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Taxes: Hiring a International Freelancer, What to do?

merlinhimself

Senior Member
I was wondering, I spent over 600 hiring an international musician to do some work for me, is that usable as an "expense" and if so whats the process? It seems its not as simple as sending a 1099 or W2 etc. So how could I go about making sure next tax season, Im able to write that off as an expense?

Also the freelancer did everything in their country, and Im in the US
 
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Hi there,

I have the same issue. I fully intend to deduct from income the expense of hiring players, engineers, studios etc. in a number of other countries. They are unquestionably legitimate business expenses, and I have the international wires / checks to intermediaries to document them.

However, as far as specific form-filing and all that, IDK. I will ask my accountant.

Probably that's very unhelpful, now that I re-read it!

Kind regards,

John
 
I write it off, and don't really think that much about it. As @JohnG said, there's really no dilemma as it's a legit business expense. I had Hannes from this forum do a ton of remote recording for me from Germany. Now if I got audited and they made a stink about it, I'd probably get dinged and have to pay some extra taxes and probably a fine.... so, not very good advice at all... but also not keeping me awake at night.

The limit is, or was at some point, $600 US that you didn't have to file a 1099 so I always think about that and keep it under if possible, or break up into separate payments, or if it was like Decemeber/January you could break it up into different tax years.
 
Hi there,

I have the same issue. I fully intend to deduct from income the expense of hiring players, engineers, studios etc. in a number of other countries. They are unquestionably legitimate business expenses, and I have the international wires / checks to intermediaries to document them.

However, as far as specific form-filing and all that, IDK. I will ask my accountant.

Probably that's very unhelpful, now that I re-read it!

Kind regards,

John
Yeah its very confusing haha. I googled it a bit and figured posting here might yield better results. Ill probably do the same, wait till next year and see what the tax people say about it! Thanks @JohnG !
From what I gathered, if they were a International Freelancer but did work in the US it would be pretty straightforward, but an international working internationally is vague.
 
I write it off, and don't really think that much about it. As @JohnG said, there's really no dilemma as it's a legit business expense. I had Hannes from this forum do a ton of remote recording for me from Germany. Now if I got audited and they made a stink about it, I'd probably get dinged and have to pay some extra taxes and probably a fine.... so, not very good advice at all... but also not keeping me awake at night.

The limit is, or was at some point, $600 US that you didn't have to file a 1099 so I always think about that and keep it under if possible, or break up into separate payments, or if it was like Decemeber/January you could break it up into different tax years.
Oh damn thats a smart idea. I havent paid the guy yet so I could probably send him 2 halves and then no worries about it
 
unless you are breaking up payments over two calendar years so that it's less than $600 in each of those years (assuming you're a calendar taxpayer), I would not try to disguise anything.

doing anything that could be misconstrued as "fiddly" could provoke a backlash.

(also, I'm assuming you're a US taxpayer)
 
unless you are breaking up payments over two calendar years so that it's less than $600 in each of those years (assuming you're a calendar taxpayer), I would not try to disguise anything.
Agreed. It's like "structuring" bank deposits so they are under the mandatory reporting limit. If you get audited the IRS will not be fooled.
 
Not an expert here, but when I lived in Europe and was hired by clients from the US as freelancer, I’d fill out a W-8 BEN form. I think it’s the foreign equivalent of a 1099. Worth checking out on the IRS website.
 
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