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I honestly don’t understand why you’re singling out germany and Austria. The same holds true for Italy, Sweden, Canada, the UK, … - you cannot employ anyone wit

I honestly don’t understand why you’re singling out germany and Austria. The same holds true for Italy, Sweden, Canada, the UK, … - you cannot employ anyone without registering as an employer and following local labor laws. You sometimes can skirt it by setting up a contractor relationship, with all attached baggage. But there are companies that offer remote employment as a service- they have a local entity that serves as employer of record for you and take a fixed fee for that.

ChuckNorris89 5y ago
>I honestly don’t understand why you’re singling out germany and Austria Because in those two countries, freelancing is the only way to skirt around the fact that no company will set up shop locally just for you, and if you freelance, you pay higher taxes than being a FTE, while also loosing almost all benefits that come with being a FTE like sick leave, paid vacation, and pension contributions VS for example in Denmark, if you're a freelancer, you also get pension. Yes, in most other countries you have to freelance for remote work, but at least in other countries (Portugal, Romani, Bulgaria, Spain, etc.) , if you freelance and say goodbye to social and workers' benefits, you at least pay less taxes since you get no safety net from the government, not pay more taxes like in Austria and Germany while getting no safety net and no benefits.
- Xylakant 5y ago
  Freelancers in Germany don’t pay higher taxes. They pay income tax like every employee. They loose the employers share of social security and pension, but the remedy for that is to adjust rates - you also loose paid holidays, sick leave and all of the other employment benefits, but same - reflect that in your rates. You can opt into pension if you choose to, some freelancers are even required to (see 1). If you don’t opt into pension, you don’t need to pay into the pension fund. Unemployment insurance is similar: you can opt into it when you start freelancing, but if you don’t, you don’t need to pay for it. (Source: I am for social security and tax purposes a freelancer) (1) https://www.fuer-gruender.de/wissen/existenzgruendung-planen/branchentipps/freiberufler/rentenversicherung/ https://www.fuer-gruender.de/wissen/existenzgruendung-planen...
- bonzini 5y ago
  You get pension by paying contributions out of your pocket, whereas normally the employer would pay them on top of what you earn before taxes.
  - Xylakant 5y ago
    More specific: if you’re employed, you and your employer share the contribution roughly half/half and your share gets deducted before taxes.
- mejutoco 5y ago
  There is another way. Some companies offer this as a service. They have offices everywhere around Europe. A first-party can hire you through one of these services, and you would have all the benefits of the destination country.
  - isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
    AFAIK it's called employer of record.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
  In Poland you pay 12.5% flat revenue tax as a contractor vs 17/%32% income tax as an employee, it's a no-brainer especially since you need to pay for health insurance anyway and you are never going to see the money taken from FTEs by the government for retirement. Unlike in Germany there is also no enforcement of false employment.
atq2119 5y ago
Pretty sure you can add the US to this list. Try being a resident (or even a non-resident citizen! The US is pretty unique in that regard) working for a non-US company without declaring the income for tax purposes and see how it goes...

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

>I honestly don’t understand why you’re singling out germany and Austria Because in those two countries, freelancing is the only way to skirt around the fact that no company will set up shop locally just for you, and if you freelance, you pay higher taxes than being a FTE, while also loosing almost all benefits that come with being a FTE like sick leave, paid vacation, and pension contributions VS for example in Denmark, if you're a freelancer, you also get pension. Yes, in most other countries you have to freelance for remote work, but at least in other countries (Portugal, Romani, Bulgaria, Spain, etc.) , if you freelance and say goodbye to social and workers' benefits, you at least pay less taxes since you get no safety net from the government, not pay more taxes like in Austria and Germany while getting no safety net and no benefits.

Xylakant 5y ago
Freelancers in Germany don’t pay higher taxes. They pay income tax like every employee. They loose the employers share of social security and pension, but the remedy for that is to adjust rates - you also loose paid holidays, sick leave and all of the other employment benefits, but same - reflect that in your rates. You can opt into pension if you choose to, some freelancers are even required to (see 1). If you don’t opt into pension, you don’t need to pay into the pension fund. Unemployment insurance is similar: you can opt into it when you start freelancing, but if you don’t, you don’t need to pay for it. (Source: I am for social security and tax purposes a freelancer) (1) https://www.fuer-gruender.de/wissen/existenzgruendung-planen/branchentipps/freiberufler/rentenversicherung/ https://www.fuer-gruender.de/wissen/existenzgruendung-planen...
bonzini 5y ago
You get pension by paying contributions out of your pocket, whereas normally the employer would pay them on top of what you earn before taxes.
- Xylakant 5y ago
  More specific: if you’re employed, you and your employer share the contribution roughly half/half and your share gets deducted before taxes.
mejutoco 5y ago
There is another way. Some companies offer this as a service. They have offices everywhere around Europe. A first-party can hire you through one of these services, and you would have all the benefits of the destination country.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
  AFAIK it's called employer of record.
isbvhodnvemrwvn 5y ago
In Poland you pay 12.5% flat revenue tax as a contractor vs 17/%32% income tax as an employee, it's a no-brainer especially since you need to pay for health insurance anyway and you are never going to see the money taken from FTEs by the government for retirement. Unlike in Germany there is also no enforcement of false employment.

atq2119 5y ago

Pretty sure you can add the US to this list. Try being a resident (or even a non-resident citizen! The US is pretty unique in that regard) working for a non-US company without declaring the income for tax purposes and see how it goes...