Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the company contracting allows the contracting entity to maintain the autonomy and flexibility required then nothing. Just wrapping people in shell companies doesn’t usually avoid the legal tests for whether someone is being treated as an employee or contractor AFAIK.
> "Just wrapping people in shell companies doesn’t usually avoid the legal tests for whether someone is being treated as an employee or contractor AFAIK." What does "wrapping people in shell companies" mean? As a person, you're either employed for a "shell company", in which case you've signed a contract and you get paid a salary - or you're the owner of a "shell company", in which case you get to choose how to manag…
Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
61–70 of 140 posts
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#62We (tacinsight.com) are rebuilding our entire front end from scratch and are looking for a senior javascript engineer. Preferably with prior experience in a large React project.
This is a greenfield rewrite of a tightly coupled ASP.NET frontend to React+API.
Email in profile if interested.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, that's the way you do it, at least in Poland. You start a sole proprietorship and then just invoice your US-based client monthly. It's very simple for both sides.
Do you have to do anything special with regards to vat? You’re selling services to a US company. Just asking
No problem at all. US company pays zero VAT. Any accountant can help with billing and tax reporting specifics.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#64Many US companies hiring people from Europe are treating them as de facto employees but paying them as contractors. This is illegal. It’s not something that the US government has been regularly enforcing. But if the trend continues and ends up on the public’s radar, that will change.
It is probably doubly illegal. Not just in the US, but also in the country you live in. I don’t know for sure outside Germany, but I assume it’s similar: If you mainly live in Germany, you have to be hired according to German labor law (and pay taxes etc. in Germany)
It is not illegal in Germany if you follow the usual rules for self-employment. Proper tax registration, multiple clients over a timespan, independent negotiation of the prices, independently deciding working hours/days, and so on.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "Just wrapping people in shell companies doesn’t usually avoid the legal tests for whether someone is being treated as an employee or contractor AFAIK." What does "wrapping people in shell companies" mean? As a person, you're either employed for a "shell company", in which case you've signed a contract and you get paid a salary - or you're the owner of a "shell company", in which case you get to choose how to manag…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_self-employment
That's within a single country. There is a qualitative difference between cross-border business relationships and intra-country ones.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends, in Germany chances are that it falls under Scheinselbsttändigkeit (pseudo self-employment) which would be illegal.
That would be if the company were in Germany. But not outside Germany, there the freelancer is classified as "exporter" (both for US and EU clients).
the only issue is that you might be liable to pay social insurance (DRV), but only if they can show that you have only one long-term client, and I’m not sure if it applies to foreign clients, especially outside the EU (but it might)
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, that's the way you do it, at least in Poland. You start a sole proprietorship and then just invoice your US-based client monthly. It's very simple for both sides.
Do you have to do anything special with regards to vat? You’re selling services to a US company. Just asking
US is not part of VAT system so nothing applies there.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's super easy actually. All one needs is to be a freelancer in the EU and use W-8BEN form in the US. No additional taxes, just EU ones.
Your invoices are also with 0% VAT (reverse charge), so arguably it's simpler than contracting for a European company.
Though VAT is one of the easier things in practice once you have everything running. Granted I used an accountant to deal with all the taxes, which totally is worth the cost.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#69It might not necessarily work everywhere, but here is my experience. I live in Italy and work for the US. The company I work for specializes in a well known free software project. I contributed a few patches to that project, then met a few people from the project at FOSDEM over a beer and spent a couple of pleasant afternoons with them. I then applied and was given a technical test, but I have good reasons to believe that those patches and beers were crucial in later receiving an offer.
Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?
#70It might not necessarily work everywhere, but here is my experience. I live in Italy and work for the US. The company I work for specializes in a well known free software project. I contributed a few patches to that project, then met a few people from the project at FOSDEM over a beer and spent a couple of pleasant afternoons with them. I then applied and was given a technical test, but I have good reasons to believe…
There's kind of a bias in that hiring decisions based on social connections have a bad reputation by default. This bias is of course based on experience and natural intuition about how corruption sets in. However, when you hire someone who is going to interact with you many hours out of every day, wouldn't it make sense to find someone you get along with?
I know I am the most productive when the completion of my tasks can help coworkers I get along with very well.