7 ms·

Too bad there are many 'remote but inside the US' jobs posted. Anyone got a clue why that is?

• agentultra 13y ago
  Taxes and international payments are a huge pain would be my guess.
  • zura 13y ago
    Just hire people as contractors and it is extremely easy. They send you invoices periodically, you send them money through regular bank wire transfer.
    • ljoshua 13y ago
      There are limits to how much you can do this as a US-based company, and if you overstep the bounds the IRS will come a-knockin'. I imagine it's much easier to hire someone as a real employee inside the US, and based on the size of many of the companies, they probably don't have the accounting or legal resources necessary to deal with real international employees.
      • zura 13y ago
        It seems to be a US-only phenomenon. I have yet to see a non-US company which allows remote working and restricts the location within its country.
    • detst 13y ago
      Certainly possible but remember that "contractor" and "employee" have legal definitions. You can't "just" call an employee (by the legal definition) a contractor. (Edit: I see ljoshua beat me to the possibility for issues here but it's important to emphasize that it can be done, just play by the rules to avoid trouble down the line.)
      • zura 13y ago
        Sure, but nothing stops you from having long-term "contractor"-s.
        • ljoshua 13y ago
          Actually there are. And it would be great if there was just a checklist that you could go against, but the best we've got is this page [1] from the IRS and some legal interpretation. I agree that the positions could more clearly state that it was a contracting position, but it looks like more of an employer-employee type job board than an eLance type deal to me. So they just have to be careful. [1] http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-%26-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-Defined http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-%26-Self-Empl...
    • pmjordan 13y ago
      As far as I can tell, the IRS (US tax collecting agency) requires a tax withholding on anything a US company pays an employee/contractor abroad. By default this is 30%, but if the person in question files US tax returns (despite never setting foot in the country) I think it goes down to 10%, and if the employee's country has a double-taxation agreement with the US, the 10% can be offset against the home income tax. Still, having to deal with that kind of paperwork is a huge burden on both employer and employee. I would not be surprised if this also caused extra hassle when you do visit the US on occasion as they'll assume you're trying to work there illegally. Of course, making this kind of thing not worth your while is the whole point of protectionism. IIRC, India has a similar arrangement. One way around this is presumably to open a branch office in another country, and have contractors work for the branch.
      • wagerlabs 13y ago
        Mark the tax treaty checkbox on the W8BEN. This solves all issues, assuming that your company is established in a jurisdiction with a tax treaty.
      • byoung2 13y ago
        As far as I can tell, the IRS (US tax collecting agency) requires a tax withholding on anything a US company pays an employee/contractor abroad That can't be true for contractors, or sites like Elance and oDesk would not be able to operate as easily as they do. A contractor is responsible for paying his own taxes, whether that is to the IRS in the US, or the tax authority in his own country.
        • pmjordan 13y ago
          You'd think so. Read up on W-8BEN if you don't believe me. I've been on the receiving end of this for doing a tech review of a book for a major US tech publisher. The amount of paperwork required on my end to satisfy the IRS meant I just gave up and effectively told the publisher to keep the money. (I did it for fun/experience anyway - tech reviewing books isn't a way to make a living.)
          • 13y ago
    • danielweber 13y ago
      Employers also want US law on their side in case the employee does something like try to steal from the company. EDIT: Employees also don't want their home country's protections in case that company in Uzbekistan decides not to pay them.
• narfz 13y ago
  my guess it's about timezones and visa. having 3 hours between a coworker and you is not that of a big deal but having 9hours time difference can be quite cumbersome.
  • patrickaljord 13y ago
    Timezone doesn't make sense for Canada and South/Central America. Visa doesn't make much sense either, plenty of startups work with remote workers, no visa needed and for European people they can visit for 3 months with a business visa, nothing required for that, just a valid passport. Also, I have many south american friends who got a visa easily while working for successful startups.
• sandis 13y ago
  Probably to ensure a good overlap, timezone-wise. http://jobmote.com http://jobmote.com usually tags those with 'US-only' or similar.
  • agilebyte 13y ago
    I like that one better, thank you. Would be interesting to know if it is because of timezones as West Coast would work very well for me.
  • kephra 13y ago
    How does this site work? I see no search field. And jobs have no contact field.