HN Explorer

Ask HN: What should I know before working remote for a company based in the US?

10 points by wallunit ↗ HN
I live in Germany and looking for a new job. However it seems that most jobs I'm interested in are at companies in the US. Luckily a lot of those companies offer to work remote.

However when you live in Germany and work for a German company, your employer pays your taxes and social security contributions (providing you with national health care, social security and pension) from your gross wage and transfers your net wage once a month to your bank account. But what happens when the employer is based in the US? How taxes are payed then and how much are they? Can I still get national health care and social security in Germany? What else should I know?

9 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 26.4 ms ] thread
johnfuller
The easiest way to go for everyone is to work for the remote company as a contractor. Then you take care of your own taxes as someone who is self employed. In the U.S. if you don't have another business structure setup for doing contract work, then you are automatically a sole proprietor. I imagine Germany has something similar.

Hire an accountant to figure out what extra tax hit you will take working as a contractor as opposed to an employee. Whatever you would normally charge the company to work work for them - add that extra tax hit, the costs of the accountant to handle your taxes and whatever overhead costs that you will take on by working remotely vs working in their office.

Otherwise, the company you are looking to work for will likely set other demands based on whatever works best in their system. Be flexible, but make sure to add the above mentioned costs.

irkub
Hello wallunit,

In Spain (where I live) there is specific contract model for hiring people working abroad in a permanent contract. However, this contract model does not provide any health insurance for the worker in the "destination" country. This contract model is only useful so that they don't have to pay taxes at Spain also. I guess that probably no country will have any contract model that provides people with health insurance or anything alike in a different country than where the company is located. I guess that working as an external contractor as suggested in the other answer is the way to go.

May I ask which source are you using to find those jobs?

cheers

lifeisstillgood
1. Make sure the process of payment is clear and electronic. I used to get paid by cheque fedexed I've and it would take two months to get paid

2. You need to register for an EIN with IRS - it's pretty painless

wallunit
That's all I need? No H1B or other form of visa?
lifeisstillgood
You will have to check carefully - I am an Independant consultant officially and I have no visa as I do not work in the USA. I work from uk

But all I have is a contract, informed the IRS that I exist but am not liable for tax, then given that proof to my client company so they don't get done for illegally employing someone - it is not that bad.

[dead] lifeisstillgood
You will have to check carefully - I am an Independant consultant officially and I have no visa as I do not work in the USA. I work from uk

But all I have is a contract, informed the IRS that I exist but am not liable for tax, then given that proof to my client company so they don't get done for illegally employing someone - it is not that bad.

mootothemax
I do a lot of work for US-based clients. I'm registered as a sole trader here in Poland, and my accountants take care of the tax details.

I issue invoices every month, and transfer monies where my accountants tell me to.

Taking payments is easy: I have an account with http://currencyfair.com that clients can deposit funds into. At a push, I can be convinced to accept PayPal - clients pay all fees associated.

My advice: find a few accountants nearby to you, have a meeting with each and discuss your requirements. They'll be able to give you the answers you need, and life becomes good from there.

lgieron
Hey, I'm in similar situation (also located in Poland, doing remote work for a US-based company). I'm currently using PayPal for money transfer, mostly because it's instantaneous and easy to both deposit (for the client) and withdraw (for me). Could you summarize why you prefer currencyfair.com over it?