want to work for US company in sales for Canada and the US

[Delias]

Hi!
I am negotiating with a US company that wants me to be their sales manager to cover Ontario and also some of the border states. I am a Canadian citizen. We are trying to figure out how we can do this? The offer was for a salary plus commission, full benefits including dental, death, disability, pension plan etc. I don't need the hospital coverage because of OHIP, but the other benefits would be good. How do they set me up legally, and how do I pay taxes? I have travelled to the States 2 times month for 10 years working for a Canadian company visiting customers, could I do the same working for a US company?

To keep things simple, would the best solution be to have the US company pay me as an independent sales rep. and pay me a guaranteed commission to equal the salary plus the value of the benefits package. I would then claim my own taxes? They would not give me T4s, but would their US yearly commission statements to me be good enough for me to use to file taxes?

Your help is very much appreciated, this company has no idea as they are new to selling in Canada, so they are leaving it to me to figure out.
Thanks!

[shoeguy]

I too am interested in this topic. I am hoping that my Canadian Corporation (which I own) can be paid a fee for services, that when I enter the USA I can say that I work for a Canadian firm which is doing consulting work in the USA I would love to hear how this works out for you.
shoeahshoe@yahoo.ca

[Steven]

Unless they want to register their company in Canada and do payroll withholding, basically you have to register as self-employed or set up a corporation and invoice them. You do all the withholding, issue T4s, etc. yourself.

If all the work is done in Canada (excluding meetings and some training etc. in the US) then the only other bit of paperwork is that you have to file a 1040NR (as an individual) or 1120-F (as a corporation) together with a tax treaty claim on Form 8833 so the US client does not have to do non-resident withholding. Also you have to file a Form 8233 with the US client to inform them of your tax treaty claim (personally I always think this form is utterly pointless because it's never looked at). They can optionally file a nil return with the IRS on Form 1042.

There is no actual tax to pay in the US, all this paperwork is just for legal purposes.

You can bore yourself to tears reading IRS publications 519 and 515.

The IRS never seem to be able to make up their mind as to whether you should use Form 8833 or Form 8840 to make the tax treaty claim as an individual, pretty much you can use either/or, but for a corporation it must be Form 8833.