Reply to: Does anyone have any experience of servicing US clients from the UK?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

To be clear, the W-8BEN-E is not your responsibility, it's the client's responsibility. It's held on file by them (not submitted to the IRS) in case the IRS investigate but, as noted above, the client will probably ask for one. In short, it isn't something you volunteer to the client, it's something you complete on request.

This is true although I ended up telling them this was the form they needed and offering it to prevent a lot of faffing about with their accountant who knew zero on the subject and appeared to be getting ready to ask for a load of stuff I couldn't deliver.

It was the first time any of them had done this so they were a little confused.

[vwdan]

Spent most of last year consulting to a Candian based firm.

Uhm, honestly, was all much of a muchness. They operated in USD (Because they themselves were consulting to a US firm), so to keep things simple I set up a TransferWise Dollar Account, and invoiced in Dollars. Was just easier all round, and I'd absolutely do the same again - I invoice $1000, they pay $1000 dollars, I reconcile $1000 dollars. Job jobbed, the only bit that's "complex" is the conversion to GBP, which in my case is simply a case of telling Free Agent what the result was.

As above, yeah, IR35 is technically a thing but realistically what are HMRC gonna do. And, let's face it, stating somebody is inside while working remotely for a firm thousands of miles away is a tall order to start with - yeah, it's not impossible, but it's hardly low hanging fruit.

[jamesbrown]

To be clear, the W-8BEN-E is not your responsibility, it's the client's responsibility. It's held on file by them (not submitted to the IRS) in case the IRS investigate but, as noted above, the client will probably ask for one. In short, it isn't something you volunteer to the client, it's something you complete on request.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I had some work from a US client last year - a major consultancy.
Invoiced in dollars at dollar hourly rate.
They paid electronically but were very slow to pay.
When Covid hit they gave the work I'd been doing to salaried employees.
Agree with previous posts - you need a W8 BEN E - it is the E you need not the W8 BEN which is personal form.
Don't get involved with IRS (no need).
Lots of tips online about how to complete it.
No VAT
I'd love to see HMRC try to get any sense out of the people I was working with in an IR35 investigation.
Generally a good experience until the work dried up.

[Gulliver89]

I do, and here some insights:

1. The company’s bank will either take a subscription fee or a bit of conversion fee, note that some of them limits the conversion "discount" per-month (this can be a pain with late payments or if the company wish to time the conversion date).

2. The company’s accountant will take extra fee for foreign currency processing - in my case £120 per year.

3. The client will want to state that the laws in force and jurisdiction is in the US, which can make pursing any issues painful.

4. In the US they seems more reluctant about late payment, and it's up to the contract to state if there any compensation for late payment (no regulation to enforce it as in the UK).

5. As they tend to be late, and usually ask to wait 30+ days for payment therfor the company is at risk to loss tax money, as the tax is due upon sending an invoice – with the conversion rate of the invoice’s issuing date. If the conversion rate falls by then – it’s essentially means the company paying tax on earnings it didn’t actually made. The solution I believe is to invoice wat set pre-agreed intervals and have it due at the same day.

6. As the norms and terminology are different in the US. I would avoid even getting their US contract sent to the UK company, instead – agree the terms over the phone and fit to one page PO/Quote/SoW, or get UK-written contract.

7. You probably aware of the falling $ rate at the moment, that need to be factored into the price.

[The Procrastinator]

You won't need local insurance, just jurisdiction and governing law of a Canadian province on your PI, specifically (and *only* if the contract has this jurisdiction and governing law). Mine is with Randell Dorling via IPSE, underwritten by Hiscox. That was the cheapest I'd seen by far until another poster mentioned Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance, so I suggest you check them out. You're looking at less than 500 quid for a very decent amount of coverage.

thansk for this very useful!

[GhostofTarbera]

It's reasonably easy to do business with clients in the US from a base in the UK.

You'll almost certainly need to complete a W8-BEN-E form. The US company will ask you for your W9 ... you tell them that as you are a foreign entity it's the W8 that they need. Don't register with the IRS. Dealing with one tax authority is bad enough.

You'll need to review your business insurance and ensure that that will cover work done in the US.

For contracts, try and ensure the jurisdiction is England & Wales, however, most US clients will want it based within their jurisdiction.

Regarding payments ... US companies are backwards when it comes to payments. I sold services & software to 35+ countries last year, the US are the only ones who still send cheques! They do struggle with electronic payments ( although are getting better ) so receiving a physical dollar cheque is not uncommon. I just shove them into my Barclays business account, they can take an age to clear.

Timezones can be a pain, especially if dealing with the West coast as they are -8GMT, i.e. Seattle is starting work when you are looking to hang up your keyboard for the day.

Your mum


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[jamesbrown]

this is a very timely tpoic!

i am in discussion with a business in Canada for a remote contract as I am also a UK ltd.

i have the transferwise account also to make it easy for payments but not quite sure on insurances yet and contract, i am will try and get it on my UK direct contract, but if they insist that I need to have local indemnity, what insurance provider could you recommend i check out? i know its not going to be cheap as my QDOS insurances exlcude Canada.

thanks

You won't need local insurance, just jurisdiction and governing law of a Canadian province on your PI, specifically (and *only* if the contract has this jurisdiction and governing law). Mine is with Randell Dorling via IPSE, underwritten by Hiscox. That was the cheapest I'd seen by far until another poster mentioned Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance, so I suggest you check them out. You're looking at less than 500 quid for a very decent amount of coverage.

[The Procrastinator]

this is a very timely tpoic!

i am in discussion with a business in Canada for a remote contract as I am also a UK ltd.

i have the transferwise account also to make it easy for payments but not quite sure on insurances yet and contract, i am will try and get it on my UK direct contract, but if they insist that I need to have local indemnity, what insurance provider could you recommend i check out? i know its not going to be cheap as my QDOS insurances exlcude Canada.

thanks

[jamesbrown]

Regarding payments ... US companies are backwards when it comes to payments. I sold services & software to 35+ countries last year, the US are the only ones who still send cheques! They do struggle with electronic payments ( although are getting better ) so receiving a physical dollar cheque is not uncommon. I just shove them into my Barclays business account, they can take an age to clear.

Agree, but it's easy for them to pay into a regular US business bank account, which is what you'll get with Transferwise

If they can't make electronic payments within the US then... WTF But I've had that once, I must admit - wouldn't accept that on a regular basis though.

[tomtomagain]

It's reasonably easy to do business with clients in the US from a base in the UK.

You'll almost certainly need to complete a W8-BEN-E form. The US company will ask you for your W9 ... you tell them that as you are a foreign entity it's the W8 that they need. Don't register with the IRS. Dealing with one tax authority is bad enough.

You'll need to review your business insurance and ensure that that will cover work done in the US.

For contracts, try and ensure the jurisdiction is England & Wales, however, most US clients will want it based within their jurisdiction.

Regarding payments ... US companies are backwards when it comes to payments. I sold services & software to 35+ countries last year, the US are the only ones who still send cheques! They do struggle with electronic payments ( although are getting better ) so receiving a physical dollar cheque is not uncommon. I just shove them into my Barclays business account, they can take an age to clear.

Timezones can be a pain, especially if dealing with the West coast as they are -8GMT, i.e. Seattle is starting work when you are looking to hang up your keyboard for the day.

[jamesbrown]

There is no job board for this sort of work. Networking is th only way.
If a US client need to look overseas they go to India, phillipines, Africa etc.
They don’t look in the UK as it’s expensive (cheaper than US though).

Yup. That's the only way I've got them, either directly within my network or by partnering with a US prime and responding to an RFP (which would be hopeless without a US prime).

[Lance]

Its sounds like an attractive option in many ways. My main question is how do find US customers for your services? I mainly find UK contract jobs through sites such as jobserve, or agencies I have worked through in the past. Where is the best place to look for contract opportunities in the US, that are not exclusive to US based workers?

There is no job board for this sort of work. Networking is th only way.
If a US client need to look overseas they go to India, phillipines, Africa etc.
They don’t look in the UK as it’s expensive (cheaper than US though).

[willendure]

Its sounds like an attractive option in many ways. My main question is how do find US customers for your services? I mainly find UK contract jobs through sites such as jobserve, or agencies I have worked through in the past. Where is the best place to look for contract opportunities in the US, that are not exclusive to US based workers?

[northernladuk]

NLadyUK has plenty of experience servicing US clients in the UK.

Hope that helps.