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Ask HN: Working for a US company while being based in Europe

5 points by dt3ft ↗ HN
Is it possible to work for a US company (as a software engineer) while being based in the EU? If so, how is this typically done if the company has no presence in the EU? Do you have to create and operate a company in order to be able to bill, or can you become an employee? If so, how would you pay income tax?

8 comments

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asimpleusecase
If you are a US citizen and resident of some EU country you will need to file taxes for both the US and your country of residence. In most EU country’s you could easily function as a self employed contractor to a US company. But being a full time employee seems challenging as the company would need pay various taxes for your employment - others will know more than me on this.
d--b
You will file, but you won’t pay taxes. There are bilateral agreements so you won’t be double taxed.
d--b
I am doing this now. Yes you need to run your own company.
dt3ft
Thank you for sharing. Is the compensation even remotely close to what is being advertised? I see pay ranges from $90-$250k, but I have a hunch that even a stable $90k is not achievable working from Europe. I'd love to hear about your experience doing this.
d--b
I work for a hedge fund (where I used to be a full time employee), and I have 15 years experience, so the pay is very good. I don't know about other companies, but if a US company is willing to pay 250k to US employees - meaning they also pay their health insurance, stock options and other perks so it must cost them around 300k - there is no real reason why they wouldn't hire you at 200k. As a company owner, you'd have to pay for national health insurance (at least, that's how it works in France), and then income tax of course. Overall you'd pay about 50% in taxes, which is about the same as what you'd be taxed in New York if you factor in health insurance cost. So overall being able to get 100keuros take home income is definitely doable, and you're confortable, given the rent in Paris is about half that of New York.

Biggest problem is time difference. Working for companies on the East coast is way easier than West.

Good luck

dt3ft
Thank you very much, this is very valuable information, much appreciated!
b20000
no. as a european who moved to the US i can tell you that even though US companies have the remote fad going on, they want you to be in the US. they are not going to pay you US compensation while you are in europe. remote really means, we can pay you less because you live in a cheap place. it’s not what you think it is. there is a reason people move to the US.
lmiller1990
I do something similar but I’m based in Australia. I’m registered as a sole trader (one man LLC basically) and just invoice them once a month. I need to manage my own retirement fund, tax, health insurance etc.