US company paying a foreign contractor: the clean ways to do it
A US company paying a foreign contractor directly must collect a Form W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E from a company), decide whether any withholding applies, pay across a border, and carry a foreign vendor in its books. All of that is manageable — and none of it is necessary when the work is billed through a US merchant of record. In that structure the company contracts with and pays PANORAMA SYSTEMS FLORIDA LLC, a Florida company: one W-9, one domestic ACH payment, one deductible domestic expense. The contractor is the merchant of record's subcontractor, documented on the platform's side of the chain.
PANORAMA SYSTEMS FLORIDA LLC · updated 2026-08-08
What paying a foreign contractor directly involves
Three things, none optional: paperwork (a W-8 series form certifying foreign status, refreshed when it expires), payment mechanics (an international wire or a provider that reaches the contractor's country), and bookkeeping (a non-domestic vendor, with the questions your auditor will ask about it). Companies that pay many foreign contractors build a process for this. Companies that pay one designer in another country usually discover the process does not exist — which is when the deal stalls.
The 1099 question, answered precisely
Form 1099-NEC reports payments to US persons. A foreign contractor who properly certifies foreign status on a W-8BEN is generally not a 1099 payee; where reporting applies to foreign persons it happens on Form 1042-S instead. The form your bookkeeping actually wants to see is the one it already knows: a W-9 — which a foreign individual cannot sign, and a US merchant of record can.
What changes when the invoice comes from a US company
The contractor registers with the merchant of record and becomes its subcontractor. Your company receives an invoice from PANORAMA SYSTEMS FLORIDA LLC with a statement of work describing what was delivered, pays it by ACH like any domestic bill, and files the W-9 it collected once. No cross-border transfer, no W-8 review, no foreign vendor record. The full contract chain — you to the merchant of record, the merchant of record to the contractor — exists on paper and can be shown to an auditor.
If you are the contractor reading this
This page is written for your client because the friction lives on their desk, not yours. Sending it to them answers the questions their finance team will ask, in their own vocabulary. Registration, verification and invoicing on your side take minutes each; the fee structure is published, not negotiated per deal.
Frequently asked
Is paying through a merchant of record deductible?+
It is an ordinary business expense: services purchased from a US supplier, documented by an invoice and a statement of work. Your accountant treats it like any other domestic vendor bill.
Who is responsible for the contractor's taxes?+
The contractor, in their own country, as always. The merchant of record collects its own W-8 certification from them and provides the documentation; it does not change where the contractor owes tax, and this page is not tax advice for either side.
What about misclassification risk?+
The company's counterparty is a vendor company, purchasing a defined deliverable under a statement of work. That is a services purchase, not an employment relationship — and the documentation reflects it. For ongoing full-time-shaped engagements, an employer-of-record service is the honest tool instead.
Can we pay by card or wire instead of ACH?+
Wire works the same way — it is still a domestic-currency payment to a US company. The point is not the rail; it is that the payee is a US entity your process already knows how to handle.
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Invoicing from your country
Bill your first US client
Registration and verification take about 15 minutes. The invoice goes out from PANORAMA SYSTEMS FLORIDA LLC as soon as compliance approves your documents.
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