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One potential problem arises if a US company tries to pay someone with a bank account outside the US. Due to FATCA regulations, there may be a 30% withholding

One potential problem arises if a US company tries to pay someone with a bank account outside the US. Due to FATCA regulations, there may be a 30% withholding on bank wires sent to foreign financial institutions that aren't Qualified Intermediaries (foreign banks that agree to submit information on any US account holders who have accounts with them). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance...

prawn 13y ago
Pretend you're buying a product the contractor is providing. They can provide invoices. Pay via PayPal and make sure they're withdrawing funds so the account situation isn't painful if it's locked. (That may or may not have worked for me...)
- scottlilly 13y ago
  Unfortunately, PayPal has limited capabilities in some countries. In fact, Costa Rica (where the company is moving) appears to be a country where you cannot withdraw money from your PayPal account into a local bank account. It also looks like you can't have them transfer money to a Costa Rican credit or debit card. PayPal doesn't even have my current country (Paraguay) listed as a place where I can do anything. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-... I also encountered problems with other money transfer services when I first moved overseas. They had limits on how much money I could transfer per day, month, and lifetime of my account. As I started crossing certain thresholds, they wanted me to send them my tax return for the previous year, if I wanted to continue using them. Someone else I know frequently had transfers blocked by the service he uses to pay his foreign contractors. There's some new regulation, a policy changes, or just general screw-ups.

prawn 13y ago

Pretend you're buying a product the contractor is providing. They can provide invoices. Pay via PayPal and make sure they're withdrawing funds so the account situation isn't painful if it's locked. (That may or may not have worked for me...)

scottlilly 13y ago
Unfortunately, PayPal has limited capabilities in some countries. In fact, Costa Rica (where the company is moving) appears to be a country where you cannot withdraw money from your PayPal account into a local bank account. It also looks like you can't have them transfer money to a Costa Rican credit or debit card. PayPal doesn't even have my current country (Paraguay) listed as a place where I can do anything. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-... I also encountered problems with other money transfer services when I first moved overseas. They had limits on how much money I could transfer per day, month, and lifetime of my account. As I started crossing certain thresholds, they wanted me to send them my tax return for the previous year, if I wanted to continue using them. Someone else I know frequently had transfers blocked by the service he uses to pay his foreign contractors. There's some new regulation, a policy changes, or just general screw-ups.