

Offer HN: Free Tax Help From a Pro. - camz

Hey,<p>I'm a tax guy. I'm a CPA, an Enrolled Agent before the IRS and tax attorney. I've worked with the major accounting firms (PwC and KPMG) and I've saved companies like Pfizer and TIA-CREFF more than 30 million.<p>I know how hard it is to get things done on a tight (nonexistent) budget. So, I wanted to keep my promise to the Hacker News community from a while back and offer my advice to anyone that might need it on anything tax or business related.<p>Original Offer: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1837299 Help on Incorporations: http://cameronkeng.com/podcast-ep-1-incorporation/<p>You can email me directly at cameronkeng@gmail.com if you want to ask something privately.<p>Best, Cam.<p>Ps...Can we bring back the "Offer HN" pass it along attitude back? I missed how the community was really trying to help each other so openly...
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tstegart
I've got a question a lot of people might find useful. An American company
employing freelancers from another country. When do you start withholding
taxes on their income? Ever? Never? Can you just pay them a lump sum and
forget about it? What are the rules for figuring out how to handle recurring
freelance expenses. In our case, we're a travel magazine, employing freelance
authors. Some authors are citizens of the U.S. living abroad, and others are
non-citizens living in their own country or a third country.

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tmpaccount
Seconded. I'm in the opposite position, a UK freelancer taking payments and
share options from the USA. Any advice or pointers to resources would be very
welcome.

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camz
The American company is supposed to withhold the income tax on behalf of the
contractor from the outset. There is no minimum payment. The moment you hire
someone from international sources, you're required to withhold income tax on
theie behalf. This is usually 35% of the amount paid. You effectively treating
the contractor as a W2 because he's outside the united states.

The international contractor recieves a 1042-S and at the end of the year the
US company would file the annual report 1042 to summarize all of the 1042-S
they filed.

The american company would report of these payments under its quarter 941s and
its annual 945 returns.

The foreign contractor gets a 1042S at the end of the year and would have to
file a 1040NR to get a refund of their taxes withheld.

its an insane and complicated process but its all so that the IRS gets their
fair shake. Most companies should be wary of hiring offshore because its
actually a butt-ton of work but they never know these things until its too
late.

The real horror story is that this is considered payroll tax and you're ALWAYS
personally liable for these taxes. Thus, any company shareholder, director or
executive is personally liable for these taxes. They can levy your bank
accounts anytime for restitution.

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tstegart
Ugh, I was under the impression it was only applicable for people you paid
more than $600 to. Well, that's a pain in the ass. How likely is it that the
foreign contractor gets their taxes back? Is it possible to streamline it for
them in any way? How come we don't hear much about enforcement in this area?
Isn't every time you hire someone from O-desk or E-lance you have to do this?
BTW, thanks for your time, its really awesome of you.

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camz
Yea, I'm not surprise that you'd logically figure the 600 dollar 1099 de
minimis rule would roll over to the 1042S. But, it sucks lol.

Realistically, enforcement is questionable. I know that I've seen them but
usually I dealt with large companies so I cant say how common it is for small
businesses.

Odesk and elance definitely have this problem and they're required to file
them but realistically I dont know how aware they are of these issues or how
they're handling them. Can't say definitively =X. But, legally they should be
doing all of this as well. =)

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tstegart
Thanks for taking the time to do this, its been a great resource.

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skrish
Thank you Cam. Awesome to see specialist in specific area offering to help the
community of users.

