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Comment by sourceless | Hacker News Reader

Yes, but make sure you know what your country's tax laws are. US companies can even hire foreign workers as employees, so long as the contract meets to requirements of each country's working laws (e.g. paid time off and minimum wage in the EU). In that case it's best to get an accountant that has done it before.

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In Poland, there's minimum wage for contractors as well... That's because hiring contractors was a popular way to get around minimum wage for employees (along with some benefits). So, the lawmakers decided to make the law ridiculous instead of focusing on punishing the companies which hire employees as contractors to evade law.

I believe the question is about contactors (freelancers) not employees.

While that's true, I did ask it for freelancers, I wouldn't mind to broaden the discussion to employees as well since it's quite related to it and I'm mostly asking out of curiosity.

Isn't that upto the individual tonoaybthpse taxes?

If they are a contractor, mostly yes. If they are an employee, you have payroll tax, tax withholding, etc.

ADDED: And, if you're working full-time for someone as if you were an employee, you may not actually be allowed to be a contractor. See the current Uber discussion going on in California.

"depends". In the UK the employer pays taxes on behalf of the employee, so if you only work for someone(instead of running a company) you never have to file a tax return, everything is calculated and done for you.

Until you start earning more than 100k or so, when HMRC will ask you to fill out a return anyway.

It is, so the individual needs to be aware of what taxes apply to them - and especially if you're making bay area money, it's probably a good idea to have an accountant to make sure your tax returns are correct and efficient.

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