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Sorry I was thinking remote as in outside the US. I suppose handling benefits and payroll across state boundaries can get tricky.

jedberg 10y ago
Outside the US is actually easier in some respects if the person is willing to set up a company in their own country, but I suspect in many countries it is as complicated as setting one up here in the states, and I wouldn't have the expertise to help them. I suspect a job listing that says "remote anywhere in the world as long as you set up your own corporate entity with a foreign registration in the United States" wouldn't work very well. :)
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  Well my point is that paying an individual outside of the US is fairly straightforward. They fill out a form guaranteeing the company they don't owe withholding (W8-BEN), or the company keeps 30%. At least that's what the lawyers/accountants I've dealt with have said. Probably harder if you're extending benefits and whatnot.
- timv 10y ago
  > if the person is willing to set up a company in their own country I can't speak for other countries, but in Australia this is far simpler than most people realise. There's a range of companies that will do all that for you. They set up and operate the company, they do payroll & taxes, they handle insurance. When I worked remotely for a US company, I was technically a contract employee of an Australian company that existed purely to handle the contact work. I paid them something like $1-$2 per hour (that I worked) to handle all of that, including indemnity insurance, etc. The only hard part was that the people that handled it weren't set up to easily handle foreign currency, and I was being paid in (and invoicing in) USD. Other than that it was easy - in fact it was even better than when I contracted to Australian companies because I didn't need to charge sales tax, so more money went in to my pocket.

jedberg 10y ago

Outside the US is actually easier in some respects if the person is willing to set up a company in their own country, but I suspect in many countries it is as complicated as setting one up here in the states, and I wouldn't have the expertise to help them. I suspect a job listing that says "remote anywhere in the world as long as you set up your own corporate entity with a foreign registration in the United States" wouldn't work very well. :)

MichaelGG 10y ago
Well my point is that paying an individual outside of the US is fairly straightforward. They fill out a form guaranteeing the company they don't owe withholding (W8-BEN), or the company keeps 30%. At least that's what the lawyers/accountants I've dealt with have said. Probably harder if you're extending benefits and whatnot.
timv 10y ago
> if the person is willing to set up a company in their own country I can't speak for other countries, but in Australia this is far simpler than most people realise. There's a range of companies that will do all that for you. They set up and operate the company, they do payroll & taxes, they handle insurance. When I worked remotely for a US company, I was technically a contract employee of an Australian company that existed purely to handle the contact work. I paid them something like $1-$2 per hour (that I worked) to handle all of that, including indemnity insurance, etc. The only hard part was that the people that handled it weren't set up to easily handle foreign currency, and I was being paid in (and invoicing in) USD. Other than that it was easy - in fact it was even better than when I contracted to Australian companies because I didn't need to charge sales tax, so more money went in to my pocket.