US and Cross-Border Tax Accountant - Payroll Related Services

• Does your company regularly send its employees to the US or overseas, whether on long-term or short-term engagements?
• Does your company have a reimbursement policy for its employees who split their work between the US and Canada?
• Are you a Canadian resident who is on a payroll of a US company?
• Are you a Canadian self-employed or an employee shareholder who routinely engages in US service provision projects?

If you have answered with at least one “yes”, it is time to come and see us.

Employers who send their employees to provide services in the US on behalf of either a Canadian company or a US-related company may inadvertently create lots of problems from the US personal, US corporate or US payroll perspectives. It is important that the company’s management have a good understanding of what cross-border work entails and takes solid measures to mitigate any potential issues.

At Bazar McBean LLP, we assist both multinational employers and sole-shareholder employees who are facing potential double taxation and reporting obligations due to their service provision outside of their country of residency. There are ways to minimize tax costs, adverse tax implications and onerous penalties if proper documentation is in place or certain elections are done in a timely manner.

Some of the services we offer for mobile cross-border employees and their employers include:

• Review of the number of days an employee is present in the US within a 12 month period to determine reporting and withholding obligations in both home and host countries
• Review of compensation and reimbursement policies for various benefits
• Advising on setting up a secondment agreement and helping to establish a “shadow payroll” to report compensation in the host country
• Advising on social security, WCIB and unemployment insurance contributions for short-term or long-term foreign employment
• Assisting with income sourcing for equity compensation when it is granted, vested or received
• Obtaining waivers to reduce home country withholdings
• Assisting with hypo tax computations and tax equalizations for employees on international assignments