Entrepreneurship & Small Business
Thanks for that. Noted those two things for consideration.crossborderguy wrote: ↑ They'll likely yell at you to fill out a W9, when what you actually need to send them is the W8BEN-E form.
Also, watch GST. Your obligation to report still exists, it's just that US sales are zero-rated. (So no GST actually collected by you from the US client.)
I believe that's what the W8BEN-E form is for. Basically declaring that I'm a Canadian entity, and will be responsible for all taxes on my end. If I was working in the US on a visa (like a TN or H1B), then I would need to file a US tax return, even with Canada being my declared residence for taxation purposes.
Haven’t got it yet. Recruiting company reached out to me yesterday morning, interviewed today, waiting to hear back. They know I’m incorporated in Canada, though.
Not that unusual or difficult at all. Almost all my consulting clients/projects(90%) are based in the US. Before I would travel to the client site weekly on a TN Visa to deliver the project, the past year had been remote. A lot of my CDN colleagues are also in the same boat, majority have US clients.
Interesting that you were asked to get insurance. I have worked as a sole proprietor IT professional (not incorporated) for US clients in past and was never asked to get insurance. Could you please elaborate on what kind of insurance you were asked to buy?CNeufeld wrote: ↑ Got a different contract with this US company, so we'll see how things go. If anything interesting comes out of the experience (being an incorporated Canadian contractor billing a US client), I'll try to post back. First note: they're paying weekly, which I've never experienced with any Canadian clients. Always invoiced at the end of the month, usually got paid the end of the next month. Also had to get insurance, where I've usually been covered by someone else's policy. Cost was $1400/year, so not outrageous.
C
@Phils, in this case even if you had a TN, you were still taxed in Canada and not in the US, I suppose?Phils wrote: ↑ I worked as an IT contractor in the US (and Canada) for years. I would fly out Sunday night or early Monday morning and fly back Friday night. Over the course of 15 years doing it, I had 3 clients (US and Canada) who required insurance. There were 2 types of insurance I needed. Liability for physical damage and also liability in case I inadvertently propagated a virus into their system. Out of the 3, 1 was included in the policy of the company I subcontracted for, a second was paid by the recruiter, and I paid for the 3rd.
I found huge swings in premiums so it really paid me to shop around. Although I'm in Montreal, I bought my insurance from a company in Calgary who had to involve a Quebec insurer because of provincial laws.
Also, because I sometimes worked on site and sometimes I worked from home, Homeland Security said that because I was taking a job from an American by law I still needed had to have a TN even if I only worked from home. I have no idea how they would have checked it though.
They want Errors and Omissions, and General Liability, with $1m per occurrence, $2m aggregate. Cost was around $1200/year.
