Best business bank account for remote teams and payroll

Four ways companies pay a remote team

A company with people in other countries can pay them in four ways, and each puts different demands on the business account. The choice depends on whether the people are contractors or employees, and on whether the company has its own legal entity where they live.

Source: Helm Editorial Team, describing common international payroll models, as published on 29 October 2026.

An employer of record is a company that legally employs a worker in a country on another business's behalf, running local payroll, tax and benefits, while the business directs the work. It lets a company hire employees abroad without setting up its own entity there.

Whether a person is a contractor or an employee is decided by the law of the country where they work and by how the relationship runs in practice, not by the title on the contract. Treating an employee as a contractor can create tax and employment liabilities in that country. Take local advice before choosing a model; the bank account follows that decision, not the other way round.

Most published lists of business bank accounts for remote teams compare platforms, not bank accounts. But every model above starts with money leaving the company's own account, and the cost and timing of that step decide whether people are paid on the date promised.

What payroll and contractor platforms publish

Platforms such as Deel and Remote handle contracts, compliance documents and payouts for a monthly fee per person. The table shows their published starting prices.

Source: Deel pricing and Remote pricing, as published on 29 October 2026.

For ten contractors, platform fees start at $490 a month at Deel and $290 a month at Remote, before any payout or currency costs. For five employees through an EOR, fees start at about $3,000 a month at either.

A platform does not remove the need for a good business account. The company still funds the platform, often in US dollars, and pays its own costs, so the account must send large monthly payments on time and at low cost. Ask each platform how it wants to be funded, in which currency, and how many days before payroll the funds must arrive.

Paying contractors directly: batch payments compared

A company that pays contractors itself, without a platform, needs batch payments: one file or one approval that sends many transfers in different currencies. Paying each contractor in their own currency to their local bank account usually costs less than a USD wire, because the contractor's bank does not convert the money at its own rate and no intermediary bank deducts fees.

Source: Wise BatchTransfer and each provider's pricing page (Wise, Airwallex, Payoneer, WorldFirst, Aspire, Mercury), as published on 29 October 2026.

SHA means the company and the contractor share the bank charges on a SWIFT payment, so the contractor may receive less than the invoice. OUR means the company pays them all and the full amount arrives. For a team that relies on its pay arriving in full on a set date, local payouts in the contractor's currency, or OUR on SWIFT, avoid disputes over missing amounts.

Cut-off times matter as much as fees. A batch approved after a provider's daily cut-off for a currency is sent the next business day, and public holidays in the contractor's country delay arrival. Schedule the monthly run two or three business days before the pay date, and show each contractor the amount they will receive before you send.

The conversion cost hidden in every payroll run

A company that earns in US dollars and pays a team in pesos, rupees, euros and pounds converts money every month. The conversion margin, the gap between the rate you receive and the mid-market rate, is often the largest cost of international payroll after the salaries themselves. The table applies published margins to a $60,000 monthly payroll paid in currencies other than USD.

Source: Helm Editorial Team calculation from each provider's pricing page (Aspire, Wise, Airwallex, Mercury), as published on 29 October 2026. "From" figures are the lowest published rate, not a standard margin.

Three points follow. First, the currencies matter: many providers charge more for currencies outside the major group, and remote teams are often in exactly those countries. Second, platforms that do not publish their conversion rates should be asked for the rate applied to a past payroll, so you can compare it with a published margin. Third, a company that pays a fixed payroll in a currency every month can ask about forward contracts, which fix the exchange rate today for a payment later, so currency moves do not change the cost of payroll from month to month.

Some contractors ask to be paid in US dollars, or in USD stablecoins such as USDC and USDT, to protect against a weak local currency. Paying that way moves the conversion to the contractor. Check the law in the contractor's country first, because some countries restrict payments in foreign currency or in stablecoins, and keep a record of the agreed currency in each contract.

Documents and records for paying people abroad

Paying a remote team well is as much about records as about rails. Every payment should match a contract, an invoice or a payslip, and every person should have the right tax documents on file before the first payment.

Source: IRS, About Form W-8 BEN and Helm Editorial Team, as published on 29 October 2026.

The IRS instructs a foreign person to give Form W-8BEN to the payer when requested, whether or not they claim a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding. US companies paying foreign individual contractors should collect it before the first payment and keep it on file.

Payroll is a favorite target for fraud. A message that appears to come from a team member asking to change their bank details before payday is a common attack. Change a worker's bank details only after confirming by a video call or a phone number you already hold, and use dual approval for every payroll batch.

What to check before choosing an account for remote payroll

1. Local payouts in your team's currencies. List every currency you pay, and check each one can be paid by local transfer, not only by SWIFT.
2. Batch payments with approvals. One file or one screen for the monthly run, with a second approver above a set amount.
3. A published conversion margin for each currency. Major and other currencies are often priced differently.
4. Cut-off times and holiday calendars. So you know when to approve the run for pay to arrive on time.
5. The amount received shown first. The rate, fee and expected arrival before sending, so contractors are not paid short.
6. Funding a platform or EOR. Low-cost USD transfers to the platform on its funding deadline.
7. Exports for accounting. A payment file that ties each transfer to a person and an invoice.
8. Eligibility. Your company's country of registration on the provider's published list.

Agencies with large freelance benches face the same questions; see our guide to the best business bank account for agencies. Contractors deciding where to be paid can read our guide to the best business bank account for freelancers.

Independent rankings: the BCC Trade Banking Index

The BCC Trade Banking Index 2026 scores 27 providers out of 100 using only their published terms. It ranks importers, exporters, and wholesalers and distributors, and has no payroll ranking. Paying a remote team is an outbound flow, like paying suppliers abroad, so the importers ranking, which weights paying suppliers at 30% and FX cost at 25%, is the closest fit. The paying suppliers criterion covers countries and currencies reachable, rails, outbound fees, tracking and batch payments. Disclosure: Buckingham Capital Consulting (BCC), which publishes the Index, is a Helm group company. Helm is scored in the 2026 edition by the same published method as every other provider.

Source: BCC Trade Banking Index 2026, facts read by BCC on 21 October 2026 from each provider's own pages, as published on 29 October 2026. BCC is a Helm group company. Helm, a group company of the Index publisher, is scored in the Index and is not shown in this table.

Airwallex leads the importers ranking among the providers shown with 70 out of 100, scoring 5 out of 5 on paying suppliers, as do WorldFirst and XTransfer. Wise Business scores 4 on paying suppliers and 4 on FX cost, the highest FX score in the top three. Mercury scores 4 on paying suppliers for its free USD wires, but its 1% fee on non-USD wires matters to a team paid in local currencies. The Index does not score payroll platforms such as Deel and Remote.

Where Helm fits, and running the first payroll

Helm is a financial technology company, not a bank; accounts are held with regulated partner institutions, and its US dollar account services are provided by Bridge Building, Inc. (NMLS ID 2450917), a licensed money transmitter, with customer funds held at Lead Bank. For a company paying people abroad it provides USD account details in the company's own name that receive ACH, Fedwire and SWIFT, plus EUR and GBP details, and sends international payments by SWIFT or by local rails in the recipient's currency where available, with the rate, fee and expected arrival shown before sending. Balances convert between currencies, and USDC and USDT can be sent, received and converted to USD inside the account.

Helm agrees pricing with each business in writing before the account opens, and shows the rate, the fee and the expected arrival before you confirm each payment. A named account manager answers review questions in writing within one business day.

1. Collect details and documents first. Bank details from each person's own records, and the right tax form, before the first run.
2. Send a test payment. Pay a small amount to each new person and confirm it arrives in full.
3. Fix a run date. Approve payroll two or three business days before pay day, checking holidays in each country.
4. Hold the currencies you pay most. Convert once a month in a planned amount rather than per payment.
5. Keep one record per person. Contract, tax form, bank details confirmation and every payment, in one place.

Questions

References

1. Deel: pricing
2. Remote: pricing
3. Wise: BatchTransfer
4. Wise: Wise Business pricing (US)
5. Airwallex: pricing (US)
6. Mercury: pricing
7. IRS: About Form W-8 BEN
8. Buckingham Capital Consulting: Global Trade Banking Index 2026

This guide is general information for businesses, not financial, legal or tax advice. Rules, fees and timings were checked against the sources listed on the review date and may change.