Virtual Assistant for Your U.S. Business: What to Delegate

The short answer

• A virtual assistant can take on repeatable work: inbox and calendar, data entry, customer support, research, social media scheduling and basic invoicing.
• Keep decisions, signing authority and access to bank accounts with the owner, even when tasks are delegated.
• The IRS decides whether a worker is an employee or a contractor by looking at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship.
• A foreign person paid by a U.S. company may be asked to give the payer Form W-8BEN to document foreign status. Ask a tax professional how the payments are treated.
• MyProfessional VA, part of MyUSAService since April 2025, lists hourly plans starting at $9.00 per hour and part-time and full-time monthly options (as listed on its site in September 2026).

Table of contents

1. What a VA can handle
2. Why delegate
3. What to keep
4. How to set it up
5. Contractor or employee
6. Data and privacy
7. Keep it in your books
8. What to check when choosing a provider
9. Prices
10. Frequently asked questions

Running a U.S. company from abroad means repeated work in another time zone: emails to answer, customers to follow up, invoices to send, listings to update. A virtual assistant, or VA, is a remote worker who takes on this repeatable work so that the owner keeps time for decisions.

This guide explains what to delegate, what to keep, how to set up access safely and which tax and privacy points to check before you start.

What a VA can handle

MyProfessional VA, the virtual assistant provider that MyUSAService acquired in April 2025, lists these areas on its site:

• Administrative work: meeting notes, email management, data entry, travel management, document preparation, file and calendar management.
• Business growth: social media management, content scheduling, email campaigns, market research, customer support, booking sales calls.
• Travel and events: itineraries, bookings and event organization.
• Bookkeeping support: invoicing, expense tracking and budget monitoring.

Typical tasks by business type include product listings and order tracking for online stores, scheduling and client follow-ups for consultants, and document preparation for professional practices.

Why delegate

• Time. Routine tasks take time that decisions and sales need. Handing them off is the most direct way to recover it.
• Coverage. A VA in a suitable time zone can answer customers during U.S. business hours when the owner is asleep. Response times matter to U.S. buyers.
• Flexibility. Hourly and monthly plans let you add or reduce hours as work changes, instead of hiring a fixed position.
• Less overload. A steady owner with clear priorities makes better decisions. Delegation is a way to avoid the burnout that comes from doing everything alone.

The size of these benefits depends on how well the work is defined and supervised.

What to keep

• Decisions: pricing, contracts, hiring and strategy.
• Signing authority and money movement. A VA can prepare an invoice or a payment. The owner approves and sends payments.
• Access to bank and payment accounts. Give view access only when needed, and never share the owner’s credentials.
• Legal and tax positions, which need a qualified professional.

How to set it up

1. List the tasks that repeat every week and take under an hour each.
2. Write the steps for each task: where to find the input, what the result looks like and where to save it. A one-page checklist per task is enough.
3. Choose the tools for tasks, files and messages, and give the VA their own account in each.
4. Start with a small set of tasks. Increase after two or three weeks.
5. Review weekly at first: what was done, what took longer and what to change.
6. Agree on hours, time zone overlap and response times in writing.

Contractor or employee

For a worker in the United States, classification matters. The IRS looks at the whole relationship, grouped in three categories: behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship. A worker you control closely, who works only for you and follows your schedule, can be an employee. Misclassification can lead to back taxes and penalties. See our guide to U.S. payroll compliance.

If the VA is a foreign person paid by a U.S. company, the payer may be asked to collect Form W-8BEN, which a foreign person gives to the payer to document foreign status. How the payments are treated depends on the facts: ask a tax professional. If you hire through an agency, the agency is your supplier and the contract decides who is responsible for the worker: read it. [Probabile]

Data and privacy

A VA sees emails, customer data and sometimes financial documents. Treat access as you would an employee’s:

• Give each person only the access the role needs.
• Use a password manager and multi-factor authentication instead of shared passwords.
• Remove access as soon as the work ends.
• Put confidentiality in the contract.

If you handle customer data, review the rules that apply to you: see our guide to data storage compliance.

Keep it in your books

Pay VA invoices from the company account and keep the invoices. See our guide to bookkeeping. If the VA processes payments or invoices, reconcile the accounts every month.

What to check when choosing a provider

• How the VA is selected and screened. MyProfessional VA describes a five-step process: CV review and interview by its HR team, a personality assessment, a soft-skills interview, a technical interview and a final evaluation.
• What the plans include, and what happens if the VA is unavailable.
• How replacement works if the match is not right.
• Who owns the work product and how confidentiality is handled.
• How you can end the service.

Prices

According to its site, MyProfessional VA offers hourly plans starting at $9.00 per hour, plus part-time and full-time monthly options. Prices as of September 2026: check the provider’s site for the current plans. Add your own management time to the cost of any VA, especially in the first weeks.

Read more on the steps to enter the U.S. market in our roadmap for foreign founders.

Frequently asked questions

What can a virtual assistant do for my U.S. business?

Administrative tasks, email and calendar, data entry, customer support, research, social media scheduling and basic invoicing, among others.

Should I give my VA access to the company bank account?

Not by default. Keep payment approval with the owner, and give view access only when needed.

Is a VA an employee or a contractor?

It depends on the relationship. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship.

Do I need Form W-8BEN for a VA based abroad?

The payer may be asked to collect it to document foreign status. Ask a tax professional how the payments are treated.

How much does a virtual assistant cost?

It depends on the provider, the hours and the skills. MyProfessional VA lists hourly plans starting at $9.00 per hour, at September 2026.

Sources

1. IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?
2. IRS, About Form W-8 BEN
3. FTC, Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business
4. MyProfessional VA, services and pricing

First published April 10, 2025. This article is general information, not tax advice for your situation. MyProfessional VA | Book a free call