Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#1

Post by skrebbel » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 5:28 AM UTC

I'm on of the founders of a small but fast growing startup. We're a team distributed across Europe, and so far we've had the fortune that everybody we employed had a sole proprietorship lying on the shelf somewhere.

But as we're growing, we can't keep asking every single employee to begin a company, right? Also, starting a mailbox firm in every country where >0 employees live sounds like administrative hell. How do other distributed teams (across borders) solve this?

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#2

Post by kylehotchkiss » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 7:42 AM UTC

Transferwise Business offers an international payroll solution: https://transferwise.com/gb/business/international-payroll-v...

(I don't work for Transferwise, just a huge fan of their service)

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#3

Post by skrebbel » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:25 AM UTC

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #2

Transferwise Business offers an international payroll solution: https://transferwise.com/gb/business/international-payroll-v... (I don't work for Transferwise, just a huge fan of their service)

Thanks! But I don't see much about payroll there, only about transfers. Do they also do actual payrolling? I.e. dealing with taxes, employment laws, etc etc?

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#4

Post by rando444 » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:26 AM UTC

A sole proprietorship is not a business entity. There is zero difference between a sole proprietor business and a person.

I'm not sure how you got this confused, but it sounds like you need to speak to an accountant.

As far as how you pay people, you just transfer them money from your bank account. All of their accounts will have SWIFT or IBAN numbers or both, and you just transfer the funds.

Your accountant will take care of the rest, and they will be responsible for taxes on their end. No, they will not need to be companies, but you will need to pay them as companies, as these individuals will be responsible for their own expenses typically covered by a business (healthcare, union, taxes, etc.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#5

Post by jamiepenney » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #2

Transferwise Business offers an international payroll solution: https://transferwise.com/gb/business/international-payroll-v... (I don't work for Transferwise, just a huge fan of their service)

I get paid to a bank in New Zealand via TransferWise for work I do for a company in the US. Works well, not sure of the fees on their end as they handle all of that for me. As the recipient of funds it's a nice service anyway.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#6

Post by dnh44 » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:30 AM UTC

I would have expected that anyone looking for remote international work would have things set up to make it as easy as possible for any potential employer to be able to pay them without running into local issues.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#7

Post by tasuki » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:32 AM UTC

I've participated in similar setups before. Everyone was self-employed, working as a contractor, invoicing the German company. As we were all in the EU, this was pretty smooth.

Why would you need to start a mailbox firm in every country with employees?

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#8

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:34 AM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #3

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #2

Transferwise Business offers an international payroll solution: https://transferwise.com/gb/business/international-payroll-v... (I don't work for Transferwise, just a huge fan of their service)

Thanks! But I don't see much about payroll there, only about transfers. Do they also do actual payrolling? I.e. dealing with taxes, employment laws, etc etc?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#9

Post by anotheryou » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:37 AM UTC

Buffer have published their formula (and all salaries)

https://open.buffer.com/salary-formula/

it's basically: base reference salary * cost of living * role * experience

edit: oh you where talking about payrole, sorry, I'm OT

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay remote employees in different countries?

#10

Post by shanth » Wed, Oct 24, 2018, 8:40 AM UTC

it's called Bitcoin.