Cross-Border Catch-Up: OECD’s New Temporal Test for PE Increases Flexibility for Remote Workers

In this episode of our Cross-Border Catch-Up podcast series, Shirin Aboujawde (New York/London) and Maya Barba (San Francisco) discuss the 2025 Model Tax Convention update from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and its implications for employers managing cross-border remote work. Maya and Shirin explain the new two-part framework for determining when an employee’s remote work location creates a taxable permanent establishment, including the 50 percent working time safe harbor and the qualitative commercial reason test. The speakers also provide practical compliance steps for multinational employers as they address tax, social security, and global mobility issues in an increasingly borderless workforce.