Phill – love your comments, they always make me laugh…

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.

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?”

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.

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.

Note this is just my opinion, I’m not a tax pro.

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.

Don’t knock people in thier 50s, even though we may not remember it for long

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.

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.

She’s proud of me anyway. I suppose that’s the most important thing.

Hope that helps.

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.