We Get Letters…
November 4, 2007 by Deb Ng
Filed under Freelance Writing
Sorry guys, no hate mail this week!
Hello!
I have another question to ask about the freelancing world. Do you have any clients that are overseas? I have recently been offered two positions blogging for overseas companies, paid via paypal per post. Are there any tax issues to consider in this matter or is it more or less the same as writing for a U.S. employer, since I would be working from my U.S. home?
Thanks!
Danelle
Hi Danielle,
Honestly, I’m not sure. If they’re paying via PayPal I believe they pay in US currency. Now, if I’m not mistaken, you have to report all income, not just that of domestic employers, but again I’m not sure. I hope some of the regulars can better help you.
Best,
Deb
Dear Deborah,
Do you think all those blog contests are popularity contests? For those awards you provided the link to the other day I didn’t recognize any of the blogs in your category. You’d expect more popular and prominent blogs to be featured. What’s up with that?
Mike
Hi Mike,
I do believe they are popularity contests. I always appreciate when my regulars nominate me and it certainly does help traffic. Indeed there are worthier bloggers out there, perhaps they don’t need to offer the same type of promotion? The reason I participate in these things are because they’re great traffic boosters. I think the real pros know they don’t need it. Just my take –
Deb
Dear Deborah,
Thank you so much for your beautiful and helpful site. I found you about a month ago and since then I’ve been able to land several jobs and I am actually thinking about becoming a full-time freelancer since it pays better than my day job. I attribute much of that success to the quality of your postings and the informative clinics you run. My cover letter is much better now and one of my new employers stated that my cover letter was the reason that he gave such an inexperienced writer a chance. Since my day job is working in a cemetery, it is also nice to be able to interact with fun *alive* people like those who post on your site. Yay for the breathing! This Sunday’s ‘letters’, like every Sunday’s, always bring a nice smile to my evening routine. Thank you so very much.
Sincerely,
Susan
Hi Susan,
Your letter made my morning! I’m so happy you were able to find gigs through the leads here. Jodee works so hard to find quality jobs. I’m also pleased the cover letter clinic is helping. It’s been informative for me as well.
I live for my community here. In fact, I receive compliments from other probloggers about my community all the time. Many of them only dream of having such active and congenial visitors.
Thank you so much for writing,
Deb
Deb,
How do I become a guest blogger for FWJ?
Fondly,
Martin
Hi Martin,.
I love to have guest bloggers and I’m always happy to offer a trade of some sort. I don’t have money in the budget to pay for guest bloggers at the moment, however. If anyone is willing to trade guest blogging stints, do drop me a line.
Deb
Dear Deb,
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I was interested to read at She Plays Music,you were 13 in 1977. I can do the math and this took me by surprise. I thought you were at most in your early 30’s. You “sound” so young and hip. Blogging doesn’t seem like something for the boomer generation. Do you find you’re at the point where your clients are all younger than you?
Respectfully,
Michael W.
Hi Michael,
Thanks I think.
Darren Rowse had an interesting poll regarding the age of most bloggers and I’m indeed in the minority. I don’t believe blogging is for the young, however.
Most of my clients are younger than me and they’re very surprised when they learn my age. It doesn’t mean anything to me though. I think blogging is something that spans the ages. I hope that I’m able to speak to everyone on a level that spans generations rather than cater to a particular age group.
Age doesn’t come into play though. My clients don’t ask me how old I am, and I don’t tell them. The funny thing is, I got so much mail regarding that one post not because of the music, but because I revealed my age!
Best,
Deb
Dear Deb,
What does Mr.Ng think of all your blogs? I’m asking because my husband isn’t into reading my work and I wonder if I’m the only one.
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
Mr. Ng isn’t much interested either. Every now and then I’ll send him a link to something interesting but for the most part he’s not a regular visitor. It’s ok though, I’m not much interested in looking out his accounting spreadsheets either!
Best,
Deb
Dear Deb:
Why is their know horribally mis-spelled hate male in you’re letter’s this weak? You must make thees letter’s up.
Seriously – I’m as old as you, it seems, and I’ve been at this internet thang since before Al Gore took the initiative to create it (which he did). I like the idea of making a living at it somehow. I still think my experience gives me some kind of edge, one way or the other. I think your experience really shows, too. That has to be worth it to someone who wants a pro.
Oh, sorry, it’s letter day – to someone who want’s a pro.
Re the tax question: I’m a Canadian resident and I only have one client who is a fellow Canuck. I am required to report my income from all sources (no matter where they may be). My income taxes are based on where I am, not where my clients happen to be or the currency I get paid in. (When I withdraw my earnings from my Paypal account, they are automatically converted to Canadian funds.)
Hope that helps.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who can’t get immediate family to take an interest in my work. I’ve sent my personal blog (with links to all my publications) to my mom half a dozen times.
She’s proud of me anyway. I suppose that’s the most important thing.
Is Michael W. saying that young 30s ISN’T regualarly young nor hip? It’s not like we’re 50 here people! 20s isn’t that far in the past. grrr
re: the tax question.
This is in regards to US money only.
This is the way I understand it:
By law, you are supposed to report ALL your income in the U.S. as a freelancer, so that you can be accurately taxed on it. Even the 25$ jobs. Even the $5 jobs. Every.Single.Cent.
HOWEVER, if your client isn’t reporting that they paid you, then there is no way for the govt to know that that you made that money.
So, unless you receive a 1099 from the client, which indicates that they reported it, then don’t bother.
That’s called cheating. yes. Thats a regular occurrence in the freelance world, though, yes. Many many many freelancers don’t report every single cent. Many only report the bigger amounts that are already reported to the govt by the payer.
The payer is not REQUIRED to submit a 1099 on you unless the TOTAL amount they paid you is over 600 bucks for the whole year.
But officially and by law freelancers are supposed to report every single cent.
Officially and by law babysitters are supposed to report every single cent.
Officially and by law every US citizen is supposed to report every single cent they make.
Again most don’t bother unless it’s over that magical 600$ threshold.
I highly doubt foreign payers will both to send the US govt a 1099 or whatever it’s called for foreign monies.
So, no, no SPECIAL tax laws for foreign payers, but again, every freelancer has to make that big $600 decision come tax day.
Hi Deb,
Your blog is one of the places I check regularly for freelance job listings because I am interested in trends. I find it to be one of the best blogs for writers looking for work. I am a regular visitor. However, this is the first time I have stopped to make a comment.
I am always surprised by the age-related perspective when it comes to blogging. By age, I am a boomer (I was in my very early 20s in 1977) and last year I made enough money as a contract blogger to buy a new car, redesign my kitchen and support my family very comfortably.
There are many bloggers and freelance writers providing web content who fit into the boomer generation age demographic — I just do not think they identify themselves by age.
As for the family taking notice of your work — I call it the kindness of strangers syndrome. If family members were my reading audience, I’d have no readers.
Deb — Thank you for providing a valuable service for freelance writers.
allena,
Don’t knock people in thier 50s, even though we may not remember it for long
i’m just kidding with ya! Hope sharon doesn’t happen by here she’ll kill me!
Deb, please work harder at getting some hate mail would ya?
I was surprised at the blog age poll. I know a lot of bloggers who are older than my mother (60), but I can see how a niche like problogging would take in a younger crowd.
About taxes, I report my income from international clients. I could probably get away with not reporting it in some cases, but I’ve never been a good cheater. I tried to cheat on a test in 6th grade and the guilt ate at me so bad I puked most of the night.
Personally, I’m in my 20’s and I will have to say that I take comfort in knowing that I’m reading blogs that provide a wealth of personal experience and wisdom. I’m not insulting my age group, but I feel as though I don’t have quite enough experience to provide an informative blog. If I’m going to learn, I think my information should come from someone who’s “been there” and lived to tell the tale.
My fear with the tax cheat thing is that if it goes through paypal in large enough amounts, it could someday serve as an electronic paper-trail. So even if it’s not reported, it’s not that anonymous. That’s different than a babysitter getting paid cash in person and not claiming it.
Note this is just my opinion, I’m not a tax pro.
I split my time between China and the US, and receive freelancing payments in both countries. If you receive over $600 in a year from a single employer, you need to do a 1099 form, no matter what country the employer is in.
I don’t get it Meg, because you say “you” need to do the 1099, but the 1099 is an employer initiated form.
Regarding being Canadian and earning income via PayPal from clients in other countries:
You must report all income that you earn – regardless of where it comes from. If you aren’t, you’re working under the table, which not only hurts you (because you can’t get a loan or mortgage without proving you make money) but all freelance writers (because you can charge lower rates and drive down the market price for writing for everyone). There are great advantages to having clean books – trust me.
If you earn above $30,000 a year, you must register for GST and PST with the federal and provincial governments. You must collect 6% GST from all *Canadian* clients. Anyone outside Canada is zero-rated for paying taxes on writing and thus, you don’t need to collect those taxes from them.
Be careful, you need an address to prove where they’re from, so start slipping in a quick, “Hey, what city are you from?”
1099s are irrelevant to Canadian writers.
Per the tax question:
My accountant told me to report all income regardless if the client is reporting it or not. I have a client from Spain who pays me via Paypal and she says she doesn’t declare what she pays me on her government taxes, but what my accountant says is that Paypal has to report all of their income on fees, so even if she doesn’t list it the gov’t may still track my income through the forms that Paypal sends. So I declare everything and at the end of each month, I print out my earnings via Paypal and then deduct the fees they take from me and declare the balance.
Re: family reading your work; my mom used to read stuff that I published but she can’t keep up now.
My husband, on the other hand, has never read anything. All he cares about is the money.
In a way I don’t care. If I wasn’t good I wouldn’t get paid for what I do. But in a way I think it would be nice if occasionally he would say “nice job” instead of “how much money did you get?”
I completely agree with Rei. I’m in my 20s and sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough experience to write an informative blog. Most of my favorite blogs are written by people who are older than me.
Ann G: You’re right. Report everything. However, you should be reporting your gross income and declaring PayPal fees as expenses. You’ll be taxed on the remaining portion. By cutting out those PayPal fees, you’re not quite reporting correctly.
Kathleen: Men tend to think in terms of supporting families. “How much does that pay” usually means something like, “How much do I have to worry about my family’s survival this week?” Men also tend not to provide positive reinforcement or encouragement for one simple reason: they already know you do a good job. They don’t feel the need to state that.
Armywife: Everyone has lived through unique experiences. Everyone has something to say.
Woohoo I made the letters! And for a nice one I meant!
Phill – love your comments, they always make me laugh…