Hire and pay international contractors

Gusto supports paying international contractors in the below countries. We'll always send the funds in USD, however, some funds will be converted—supported recipient currency in each country is included below:

Reminders

• International contractor payment minimums will vary by country.
• Read our terms of service carefully before hiring an international contractor. 
• International contractor payments are not supported in our "contractor-only" plan at this time—use this type of account for 1099 domestic contractor payments.
• International contractor payments do not currently sync to any accounting platforms.

Heads up!

Gusto does not support withholding or reporting for these contractors–contractors must self-report as required. 

International contractors will not have access to a Gusto online account—when paying international contractors, please inform them so they know when to expect payment(s). On payday, Gusto will send an email letting your international contractor know that they were paid.

Requirements will differ by country, but Gusto will usually ask for the below:

• A work address in the country of work
• A bank account in the country of work
• A completed Form W-8BEN (for individuals) or completed Form W-8BEN-E (for businesses)
  • Contractors are required to fill out Form W-8 BEN/ W-8 BEN(E) to stay compliant.

Important reminders

• Gusto can not withhold taxes, and will not be creating or filing any tax forms related to these payments. At the end of the year, contractors should reach out to you, their employer, for any tax forms needed. 
• The minimum amount required to send and process a payment is $25.00 USD per contractor. The combined limit for all in-process contractor payments is $100,000.00 USD. It typically takes 1-3 business for a payment to process.
• Payments to international contractors can only come from your “default” bank account on file.
• International contractor payments are supported in our "contractor-only" plan, but only after a domestic contractor has been added.
• International contractors will not have access to a Gusto online account.
• International contractor payments do not currently sync to any accounting platforms.
• Gusto uses several payment methods to facilitate international payments—local transfers, USD wires, etc. 
  • We’ve chosen to use the fastest method(s) possible for each payment, and each payment will have its own unique direct deposit timeline and requirements.
• Rate calculations: a variety of factors go into the rate—the amount of the payment, the rate(s) our partner banks offer, additional fees, and any applicable markup. Our total exchange rate(s) will differ from non-Gusto mid-market rates.
  • All rates shown in Gusto include any associated fees (some fees are displayed, while others are not). 

Add an international contractor

We recommend setting up and using international contractor onboarding checklists to help streamline the hiring process—you can create checklists before adding individuals. You can also assign an international contractor a manager and have them appear in your coworker directory (org chart), if it's enabled.

To add an international contractor:

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Go to the People section and select Team members.
3. Click Add a team member.
4. Find the International contractor tile and click Add.
   • If it’s your first time hiring an international contractor, learn about how it works, click Add a contractor, and accept the terms before adding your first contractor. 
   • If you don't see the international contractor tile, contact us from the Help section of your account to request access to this feature.
5. Select one of the supported countries from the dropdown.
6. Select if this is an Individual or Business contractor type.
7. Enter any additional information asked for, like first and last name or business name.
   • Important: To correctly process payments and avoid fees, the contractor's name must exactly match the name on the contractor's bank account. We recommend confirming this with your contractor.
8. Enter a hire date.
9. Enter the contractor’s email address—we’ll invite them to self onboard and enter their personal information.
   • Use an existing personal email address that’s not associated with your company. 
10. Select the wage type—choose from a flat rate or hourly rate.  
    • If you chose hourly rate: Choose the amount per hour the contractor will be paid, and in what type of currency.
    • If you chose flat rate: You can send one-time, flat rate payments, which can be scheduled into the future. Payments will be sent as USD and received in the local currency at the exchange rate on the date the payment was sent.
      • Heads up: there are some countries where the payments will be received as USD—reference the first dropdown in this article for supported currency by country.
    • You can change this selection at anytime once the contractor has completed onboarding. 
11. Click Add international contractor.
    • The contractor will receive an email from Gusto asking them to complete their setup, they must finish setting up their Gusto account before you can pay them.

International contractors will not have access to a Gusto online account—when paying international contractors, please inform them so they know when to expect payment(s). On payday, Gusto will send an email letting your international contractor know that they were paid.

Create one or more payment schedules for your contractors and automatically pay them in the future—save time and never miss a payment.

Important reminders

• Gusto can not withhold taxes, and will not be creating or filing any tax forms related to these payments. At the end of the year, contractors should reach out to you, their employer, for any tax forms needed. 
• The minimum amount required to send and process a payment is $25.00 USD per contractor. The combined limit for all in-process contractor payments is $100,000.00 USD. 
• Payments to international contractors can only come from your “default” bank account on file.
• International contractor payments are supported in our "contractor-only" plan, but only after a domestic contractor has been added.
• International contractors will not have access to a Gusto online account.
• International contractor payments do not currently sync to any accounting platforms.
• Gusto uses several payment methods to facilitate international payments—local transfers, USD wires, etc. 
  • We’ve chosen to use the fastest method(s) possible for each payment, and each payment will have its own unique direct deposit timeline and requirements.
• International contractors can receive USD payments via direct deposit and have their funds processed within the American banking system if they have an American-presenting bank account with a unique routing and account number for their individual bank account.
• Rate calculations: a variety of factors go into the rate—the amount of the payment, the rate(s) our partner banks offer, additional fees, and any applicable markup. Our total exchange rate(s) will differ from non-Gusto mid-market rates.
  • All rates shown in Gusto include any associated fees (some fees are displayed, while others are not). 

Pay your international contractors

1. Click the Payroll section and select Pay contractors. 
2. Click Enter details on the “International Contractors” tile.
3. Select a debit date—your contractor will receive the payment within 3 business days.
   • Important: if you select a debit date in the future, exchange rates may change. We'll let you know what the exchange rate is today, and send an email closer to the debit date with the updated exchange rate(s) for the payment.
4. Click Enter Payment next to the contractor(s) you’d like to pay.
   • International contractor payment minimums will vary by country.
   • Not required if you have only one international contractor.
5. Enter their wages. Based on how the contractor was set up, enter a flat rate amount or the hours worked. 
   • Gusto will default to showing wages in American dollars.
   • Click the circle icon next to the wage box to toggle to the foreign currency amount.
     • This is for viewing purposes only–payments will always be made to the local bank account currency as listed in the country-table above in this article. If contractors have domestic bank accounts, they’ll be paid USD.
   • If you need to change an hourly rate for a contractor, head to their contractor profile in the People section. 
6. Review the “Amount” column to see what the contractors will be paid in the foreign currency.
   • If you entered wages in foreign currency, this column will also show you what you’ll pay in American dollars.
   • All FX rates shown in Gusto include any associated fees (some fees are displayed, while others are not). 
     • More information about the rate calculation can be found in the "Important reminders" above.
7. Click Review payments.
8. Review the summary, what your company pays, and transaction fees, and then click Submit payments.

Your payment has been processed and contractors will receive their payment(s) within 3 business days of the debit date, based on your company’s payment speed. We’ll let you know the expected pay date or payment date range (in business days) when you process the payment.

We’ll send an email on payday to your contractor confirming they’ve been paid, but we also recommend letting your contractors know when to expect the payment(s).

Important: If Gusto attempts to debit your account and we receive one or more bank errors (e.g a non-sufficient funds error), we may push your company to a slower direct deposit speed.

Admins can email international contractors requesting that they update the information they initially entered during onboarding. You may want to use this if:

• Your contractor wants to send payments to a different bank account.
• You know the bank details are incorrect and need to fix it before making a payment.
• The contractor name entered during onboarding does not exactly match the name registered to the bank account entered.

Send a request to your international contractor to update their personal information

1. Go to the People section and select Team members. 
2. Search the team member's name or use the filter icon to filter by international contractors.
3. Click the name of the international contractor.
4. From the “Contractor details” tab, click the Request an update to bank account information link.
   • Your international contractor will receive an email from Gusto asking them to update their bank account information and resubmit their W-8 BEN(E).
5. Click Send form.
   • Let your international contractor know to check the email that Gusto has on file—if they don't see it at first, they should check their spam folders.

We'll email you when they've updated their info so you can schedule, or reschedule, payments.

Bank account issues

If there was a bank issue, the most common pieces of information that need updating are the bank account details, or the name associated with the bank account—the name affiliated with the bank account must match the name entered for Gusto.

Change a contractor's hourly rate or currency they're paid in

1. Go to the People section and select Team members. 
2. Search the team member's name or use the filter icon to filter by international contractors.
3. Click the name of the international contractor.
4. From the “Contractor details” tab, click edit next to their information. 
5. Update the hourly rate and/or currency, and click Save.

Gusto only supports employees with all of the following criteria: 

• Valid SSN
  • Employees must have an SSN. If you enter an ITIN, or otherwise invalid number, this may impact our ability to file W-2's and other payroll tax returns successfully.
• Work address in the US
• Home address in the US
• Bank account in the US if being paid through direct deposit

Q: What fees will I be charged?

A: There are no monthly fees or flat rate costs per contractor, or fees to onboard contractors. Here's a summary overview of potential fees you might see:

• If there is a fee to send money to a specific country, this amount will come out of what the recipient receives.
• If an exchange is performed to convert USD to local currency, the fee will be included as part of the exchange rate.
• If USD is sent and received, there will be a wire transfer fee. If you would like to cover this fee, you can send the contractor a fixed local currency amount.
• The recipient's bank may charge the contractor a fee to receive international wire/transfers, however Gusto has no control over the fee charged by the recipient bank. Please contact the bank for details.

Q: Why do I see fees for some payments and not others?

A: Bank requirements may differ, for now, you might have seen slightly different information in Gusto based on the method we use to pay the international contractor.

Q: How is the exchange rate calculated?

A: The exchange rate shown in Gusto is determined by the exchange rate offered by our payment partner, and includes a Gusto fee.

Q: Do international payments sync to accounting integrations?

A: Not at this time.

Q: What are the payment limits for China and is there a workaround?

A: There is a 50,000 CNY limit per beneficiary per day. If you want to pay more thank 50,000 CNY in a single payment, break it out over multiple payments under 50,000 CNY each.

• Heads up: We can only send one payment per day. If you scheduled two payments for 40,000 CNY each (to total 80,000 CNY), Gusto would send the first 40,000 the next business day, and the second installment the following business day.