Accountant Review: Deel for Canadian Businesses

This is a review of DEEL and how it works for Canadian companies.

[UPDATED NOV 6, 2021]

What is Deel?

Deel is a company that hires contractors and/or employees anywhere in the world for your business.

It allows your contractor or employee to manage their own payment preferences, profile and invoicing so you can be more organized, transparent and compliant.

What problem does Deel solve?

For contractors: Onboarding, generating localized contracts (including collecting all rights to work documents), performing background checks, offering health insurance, collecting invoices and making payments has always been a manual process. Deel wants to put this all in one dashboard for you.

For employees: Hiring in another country usually involves a lot of research, limited access to health insurance, legal fees to navigate employment contracts and possibly setting up a company in order to adhere to legal payroll requirements. You could also hire an external payroll company, but that usually comes with larger set up fees and less than desirable technology.

Why should Canadians care?

Canadians don't usually have great systems for managing contractors around the globe.

Most of the companies we see at LiveCA use a standard "receive invoice, pay invoice" system with contracts managed behind the scenes. This tool has the potential to streamline a lot of admin when hiring and managing contracts consistently.

How much does Deel cost?

Deel pricing is US$49 a month, per contractor. Employee pricing starts at US$499 a month. Your accounting or other financial partner may have an existing discounted intro offer with Deel.

No sales tax (GST/HST/PST/QST) is charged on their services to Canadians.

Where there are no setup fees, there is an early termination fee for employee contracts lasting less than 6 months (this does not relate to contractors).

How does a Canadian company send money to Deel?

As a Canadian company, you can fund Deel in CAD. Deel supports PAD direct debit and bank transfers in CAD. See this help article for additional funding details.

I'd be cautious about paying someone in a currency other than Canadian Dollars and then funding in CAD given there is a substantial opportunity for Deel to mark-up that exchange rate.

It may be more prudent to compare the FX rate to a FX broker if you don't already have a treasury account with one of the big banks.

What's better; employee or contractor?

This is a good conversation to have both with your accountant and Deel as there can be lots of factors to consider.

For example, is it better to have an employer of record as Deel in the USA or to incorporate a subsidiary for investment, tax or other reasons? One provider won't have all the answers for your situation, so it's good to explore your options and make an informed decision.

Deel will most likely encourage you to set up a contractor in the country they live in, will set up a contractor agreement and manage the invoices and payments all while keeping compliant with local regulations both initially and on a yearly basis (ie. 1099s in the USA).

If you choose to switch from one option to another, Deel can do this too (but when going from employee to contractor, please ask your accountant or legal about the consequences and risks of doing that).

Given Deel offers health insurance for both employees and contractors, I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of companies choose the contractor method for hiring people globally.

What are some potential issues?

  • You may receive an FX rate that is sub-optimal. For example, if someone wants to be paid in Swedish Krona in a local bank account, the contract is in Krona, but Deel asks you to send USD, what rate will be used? They use Wise behind the scenes, so keep that in mind when making your decision to use them. Wise may have great FX rates, but their fees increase the total amount paid which can be deceiving.
  • If a billing address on your payout method doesn't match the billing address of the contract or profile, your recipient may have issues receiving funds.

What are some unique features?

  • Milestone projects (set up payments based on progress) 
  • Contract end dates
  • Pay-as-you-go contracts (ie. for hourly contracts)
  • 1099-NEC filings in the USA.
  • Payouts using bank transfer, PayPal, Revolut, Wise, Payoneer, Coinbase, etc.
  • Early withdrawal (fee of 1% or up to $15) or cash advance (fee of 2-3%) for eligible contractors (a nice feature for contractors with extenuating circumstances that need a hand)
  • Access to a library of contract templates for each country that are automatically generated based on both parties local labour laws and infrastructure
  • Background checks

Does Deel work in all countries?

Yes.

However, certain payment methods such as bank transfers may be limited in some countries. You can check out their website FAQ for a current list of countries with those issues.

Does Deel work in all US States as an employer of record?

Yes

While they launched with only 4 states initially, all states have been added as of Nov 2021.

Can contractors or employees receive Workers Compensation in Canada or the US?

Yes, employees in the US and Canada are covered under Workers Compensation.

Can I offer health insurance to contractors and employees?

Yes, health insurance is provided to all employees in Canada and the US. Independent contractors need to obtain their own insurance.

Can I offer a pension plan to contractors and employees in Canada or the US?

Deel has an integration for Canadian employees to contribute to an individual RRSP and an integration for American employees to contribute to an individual 401k.

Contractors are not eligible.

Why should companies care about accurate local contractor agreements?

New regulations are popping up around the world that require companies to keep accurate records. These exist in California, France, Germany, Serbia and other countries such as IR35 in the UK.

It also helps increase the chances that your contractors are not evading taxes. Through Deel you get an understanding of local laws and requirements, annual filing requirements, etc that you may not get otherwise.

On that note, can they be paid in crypto currency?

Yes, contractors can withdraw through Coinbase. Note that Coinbase is known for their stricter KYC measures. Currently supported crypto are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash.

Are there any accounting integrations?

Yes, integrations with Xero, Quickbooks and NetSuite.

You can also get a CSV to import into your software.

If you're a LiveCA customer, we'll take care of all that for you to make sure the accounting records are kept straight.

Conclusion

Current LiveCA customers that are interested in a service like this should reach out to their Manager. However, we'll likely bring this up if the situation calls for it during our normal course of working together.

For non-LiveCA customers, feel free to read more about Deel on their website here.