Working remotely in Canada for US company

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No. Havent yet spoken to employer about remote options.

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I tried to contact Canadian Payroll Services couple of times but they didn’t respond. No other PEO seems to be advertising about the 50 points through job offer.
I am not sure how they would be able to get a positive LMIA for IT job. I would like to have more clarification on that before I reach out to my employer. I’ll try again with other orgs and let you know if I hear anything positive.

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@dheeraj @kshankar88

Did anyone of you explore further about working remotely? I am in the same boat evaluating the PEO route. Any guidance from you will be much appreciated.

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So I am in POST ITA stage and my employer is willing to let me work remotely. And they were not open to PEO route. So i will have no choice but to incorporate and work for them as a consultant. One of my friend even though he studied in Toronto is working as a consultant for a canadian bank with his own entity. So I will be also going through that route. There are lawyers and tax consultants whom you can independently reach out to take care of creating a corporation and taking care of taxes which is much cheaper to the cut you lose to contracting agencies. He also mentioned PEO agencies end up making their own contracts and would tie you to work for them for certain number of year. So AFAIK incorporating makes more sense to me.

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Note that there are no LLCs in Canada (there are corporations, proprietorship etc.). Creating LLC in US is much easier that creating corporations in Canada based on what I’ve read. However, if you find a reasonably priced service to do this for you go for it! Some people on this forum may already have done it and could provide their better inputs.

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Thanks @avj. Yes my friend who already did this knows the whole process and he said lawyers can help you do this for a fee. Will update as things get more clear

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@rjtbansal I am curious why are you not considering simply hiring a tax consultant to do your taxes both in US and Canada.

  1. My plan for working remotely is
  2. Get paid in USD in US bank account
  3. Pay US taxes to IRS
  4. File Canadian Taxes and claim US taxes paid

Now, I’m assuming I’d not need a work visa (like H1-b) to work remotely for a US company.

Your thoughts will help me progress through this plan.

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What you mention is true if and only if you are on H1B or some equivalent US work visa. In fact those on h1b do work remotely from Canada the way you mentioned. I am on OPT and will be out of status after I move to Canada so working for a US company as their employer, being paid in USD is not possible since your SSN will reflect you are out of status. Its like working illegally. HR will have no way to process your payroll since you dont have a work visa and they also dont have a way to justify to authorities on what basis they have hired you. So if you really want to go through that route you better secure an H1b.

The first answer talks about your query:
https://www.quora.com/Can-I-receive-US-based-income-while-working-remotely-for-a-US-company-without-a-work-visa

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Based on what I’ve read you need US visa only if you’re working physically in US.
If you’re working from Canada it’s as good as a US company hiring a consultant in Canada, so I don’t think you need visa. The problem is if everything stays the same then you’re probably still a W-2 employee which means you’re still “employed” for the company. I don’t know if you can be a W-2 employee if you’re not working for the company here in the US. Maybe the least that has to happen is to switch to a W-9 (contractor) position and negotiate the intricacies with your employer.

So, I think there are two issues here:

  1. Legality
  2. Taxation

I would worry about the Legality issue first and then taxation, as you don’t want to get into trouble with US immigration any time, in case you apply for a visa in the future. Also, US and Canada share a lot of information so it’s important to verify these things. So I would recommend consult with your H1B immigration lawyer about the legality, and with a tax consultant on how to manage taxes etc. Maybe pay a firm to open a consultancy in Canada in your name and negotiate with your current US employer to become a W-9 rather than a W-2 employee.

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Now this link shows that one can be a W-2 employee remotely:


Still better to have paid consultation

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Hi, did you check with any consultant on this? Is it possible to be a W-2 employee remotely?

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Can anyone recommend a good PEO? I need a job offer first to get PR. My company is ready to work with PEOs.

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So my company already has a tie up with some PEO agency in Canada. I don’t know which though. They are currently preparing paperwork and offer letter, they will give me end of this month probably then I will know more details

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@rjtbansal, Please post PEO details here, once you know more info. Thanks.

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Hi, DId you get more information about the PEO?

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https://www.targetcw.com/ I didnt even know about their existence but thats how 2 of our sales people are working from Canada as well.

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@rjtbansal. I am following your thread on the remote work from Canada. Can you please share further details on this ? My company is asking about the procedure to follow. Also, how long and costly this process is usually ? I have to convince my management on pursuing this so I am trying to research all options available. Your inputs will be highly appreciated. Thanks !

38

Unfortunately, I really have no idea how my company did it because im not the first person for whom they did it. The procedure and all is what the HR team deals with and those details are out of my scope. You could probably show them this link and HR/accounting team should be able to follow up with them regarding how the process would look like.

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@rjtbansal. Are you going for the Ontario Province ? Can you share how much did it cost your company ?

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@rjtbansal… Hey, do you have any update on the cost? Just checking.