3 ms·

It should be as legal as buying any other service or product from foreign businesses.

gambiting 6y ago
Well, not quite. If the remote worker is contracting for you - then yes, it's extremely simple. They do the work for you, send you an invoice, you pay the invoice and that's it. It's on them to pay the correct tax, health insurance, work the correct number of hours etc etc. But if you are actually employing them remotely then yes, it's legal, but you need to make sure to follow the employment law where they are located, not where your company is. So if you employ someone from the EU you need to give them 25 days of paid time off, pay into that country's healthcare system etc etc. It's easier to contract instead.
- fernandotakai 6y ago
  yup, that. i've done contract work for a bunch of american companies and that's basically how it's done: i do they work they ask, i send them an invoice, they pay by transferring the money to my company's bank account, i pay the proper taxes and then pay myself. it's actually quite nice.
- kxyvr 6y ago
  Even if the foreign entity sends an invoice and pays their own tax, I don't think it's quite that simple. If the company hiring the contractor wants to deduct their expense from their taxes, the IRS will want to know why because typically a 1099 would be filed. I am not an accountant nor tax attorney, but I think that at the very least something like a W-8BEN would need to be filed: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/w8form.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/w8form.asp https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8ben https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8ben Long story short, at the very least, the person should speak with an accountant familiar with these filings to make sure all forms are filed. There will be some amount of paperwork to ensure they can survive an audit. These tax issues are separate from any additional legal considerations that may apply.

Well, not quite. If the remote worker is contracting for you - then yes, it's extremely simple. They do the work for you, send you an invoice, you pay the invoice and that's it. It's on them to pay the correct tax, health insurance, work the correct number of hours etc etc. But if you are actually employing them remotely then yes, it's legal, but you need to make sure to follow the employment law where they are located, not where your company is. So if you employ someone from the EU you need to give them 25 days of paid time off, pay into that country's healthcare system etc etc. It's easier to contract instead.

fernandotakai 6y ago
yup, that. i've done contract work for a bunch of american companies and that's basically how it's done: i do they work they ask, i send them an invoice, they pay by transferring the money to my company's bank account, i pay the proper taxes and then pay myself. it's actually quite nice.
kxyvr 6y ago
Even if the foreign entity sends an invoice and pays their own tax, I don't think it's quite that simple. If the company hiring the contractor wants to deduct their expense from their taxes, the IRS will want to know why because typically a 1099 would be filed. I am not an accountant nor tax attorney, but I think that at the very least something like a W-8BEN would need to be filed: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/w8form.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/w8form.asp https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8ben https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw8ben Long story short, at the very least, the person should speak with an accountant familiar with these filings to make sure all forms are filed. There will be some amount of paperwork to ensure they can survive an audit. These tax issues are separate from any additional legal considerations that may apply.