Worldwide Worker Woes

Worldwide Worker Woes

From Bookkeepers On Fire with Deb & Donna by Deb Kilsheimer & Donna Reade

November 25, 2025 · 4 min · Episode 188

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities and misconceptions of hiring overseas contractors.

🚨 Hiring contractors overseas? Don’t overcomplicate it. We just broke it down on Bookkeepers on Fire and here’s the 🔥 truth: ✅ Contractor ≠ Employee – If they’re outside the U.S., they’re not subject to U.S. payroll taxes. 📝 W-8BEN is Your Friend – Have it on file, don’t send it anywhere. Just keep it for your records. 🌍 Simple, Not Scary – Unless you’re setting up payroll in another country (👀 Canada anyone?), don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Sometimes the biggest bookkeeping “headaches” are actually just paperwork in disguise. 😉✍️ 👉 Would you ever hire a contractor outside the U.S.? Why or why not? 🔥 Join our Bookkeepers On Fire Community to connect 🤝, collaborate 💬, and thrive 🚀 with like-minded professionals who are passionate about bookkeeping, accounting and business growth. Join us here: Bookkeepers On Fire Community Bookkeepers On Fire is proudly ad-free and 100% listener-supported, so we can bring you unfiltered conversations without outside agendas. If you enjoy the show, consider donating to help keep our mics hot and our mission independent. 🔥 Donate with Venmo 🔥 🔥 Donate with PayPal 🔥

People in this episode

Hosts: Deb Kilsheimer, Donna Reade

Topics covered

  • hiring contractors
  • overseas work
  • bookkeeping
  • payroll taxes
  • contractor vs employee

Keywords

  • contractor
  • employee
  • W-8BEN
  • payroll
  • bookkeeping
  • taxes
  • international hiring

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bookkeepers On Fire

Places: U.S., Canada

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