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We are a extremely small start up, just starting out and we need to hire our first marketer. The wages are low, but the work is fun. We put out an ad and many people have come back to us, but we are interested in a worker in the UK.

I know it can be done, but I would like to know the steps of hiring someone in the UK from the US. We are incorporated in the US. Is it possible to just pay them freelance as well? I know in the US, you can just pay someone for freelance work, but is it the same way in the UK?

In the future if we are successful and the employee does a good job, we would be interested in taking them on full time, but for now it would just be a part time job.

Thank you.

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2 Answers

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As paperjam says, get them to set up a Ltd company in the UK (which is trivial), then contract with their company for B2B services. In that way, you don't need to worry about tax, payroll, benefits, etc, as you are buying business services. Depending upon how you've structured your company this might also be advantageous, as it is a deductible variable expense, rather than a fixed cost, which an employee, even a part-time one, would be.

Your candidate will take care of their own tax affairs and have the benefits of working through a Ltd company (reduced tax, limited liability, etc), as well as the opportunity to offer their services to other clients through the same company in the future.

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Made the answer because of the more precise details I was looking for. I know @paperjam was a good answer, but this one provided better details. – SpoiledTechie.com Dec 12 '12 at 16:26
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You could set up a B2B contract, either with the worker directly or via an intermediary UK limited company. You can then be invoiced for marketing services and pay those invoices. Just like any other commercial relationship with an overseas corporation.

This is not quite the same as "hiring a worker" but it is an arrangement I have seen used successfully in the past. It puts some onus on the worker to incorporate or declare himself self-employed to the UK tax authorities but there is plenty of guidance available for this. There are a few pitfalls, tax, immigration, etc. to be aware of so you and your worker should do a lot of reading and maybe see respective lawyers in UK/US.

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