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Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#51

Post by rando444 »

orev wrote: post #40
lol768 wrote: post #16

Please don't send checks.. I can't think of a more annoying way to get paid! Regardless of the accounting particulars which have been discussed here, there's bound to be a much better way of actually paying folks.

This seems like a silly thing to be annoyed about. Checks don’t have fees like most other types of electronic payment, and money is money. Why would you be OK with giving up a certain percentage of your hard-earned money just because you have to go through the “hassle” of dealing with a piece of paper? Many banks even accept the check deposit via app now - you don’t even need to go to the ATM. Edit: I’m talking about…

Checks are a holdover from the 1800s. They don't have a place in modern banking.

If the US were willing to put tighter rules around bank transfer fees, it would be possible to create a European style system where bank to bank transfers are free, regardless of which bank you're with.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#52

Post by sl1ck731 »

knocte wrote: post #29
_eht wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does your accounting work? Is your accountant also up to date with the 2019 program? Are there any caveats to this that you didn't mention? Are they all contract 1099? What about healthcare and retirement contributions and considerations?

I never understand why people bring up accountants or taxes when talking about cryptocurrencies. Seriously, you negotiate with your employer an hourly rate, you get paid that hourly rate and is what you should report. The way you receive your salary at the end of the day (bank transfer or crypto) is completely decoupled from this. In the same way you don't need to tell the taxman what bank did you use to receive your…

This is equivalent to saying you don't have to tell the IRS you paid someone in USD or gum.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#53

Post by tomislav »

I work remotely from Europe for a US company. Even though the company considers me an "employee" with all the perks (vacation, health insurance, etc.) I found that the easiest and best way is for me to form my own LLC, employ myself in it and invoice the US company for the gross amount. Mostly because of lower taxes, easier handling of our national health care and retirement fund, expensing equipment and operational costs.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#54

Post by lol768 »

orev wrote: post #40
lol768 wrote: post #16

Please don't send checks.. I can't think of a more annoying way to get paid! Regardless of the accounting particulars which have been discussed here, there's bound to be a much better way of actually paying folks.

This seems like a silly thing to be annoyed about. Checks don’t have fees like most other types of electronic payment, and money is money. Why would you be OK with giving up a certain percentage of your hard-earned money just because you have to go through the “hassle” of dealing with a piece of paper? Many banks even accept the check deposit via app now - you don’t even need to go to the ATM. Edit: I’m talking about…

>This seems like a silly thing to be annoyed about. Checks don’t have fees like most other types of electronic payment, and money is money.

It's not silly, it's a waste of my time - and I value my time, that's why I bill for it in the first place. If I have the choice between a Faster Payment scheme transaction which transfers money generally instantly and always within two hours, and a cheque I have to post/bring to a branch and then wait _days_ for it to clear - I'm going to pick the Faster Payments route.

> Many banks even accept the check deposit via app now

Still a waste of time. Need to wait to receive the cheque. Need to take a photo of it. Need to wait for funds to clear. It's just dumb in 2019, we can do so much better.

>Why would you be OK with giving up a certain percentage of your hard-earned money just because you have to go through the “hassle” of dealing with a piece of paper?

Why on earth do you pay for bank transfers in the US? My bank does not charge for personal transfers. My business account doesn't charge for transfers either. It's such a basic service which costs pence per transaction (easily made up by interest and interchange income).. how could you ever justify charging for it?

In any case, surely it's such an insignificant sum it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things? The client is paying an invoice presumably a few orders of magnitude larger.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#55

Post by phonebanshee »

apazzolini wrote: post #44
knocte wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand why people bring up accountants or taxes when talking about cryptocurrencies. Seriously, you negotiate with your employer an hourly rate, you get paid that hourly rate and is what you should report. The way you receive your salary at the end of the day (bank transfer or crypto) is completely decoupled from this. In the same way you don't need to tell the taxman what bank did you use to receive your…

How is converting it to fiat a different subject when most people need to be paid in something that can then be used for rent/food/literally everything else? This entire thread is insane. The second a job tries to pay me in crypto is the second I'm looking for another job.

Depends on the amount of money involved, doesn't it? I don't care how you pay me, as long as the amounts involved make it worth my time.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#56

Post by dnh44 »

wmab wrote: post #31

We hire a number of folks both as traditional contractors as well as freelancers. Here's some thoughts based on my experience: 1) Are they an employee or a contractor? You mention "employees" but talk about them invoicing you. If they are requesting payment via invoice then it sounds like a contractor. It's very important that you define this relationship early on. There are different rules for both (health insurance…

CurrencyFair.com does USD to USD transfers and I’ve found them to be very good for the nearly ten years I’ve used them.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#58

Post by muzani »

orev wrote: post #40
lol768 wrote: post #16

Please don't send checks.. I can't think of a more annoying way to get paid! Regardless of the accounting particulars which have been discussed here, there's bound to be a much better way of actually paying folks.

This seems like a silly thing to be annoyed about. Checks don’t have fees like most other types of electronic payment, and money is money. Why would you be OK with giving up a certain percentage of your hard-earned money just because you have to go through the “hassle” of dealing with a piece of paper? Many banks even accept the check deposit via app now - you don’t even need to go to the ATM. Edit: I’m talking about…

One long term client decided to switch payment to checks. I had to pick it up in the middle of the work day, during office hours. The opportunity cost was over $100. Back when I didn't have a car and had to take an Uber, this would have cost far more.

It's little effort to actually deposit it. But big companies tend to sit in tall towers in the middle of traffic jams, where parking is difficult to find.

As a contractor, I would be fine taking a pay cut of up to $100 to avoid checks.

Re: Ask HN: How do you pay your remote team?

#60

Post by brudgers »

dnh44 wrote: post #57
brudgers wrote: post #13

Check, envelope, and stamp is the simplest thing that might work.

checks don’t cross international borders cheaply. If I remember correctly from the last time I tried Barclays in the UK charged about £50 to deposit a USD check from a US bank.

£50 a month is £600/year. Rounding error on a going concern. Rounding error on a developer's rate. And worth less than the time an entrepreneur would probably spend trying to save half of it. Moving money internationally will always cost something. Exchange rates might eat more of a developer's salary.
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