Ask HN: Structure for Canadian working remote for Bay Area startup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Structure for Canadian working remote for Bay Area startup?

10 pointssvCanuck7 comments

I (a Canadian in Canada) am currently in discussions with a startup in the San Francisco Bay area that would result in me being their first remote employee. I have read the recent threads about remote work, so this post is more about the contractual logistics of this sort of thing.

Does anyone have any experience in this sort of setup being a Canadian remote employee (or contractor) for an American company? Taxes, payroll, CPP/EI deductions, benefits, all these things are on my mind. I'm going to talk to a local accountant soon but thought I'd check here first. Thanks in advance.

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Having researched this scenario myself (as a Canadian looking to possibly work remotely for a US company), I've found the following article helpful (although the tone may be a little too lighthearted IMO):

https://medium.com/inside-formstack/working-remotely-for-an-...

Unless the US company wants to set up a Canadian corporation / subsiduary, and issue you a T4 and withhold (and pay half of) your EI and CPP (or pay some an external company to do it for them), odds are you'll be working as a self-employed consultant / contractor and sending them invoices for your services. The one US company I've interviewed with so far said this is the way they handle paying foreign workers.

A word of caution, you'll want to make sure - for both your sake and your employer's - that the CRA doesn't view you as an employee if you're claiming to be a self-employed contractor (penalties would apply.) I'd recommend reading more about it here (with links to CRA's site in the article), and discussing this with your accountant before signing an offer:

http://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/employees/employeevscontra...

I'd also suggest your offer be explicit in matters of control over work, ownership of tools, and other items that could make the CRA feel you're an employee versus a contractor.

Thanks for the links, I appreciate it.

I have experience being a american remote worker for a company that is based in canada. They have a wholly owned subsidiary managed by trinet (http://blog.capterra.com/top-zenefits-competitors/) that employs me and my fellow SF coworker.

Best less hassle way for both parties is to have them run your payroll through a Canadian payroll company who will do the payroll deductions and issue a T4 year end. Many U.S. Companies do this for their remote employees.

Thanks! I'll look into this setup.

It looks like you're right - you can have a Professional Employer Organization act on behalf of the employer in regards to payroll, HR and other compliance matters:

http://www.salesforcesearch.com/bid/147571/How-Does-a-U-S-Co...

Just don't try and pay employees without doing the proper paperwork with the Canadian government (or use a PEO to do it for you):

http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/services/tax/tax-tracks/episode-59-...

If an employer only has one or two Canadian employees though, they may want to go via the self-employed route I mentioned in an earlier reply.

You may start as a corp-to-corp consultant or, if full time employment is an arrangement - get TN visa.

This will allow you to freely be in USA for work or stay in freezing cold miserable canadian winter if you so desire :)

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