Independent contractors or freelancers are self-employed individuals who provide services to companies as a non-employee. This is one of the most common ways companies tend to hire non-local designers, engineers, support reps, etc.
For legal and tax purposes, independent contractors are not classified as employees. They may work for multiple clients, set their own work hours, negotiate their pay rate, and decide how a job gets done.
For example, the IRS says that if an independent contractor or freelancer does work that can be controlled (what will be done and how it will be done) by an employer then they are, in fact, classified as an employee.
As you can imagine, hiring someone as an independent contractor versus an employee is a fine line to tread.
While there are benefits when you choose the contractor route, there are quite a few drawbacks to consider and you’ll need to weigh them carefully to determine the best fit for your company.
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A foreign subsidiary is a company that operates overseas as part of a larger company who’s HQ is in another country.
Establishing a foreign entity is great for having an international presence and accessing new markets. Though, setting up a subsidiary in Virgin Islands (UK) can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming. It's not for the faint of heart.
To set up a subsidiary in Virgin Islands (UK), you have to:
If you're lucky, this process can take months. If you're not so lucky, it can take up to a year. And on average, it costs about $50k-$80k, all-in-all, to get setup. And that's just for Virgin Islands (UK).
An employer-of-record (EOR) is a company that hires and pays an employee on behalf of another company.
An EOR is typically used to overcome the financial and regulatory hurdles that often come with employing remote workers.
Each country has its own payroll, employment, and work permit requirements for non-resident companies doing business in their jurisdiction. Meeting those demands can be a huge obstacle when it comes to hiring remotely.
At Panther, we help companies employ and pay people in over 160 countries, without having to set up a foreign subsidiary. Payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and more are all handled by us, at a fraction of the cost.
Outside of saving you months and tens of thousands of dollars, other advantages of using Panther are:
Because you no longer have to set up your own subsidiary, you’ll save a ton of time and tens of thousands of dollars using Panther.
Paying employees in Virgin Islands (UK) is not the same as paying workers in your own country. Employees have to be paid using Virgin Islands (UK)’s employment and payroll standards.
This means that you have to know, understand, and keep up with 1) fluctuating currency changes, and 2) local payroll and tax laws in the countries you’re looking to hire in.
Outside of the laws and regulations around payroll, there may be different conditions surrounding leave, overtime, termination, and more. As you can imagine, maintaining this kind of regulatory knowledge can be challenging. But it is crucial and necessary to follow local legislation.
After, you’ll have to determine the best way to pay your international employees. This can be done in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
One of the most challenging (and expensive) parts of paying international employees is setting up the infrastructure to do so.
Before you start to run payroll, you have to register your company as the local employer in the country the worker resides in. As you can see in the “Set up a subsidiary” section, this is a multi-step process that can take up to a year and put you on your way to bankruptcy.
Outside of EORs acting as the full admin employer, many also provide remote payroll.
For example, at Panther, in just 1-click, you’re able to pay your entire global team, anywhere in the world. We send you an invoice each month, charge you in US Dollars, and pay your employees the same amount in their local currency.
We factor in currency fluctuations and use the mid-market rate plus any applicable fee passed on by our provider at cost at the time of billing.
The standard workweek is 40 hours, 8 hours per day for five days.
Overtime hours more than 40 hours a week are paid at the rate of 150.00% of the employees' regular pay rate.
Employee works on a public holiday must be paid a basic hourly rate of at least one and one-half times his or her basic wage for each hour worked in addition to the basic wage of the employee.
Employer
The payroll cycle in the British Virgin Islands is generally monthly, and payments are to be made on the last working day of each month.
In the British Virgin Islands, 13th-month payments are mandatory, and an employee must be paid an additional month’s salary at the end of the year.
Twenty-six days annual leave with pay each calendar year exclusive of Sundays and holidays; Provided, that the part unused in any year shall be accumulated for succeeding years until it totals not exceeding 60 days.
Any employee who has accumulated an unused annual leave at the end of the calendar year in excess of the days allowed by subsection (1), shall be entitled for retirement purposes only to “service credit for forfeited annual leave”.
There are 13 public holidays.
Cumulative sick leave, with pay, at the rate of 1¼ days per month; Provided:
In Virgin Islands (UK) the 66.7% of the insured’s average weekly covered earnings in the 39 weeks before the expected date of childbirth is paid for up to 13 weeks, beginning no earlier than six weeks before the expected date of childbirth.
Private sector employees are not entitled to receive paternity leave.
There is no paid statutory paternity leave, but male employees can take a month of unpaid leave.
In the British Virgin Islands there is no other statutory leave.
None.
There are currently no UK laws obliging employers to grant leave entitlement for death in the family, however many businesses do.
Most allow three to five days for bereavement leave but this depends on what your contract or staff handbook states or your employer's discretion.
The termination process varies according to the employment agreement and collective agreement in place and based on the type of contract and reason for termination.
In the British Virgin Islands, the notice period is 15 days, and all official notice must be provided in writing.
In accordance with the British Virgin Islands Labor Code, Severance pay is paid at the rate of one week’s regular salary rate for each year the employee has worked for the company.
The employee also receives vacation payment which is 30 days for every 11 consecutive months worked, together with an element from any applicable 13th-month payments.
In The British Virgin Islands, probationary periods of 4 months are common but can be extended up to 6 months for more senior employees.
