Considering the impact COVID-19 is still having on travel and work arrangements and its consequences in terms of work patterns for cross-border commuters and assignees a-like, the social security authorities of all EEA countries and Switzerland have decided, in the framework of the Administrative Commission’s meeting of this week, to extend the “no-impact” position in view of determining the applicable social security legislation up until 31 December 2022.

This extension addresses the importance of remaining flexible during these times and allows companies and workers to better tackle possible social security effects generated by the pandemic and its aftermath, while waiting for the situation to stabilize.

In concrete terms, this means that changes in the work pattern resulting from the COVID-19 restriction measures, such as e.g. increased work time spent in the residence country other than the usual country of employment shall not impact the applicable social security legislation for these employees.

As this decision is taken at EU level, any COVID-19-related changes in the work pattern in a bilateral (or non-) treaty context should still be checked on a case-by-case basis.

An update on the website of the Swiss authorities will follow shortly and we will keep you updated of latest developments.

For further details, please feel free to reach out to our Swiss social security team.

Deloitte’s view

The extension of the “no impact” flexible rules for cross-border workers throughout Europe provides companies with the appropriate framework to handle the on-going influence COVID-19 is having on the workforce and allows for more flexibility than granted under current legislation Overall, this extension is a positive response by the authorities as it enables companies as well as their employees to better cope with the social security effects due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

If you would like to discuss more on this topic, please reach out to our key contacts below.

Key contacts

David Wigersma - Partner, Global Employer Services

David has 20 years of experience in the area of international corporate and individual taxation planning. He specialises in addressing the complex compliance needs of a cross-border workforce with varied elements of compensation.

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Stephen Turley - Senior Manager, Global Employer Services

Stephen is a Senior Manager with Deloitte’s Global Employer Services Department and a specialist in international taxation and personal income tax questions. With the growing demand for expertise and services in the Blockchain space he is part of Deloitte Switzerland’s team of Swiss crypto and blockchain experts providing services in this area.

In addition, Stephen is a lecturer at the University of Applied Science Winterthur and a frequent speaker at public seminars. He holds a MLaw degree from Zurich University and a BA of Arts from Trinity College Dublin.

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Gloria Fehringer - Senior Consultant, Global Employer Services 

Gloria is a senior consultant within Deloitte’s Global Employer Services. In that role, she supports clients with a variety of topics within international expatriate taxation, social security and global mobility support to ensure compliance amongst their mobile workforce. Gloria holds a B.A. degree from ebz university in Bochum and a LL.M. degree in corporate tax law from the University of Cologne, both accomplished in dual study programs while being employed with Deloitte in Germany. Alongside working in fields of international- and mobility tax as well as social security in Switzerland, she concluded a CAS in National Individual Taxation from Kalaidos School Zurich. 

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