually is for employers in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, the scheme is an NI-only scheme in the employer's name. An NI-only scheme covers National Insurance only, so the employee's Income Tax still needs its own route, Self Assessment or a tax-only DPGEN scheme set up by the employee. Which applies follows the facts, and HMRC set the scheme up on the information supplied. For an employer outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland with no UK address, that is normally a DPNI; a DCNI is rare. Setting out the facts is step one of our setup, so the application starts from the right facts.

The standard online employer registration assumes a UK presence, so HMRC handles direct payment schemes manually (GOV.UK says to register by phone or post). That's why applications by employers themselves often bounce back and forth for weeks, the form isn't built for your situation, and the right route is a correctly prepared manual application.

Our side moves in days: we reply within one UK business day and typically submit the application within 2 to 3 business days of the engagement being signed and our identity checks being complete. HMRC's manual processing then typically takes 4 to 8 weeks on our own estimate (HMRC publish no service standard for these schemes, and it can occasionally run longer). Your employee can usually start before the references arrive. See the timeline above, and tell us the start date when you first get in touch.

It depends on where you are based, and a DPNI scheme isn't a way to avoid UK NI; it's the correct way to account for it. Where UK NI is due, the employee's own (primary) NI is collected through the scheme, but it isn't always due. An employee who isn't ordinarily resident in the UK, normally works abroad for an employer based outside the UK and is sent here by that employer for a time is exempt from both employee's and employer's NI for the first 52 weeks, where there's no social security agreement to apply instead. And an employee holding a certificate of coverage (a PDA1 from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, or a certificate from a country the UK has a social security agreement with) doesn't pay UK NI for the period it covers. Where only Income Tax is due, HMRC's scheme for that is a tax-only one (DPGEN), set up by the employee, rather than a DPNI. Whether employer's (secondary) NI applies depends on the employer: an employer outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland (for example in the US) with no UK residence, presence or place of business usually has none to pay. Place of business is judged on the facts: HMRC's indicators include a UK registered office or premises, a UK bank account, UK letterhead, or paying the rent or mortgage on where the employee works, and an employer with one owes employer's NI and runs a normal PAYE scheme. By contrast, an employer in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland is generally liable for the employer's NI under its social security agreement with the UK, in which case it is set up as an NI-only scheme. And where the employee works for a UK host or end client, that business can be treated as the employer for NI and may have to operate PAYE itself. Employer's NI, where it applies, is the employer's cost and is never taken from the employee's pay. We work out which contributions apply to your situation from your facts, then tell you what to pay and where. Use our employer cost calculator to estimate the total cost of your UK hire.

UK auto-enrolment duties can still apply to a UK-based worker even with an overseas employer. We assess the position properly, and where duties apply we set up and run the pension alongside the payroll.

Yes. If a previous adviser set up the scheme, we take over the running of it, references stay the same, nothing is re-registered, and there's no charge for the handover itself.