John Jonas explains how to handle taxes when hiring virtual assistants from the Philippines: treat payments as subcontractor expenses, skip the U.S. 1099 form for foreign workers, keep monthly invoices, and have your VA sign a W-8BEN. He recommends consulting a professional accountant.
Questions this video answers
No — there is no 1099 to be submitted because they are not in the U.S. and do not pay U.S. taxes.
W-8BEN.
Since 2005.
Chapters
Let's talk about taxes when hiring a virtual assistant. So I've been doing this since 2005. I've been through countless attorneys, countless accountants, and they've all done the same thing. So when you file your taxes at the end of the year, it is subcontractor line item on the statement attached to other deductions. When you file your taxes, it's super simple. If you go to onlinejobs ph taxes, you'll get an example of exactly how we do it. Now, a couple other things. Number one, there's no 1099 to be submitted because they're not in the U.S. they are not paying taxes to the U.S. government. The Philippines doesn't have a form that you're required to submit. They take care of their own taxes. There's really no tax liability for you when you do this. Now here's something you should do. Two things. Number one, have them submit you an invoice each month so that there's a paper trail. That way if you get audited, you have a paper trail of where all this money went to paying this person under subcontractors. Number two, get them to sign a W8 Ben Super simple form. They sign it saying that they are a subcontractor, they're not an employee, they're an independent contractor and they're foreign national. So they're not required to have you withhold any of their wages. So super simple. However, I have to give you this disclaimer. I am not an accountant. I am not a cpa. I'm not an attorney. You should not listen to anything that I say. You should go talk to your accountant or your attorney. What I just told you is what we do and it has worked for us. And I've seen, I mean, gosh, I've seen probably a thousand people ask me this question, then go off to their accountant and their attorney and they come back with the same answer. It's super, super simple when it comes to taxes and hiring people in the Philippines. Now, if you need help hiring a virtual assistant, I created one VAOA to help you get that one virtual assistant that you need to push your business. My recruiting process. I'll walk you through exactly how to find a great person and I guarantee it. Like if you don't find this great person, then I'll give your money back, no questions asked. I really just want you to find someone because it's so good. 1vaaway.com.
