I am an EU citizen. I am looking into an opportunity to do remote work for a company based in Israel. I am currently residing in an African country (tourist visa).
Where should I pay tax? I realize that this is a hard question that may require an international tax lawyer, so if so, how do I find an appropriately-qualified international tax lawyer.
You pay taxes where you are declaring the money.
I'll use random values here to exemplify things. Let's say you are from Ireland and you are in South Africa. Are you getting money as an individual or as a company? If you are getting the money as an individual, do you have a way to declare and pay taxes in south Africa? If you have, pay in South Africa.
And let's say that the income tax in South Africa is 20% and the income tax in Ireland is 27% and you are receiving 10.000 $ First, you pay the income tax in South Africa and spend the money there. So, you would be paying 2.000$ to the South African government and getting the remaining 8000$ for yourself.
And now let's say that after paying all you bills and going out, you are left with 1.000$ that you want to send to your investments account in Ireland, should you pay 27% taxes?
The answer is NO
As you have already paid income taxes on that source of the money, you are not going to be double taxed, however, as Ireland's income taxes are higher, you should pay the difference, so you pay 7% of the 1000$ entering Ireland as income tax, and in whatever for you use to declare the taxes, you state that you already paid 20% for the South African government.
That's the principle, but what if things are reversed? What if you are receiving your money in Ireland and spending on South Africa. In that case you pay 27% on the 10.000, leaving you with 7300 on you bank account, if you ever transfer any money to a South African bank, you still need to declare that money but you don't need to pay taxes because you already paid income tax in Ireland, and since the 27% is greater then 20%, they can't demand any more from you.
So, this is not an advice, but If I were in your position, I'd either choose the strategy that lets me keep more money in the bank, or the one that lets me sleep better at night. Any argument would be valid in your case, if you state that you rather operate your money in the EU and just send South Africa enough money for your living costs, that's an acceptable choice. If you want to send your money to South Africa because you are living there and just sending the remaining money to Ireland, that's also acceptable. What is not acceptable is not paying taxes hahaha
Edit: the only way you'd pay taxes to Israel is if you are receiving money in a company you've opened there of if they have legislation taxing service providers, which it's very unlikely. That kind of tax is usually only applied to goods, not services, and is commonly referred as import tax, which is just a way to break imports a bit and protect the local market.
Edit2: you don'r need an international lawyer, you need an accountant local to the country where you would be receiving the money.
Generally speaking, if you work for an Israeli company you pay tax there but, and this is very important: if you are also registered in an EU country and have a bank account there or anything which belongs to you, you will be obliged to pay tax over there as well. Also, don't forget the 183 days rule which makes you, in almost any country, a tax resident.
