Job Hunting in USA on H-1B–Employment Types and Tax Terms

 

In USA, there are following Employment Types and/or Tax Terms:

Corp-to-Corp – Indicates that the employer would prefer to deal directly with another corporation. The main reason for this preference is to avoid some of the potential liability that might exist in dealing with an independent contractor on a 1099 basis. This would include corporations dealing directly with other corporations or corporations dealing with individuals who have incorporated.

Independent – The employer is willing to hire a temporary employee on either a 1099 or W-2 Basis.

1099 Employee – A 1099 employee is in most cases a temporary employee (technically, not even an "employee"). Because they are not permanent, they do not need to complete a W-4 or have the employer withhold taxes. They are responsible for paying their taxes directly to the IRS. The IRS requires that the employer report the earnings paid on a form 1099. The IRS would rather put the burden of tax withholding on the employer and therefore has fairly stringent rules regarding when someone can be considered a 1099 employee.

W-2 – A W-2 employee is an employee whose taxes are withheld by the employer and whose earnings are reported to the IRS at the year-end via a W-2. The W-2 employee completes a form W-4 at the beginning of their employment to instruct the employer on how to withhold taxes. This eliminates any possible issues that may arise with the IRS regarding employment status.

As an H-1B Visa holder, you should look out for job opportunities that mentions Corp to Corp (c2c).

You will notice that job posts also mentions Tax Terms. Tax Terms includes:

Full-time – Will be working as a full-time W-2 employee for the company.

Part-time – Will be working as a part-time W-2 employee for the company.

Contract - Corp-to-Corp – Will be working on contract with or through another corporation.

Contract - Independent – Will be working as a contract 1099 employee for the company.

Contract - W2 – Will be working as a contract W-2 employee for the company.

Contract to Hire - Corp-to-Corp – Will be working on contract with or through another corporation with the option to hire.

Contract to Hire - Independent – Will be working as a contract 1099 employee for the company with the option to hire.

Contract to Hire - W2 – Will be working as a contract W-2 employee for the company with the option to hire.

As an H-1B Visa holder, you should look out for job opportunities that mentions Contract – Corp-to-Corp or Contract to Hire – Corp-to-Corp.

Dice.com > Advance Search > Advance Search Options > Employment Type

Receiving and Accepting the Offer from H-1B Work Visa Sponsor

 

This post is a part of series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

Once you clear the technical interview and are shortlisted by the H-1B Work Visa Sponsor, your second and last interview will be scheduled with the HR/Management. This interview serves a mean to interact with the management/HR of the company and sort of an introductory knowledge session about what company is all about, their vision, mission , future roadmaps etc.. It is very rare that a candidate who qualifies the technical interview, got rejected because of the evaluation results from his management/HR interview.

Next, the Sponsor will extend an offer to you verbally, which details your role, job description, salary, benefits, etc.. If you agree or after final negotiations, they will send you an Official Offer Letter on company’s letter head, which will be a proof of employment for you throughout your H-1B Work Visa processing.

Make sue you discuss and have a clear understanding on all of the following before accepting the offer:

1. Contract Type – Consultant or Employment
2. Sponsor’s % and your % in case of Consultant Contract OR per month Salary in case of Employment Contract
3. General idea of rates/salaries in prevailing market
4. General idea of Tax Deductions & your Take Home Salary

H-1B Work Visa–Tax Deductions and Your “Take Home” Salary

 

In my initial post, we establish the expected salary ranges for various skill sets and expertise and in the last post, I discuss the sponsor’s share. Now, the last remaining piece is the Income Tax Deduction. I will discuss this in detail in this post.

Taxes based on income are imposed at the federal, most state, and some local levels within the United States. The Taxable income is gross income less exemptions and deductions; where Gross income includes "all income from whatever source".

2012 Federal Income Tax Rates:

You can notice from the chart above, that a “single” resource will be taxed higher than the married one. On the same principle, if you have children or dependents (like parents, etc.), for each dependent you will be tax-exempted by a certain percentage/amount. The more the number of children or dependents, the higher tax-exemptions and hence lower income tax deductions.

So, if we continue our example of a Java Developer resource from our last post. The net annual salary for that resource will be:

On Employment Contract – US$ 3,500 per month x 12 = US$ 42,000 per year

On Consultant Contract – US$ 4,928 per month x 12 = US$ 59,136 per year

Federal Income Tax on Employment Contract:
25% of US$ 3,500 per month = US$ 875 per month

Federal Tax on Consultant Contract:
25% of US$ 4,928 per month = US$ 1,232 per month

State Income Taxes

43 states and many localities in the United States impose an income tax on individuals. Tax rates vary by state and locality, and may be fixed or graduated.

For our example, we assume that the resource is working in New York State.

The annual salary for the resource is:

On Employment Contract – US$ 3,500 per month x 12 = US$ 42,000 per year

On Consultant Contract – US$ 4,928 per month x 12 = US$ 59,136 per year

Hence,

New York State Income Tax on Employment Contract:
US$ 973 + 6.45% of [ US$ 42,000 per year – US$ 20,000 ] = US$ 2,392 per year or US$ 199.34 per month

New York State Income Tax on Consultant Contract:
US$ 973 + 6.45% of [ US$ 59,136 per year – US$ 20,000 ] = US$ 3,497.27 per year or US$ 291.44 per month

So, the net take home salary will be:

On Employment Contract:
US$ 3,500 per month - US$ 875 per month (Fed. Tax) - US$ 199.34 per month (NYS Tax)
= US$ 2,425.66 per month

On Consultant Contract:
US$ 4,928 per month – US$ 1,232 per month (Fed. Tax) – US$ 291.44 per month (NYS Tax)
= US$ 3,404.56 per month

City/Area/Locality Income Taxes

14 states and the District of Columbia allow cities, counties, and municipalities to levy their own separate individual income taxes in addition to state income taxes. These include:

• Alabama: Birmingham levies an income tax of 1%
• Arkansas: Seven Arkansas school districts assess an income tax surcharge equal to 10% of state income tax before tax credits. They are: Berryville, Green Forest, Westside, Hope, Huntsville, Waldron, and Marshall.
• Colorado: Three cities impose flat taxes on compensation. Aurora charges $2 per month on compensation over $250, Denver charges $5.75 per month on compensation over $500, and Greenwood Village charges $4 per month on compensation over $250.
• District of Columbia: D.C. has a bracketed income tax system. The rates are 4% for the first $10,000 of income, 6% for $10,000 to $40,000 of income, and 8.5% for income over $40,000.
• Delaware: Wilmington has a flat 1.25% tax on income.
• Iowa: 666 school districts impose an income tax surcharge ranging from 1% to 20% of state income tax owed.
• Indiana: All 92 counties in Indiana have an individual income tax. Tax rates are in the process of being changed, and will be announced on the Indiana Department of Revenue’s website once they are finalized.
• Kentucky: Eight cities in kentucky levy income taxes on residents and non-residents. They are: Bowling Green (1.85%), Covington (2.5%), Florence (2%), Lexington-Fayette (2.25%), Louisville (2.20% for residents and 1.45% for non-residents), Owensboro (1.33%), Paducah (2%), and Richmond (2%). Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Louisville - Jefferson County also impose taxes on businesses.
• Maryland: All 24 Maryland counties levy income taxes on residents and non-residents. Tax rates range from 1.25% to 3.20%. Baltimore also has an income tax of 3.05%.
• Michigan: Several Michigan cities impose income taxes with rates ranging from 0.50% to 2.50%. Detroit’s income tax rate is 2.50% for residents and 1.25% for non-residents.
• Missouri: Both Kansas City and St. Louis have an income tax of 1%.
• New York: Yonkers and New York City both have individual income taxes. New York City's income tax rates range from 2.907% to 3.648%. Yonker's income tax rate is equal to 10% of your net (after credits) state income tax.
• Ohio: 235 cities and 331 villages in Ohio have an income tax, including Columbus, Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Ohio law requires a flat rate that cannot exceed 1%, unless it is approved by the voters. Ohio local income tax rates range from 0.40% in Indian Hill to 3% in Parma Heights.
• Oregon: The Tri-Met Transit District (includes Portland) assesses an income tax of 0.6318% and the Lane County Transit District (includes Eugene) assesses an income tax of 0.60%. Multnomah County (Portland) also assesses a 1.45% business income tax.
• Pennsylvania: Most municipalities in Pennsylvania assess a tax on wages, known as the Earned Income Tax. This tax is usually split between the municipality and the local school district. The local Earned Income Tax is only assessed on earned income, like wages. Unearned income like interest and dividends are not taxed. Pennsylvania state law limits the Earned Income Tax to a maximum flat rate of 2%, but Home Rule cities like Philadelphia and Scranton are not subject to this maximum. Cities with tax rates above 2% include: Philadelphia (3.98%), Pittsburgh (3%), Reading (2.70%), Scranton (3.40%), and Wilkes-Barre (2.85%). Non-residents have to pay the Earned Income Tax as well, but are usually taxed at a lower rate. You can look up local tax rates on Pennsylvania state's website. Local income taxes are also assessed on the net profits of businesses.

H-1B Work Visa–Sponsor’s Share or Profit

 

In my last post, I shared the salary brackets for Employment Contract and Consultant Contract. The feedback, that I received on that post, contains a number of queries and comments on huge difference in compensation between the two models. So, I thought it is in the best interest of all to discuss Sponsor’s Share or Profit in my next post.

This is a known fact that all companies who sponsor H-1B, do it to save or make some money:

1. Companies need resources for their in-house project/product development and they can get quality resources in a cheaper rate if they have the means and access to human resource markets like Pakistan, India, China, etc..
   [ Benefit – Save Money ] [ Contract Type – Employment ]
2. Companies also deploy resources to other clients and earn a % share from the salaries of those resources via the Corporate-to-Corporate (corp-to-corp or c2c) model.
   [ Benefit – Make Money ] [ Contract Type – Consultant ]

I will now continue the example from my previous post, to help you understand how sponsor companies make or save money as discussed above.

Based on the salary ranges I mentioned in my previous post, a Java Developer can sign:

1. An Employment Contract of US$ 3,500 per month, OR
2. A Consultant Contract of US$ 40 per hour

Let us now calculate the per month salary of this resource for option #2 i.e. Consultant Contract:

As a standard, each resource is required to work 8 hours per day and five weekdays a week from Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday are weekend holidays. If we assume, there are 4 weekends in a month and an average month has 30 days then:

[ 30 (days in month) – 8 (weekend holidays) ] x 8 (hours per day) x 40 ($ per hour) = US$ 7,040 per month

This is more than double of what the resource can get on Employment Contract. So this seems un-fair or imbalance.  Actually it is not, because in case of Employment Contract, the resource is actually employed by the H-1B Sponsor itself, so sponsor already offered the resource a salary that is less than the prevailing market standard. And, this way the sponsor saves the money, because if they hire the same level of resource from the market that would cost them much more.

On the other hand, in Consultant Contract, the sponsor deploys the resource on to one of it’s client companies. The c2c contract between the sponsor and the client will mention US$ 40 per hour, but there will be a contract between the resource and the sponsor which states that a specific % of the resource’s salary will be shared with the sponsor

Based on recent trends:

70% to 80% will be the resource’s share

20% to 30% will be the sponsor’s share

So, if we apply the same to the compensation we calculated above:

US$ 7, 040 x 70 / 100 = US$ 4,928

Now, you can compare this compensation with that of Employment Contract:

Employment Contract – US$ 3,500 per month

Consultant Contract – US$ 4,928 per month

The difference between the two is:

US$ 3,500 per month – US$ 4,928 per month = US$ 1,428

That difference can be justified keeping the amount of risk involved in Consultant Contracts (for detail of risks please refer to my previous post).

I hope my post will help you understand different aspects of the contracts. A heads up for all you, this still is not a complete picture, there are deductions/taxation involved, which I will discuss in detail in my next post.

H-1B Work Visa–Contract Types–Pros and Cons

 

There are two frequently used Contract Types that you can have with your H-1B Sponsor, they are:

Employment Contract	Consultant Contract
(Fixed) Per Month	(Variable) Per Hour
Include Paid Annual Leaves	No Paid Annual Leaves – Number of Hours worked will be paid
Low Risk – Will be paid fully or some fixed % of the salary even if not deployed on a Project or Client	High Risk – If No Project or Client then No Salary
Comparatively low rates	Comparatively higher rates

In order to understand the compensation difference and risk involved, let us consider two simple cases:

NOTE – I will discuss compensation/salary rates, rate differences, break-up, sponsor-share, taxation, etc. in detail in another post.

Case 1 – Variable # of days in a month – For example consider the month of January (31 days) and February (28 days)
Employment Contract	Consultant Contract
Example – US$ 3,500 per month	Example – US$ 30 per hour
Irrespective of how many days a month might have, you will get a fix salary at the end of each month. Easier for monthly budgeting and expense allocation.	You will be impacted by the variance in # of days in a month. So, if you get paid for 23 days in January (8 days of weekend holidays), you will be paid for only 20 days in February.
January Salary = US$ 3,500 February Salary = US$ 3,500	January Salary 23 (days) x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = US$ 5,520 February Salary 20 (days) x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = US$ 4,800 Do note that there’s no loss or gain, because net salary for the year will always be the same, no matter if you get less salary in one month and more in another. Because total number of hours for a year will more or less be the same.

Case 2 – Leaves (Sick/Casual/etc.) – For example if you have taken 2 leaves in the month of March and your compensation is the same as mentioned in Case 1 above then:
Employment Contract	Consultant Contract
(Without leaves) March Salary = US$ 3,500 (With leaves) March Salary = US$ 3,500 (provided you have not consumed all your annual leaves)	(Without leaves) March Salary 23 (days) x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = US$ 5,520 (With leaves) March Salary [ 23 (days) – 2 (leaves) ] x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = 5,040 You loose US$ 240 per day if you take a leave (based on compensation mentioned in case 1 above)

Case 3 – Gazette Holidays – For example consider the month of November. There is a Veterans Day holiday on 11th. A Thanksgiving Day holiday on fourth Thursday. A Black Friday holiday following the Thanksgiving Day. In total, there are 3 holidays during the month of November.
Employment Contract	Consultant Contract
(Without holidays) March Salary = US$ 3,500 (With holidays) March Salary = US$ 3,500	(Without holidays) November Salary 22 (days) x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = US$ 5,280 (With holidays) November Salary [ 22 (days) – 2 (holidays) ] x 8 (hours per day) x 30 ($ per hour) = 4,800 You loose US$ 240 per holiday (bases on the compensation mentioned in case 1 above)

Case 4 – Bench Period – Time period when you are not deployed on any project or client.
Employment Contract	Consultant Contract
Based on your contract with your employer you will either getting: 1. Full salary OR 2. Partial/Base salary - a % (usually more than 50%) of your full salary	No salary during bench period