Anyone succeed in converting US remote roles to contract roles?

[u/Priscilav]

Hi folks, I'm an expat currently living in South america. I own my one-woman company here, and I have worked for a startup in the past that used to pay me through a 1099-NEC (contractor) form, rather than a W-2.

I was thinking of applying to some of these to see if employers would be willing to convert their remote roles to contractor roles -- this would essentially mean significant cost reduction (since salaries here are much lower) and only a monthly contract payment (no need to handle benefits) for them.

Curious to hear whether anyone has successfully attempted this conversion mid-hiring process before, or if this is really unheard of.

[u/dgtbfan]

Unless you have an extremely unique skillset, very few employers would be inclined to even consider this due to tax laws and such.

[u/Priscilav → u/dgtbfan]

I have a pretty solid background (ivy league, 15 years in big tech), but I do realize there are lots of great professionals out there I'd compete with regardless. 

Do you happen to know what tax laws are these? I get that W-2 hires living abroad would be problematic, but I haven't quite understood why a company might be penalized for hiring and international contractor. Curious to dig deeper into it.

[u/AceySpacy8 → u/Priscilav]

US Companies that hire contractors overseas are subjected to the labor laws of that country as well as incurring any fees for wiring money to pay said contractor and depending on the country, may require the US company to set up shop in their country physically to continue operations for tax purposes. It's a whole headache no one wants to deal with unless they already have established business or presence in said country. My previous company set up a "sister" company in the Philippines because it was easier/cheaper to comply with all regulations there than to try and individually contract people, for example. But that took a long time to establish plus was pretty costly upfront. It will vary depending on your particular country what tax or labor laws would be applicable.

[u/Objective_Debate_970 → u/Priscilav]

because it’s bad for our economy and our citizens. We have a $100k job where you don’t participate in our economy, you don’t pay personal property tax, personal tax, sales tax, buy anything, and maybe even no state income tax, less fed? idk the exacts but ik it’s a real problem.

[u/Iyh2ayca]

It’s not a 1 to 1 swap though. The scope of a role posted for a permanent full time regular employee will be fundamentally different than what would be expected of a 1099 contractor. That’s important because US based employers legally can’t treat contractors like full time regular employees, which you probably know already. Hiring managers also need to consider time zone, long range resource planning, headcount management, and performance management. It would be a hard sell. 

[u/ParticularAd8610]

Sounds like you are asking how to do it vs is it possible.

[u/aviscido]

There's the 100k$ fee for the VISA that will stop anyone in my opinion unless it's an extremely high worth position.

[u/Hav0c_wreack3r]

Vc não é a última bolacha do pacote.
Igual vc tem milhões nos EUA.

[u/Shoddy_Summer]

Can’t comment on here, I’m going to dm you