Canadian citizen offered commission sales job in US. Taxes?

[iknowhowtosing 0]

Hi,

Okay i'm getting married soon to an American citizen in a few months, so I have to wait for my work permit. However I was just offered a commission sales job, however I'm a canadian citizen. The person that interviewed me said all i need is a TIN # or he could just take a copy of my passport or Canadian social insurance number and pay that way. He also said that they don't do taxes and just give me the commission cheques and I do the taxes myself. I don't understand how this works as I thought I needed a TN or H1B visa? How will this work. Won't it cause any problems while I'm here or with Canada Revenue Agency (IRS Canada)

Will I be able to cash my cheques without any difficulties? (I do have a US bank account though I'm not sure if there'll be issues with the IRS if I install these cheque payments).

Thank you.

[iknowhowtosing 0]

The HR person said I'm being hired as my own company and not an employee.

[Moosker 7]

Do they do business in Canada? Maybe that's how they will pay you? Legally until you receive your work permit for the US, you cannot work "in" the US.

[CanadaLove 16]

The HR person said I'm being hired as my own company and not an employee.

This means you are responsible for paying your own taxes (IIRC about 15%) quarterly if you make over $5000 per quarter, and you will be getting a 1099 rather than a W-2 for reporting purposes. However, it's still illegal if you don't have the proper paperwork to work here.

ETA: it could even be doubly illegal if they're trying to circumvent paying taxes on their end, too. If you're going to be required to keep to a schedule (say working 9-5 every day) and a couple of other things I'm blanking out on, then legally you'd be an employee and they could get into big trouble if the IRS finds out they're ducking on paying taxes and into the unemployment fund. (Which, btw, you'd be ineligible for if you quit, since you're not their employee.)

Edited July 2, 2011 by CanadaLove