Freelance editing

[lettered]

First of all, apologies to those of you who follow me on various platforms, since I am basically putting this everywhere. I just finished writing my novel (yay!), and while I work on editing and eventually querying some agents, I'm hoping to do some freelance editing work. This makes me an independent contractor (right?), and I'm confused about some of the legal aspects. Does anyone who feels like they understand tax-speak want to talk to me about it for a bit? I've found a bunch of relevant legal info for my state and city, but it'd be nice to talk to someone about some of the terms/issues.

Comments

[geneva2010]

Hi! I have some tax knowledge, not as much legal, but I think I get by on the issue of independent contractors. Most familiar with California and federal.

Congrats on your novel!

Biggest risk in being an independent contractor is making sure you save 15.3% of your net earnings (after expenses) to pay your social security taxes, plus more for Federal and state income. Businesses who hire independent contractors have more risks than the contractors because if the classification gets questioned later, fines can be extreme.

The new tax law has an advantage for contractors in a 20% deduction before income taxes are charged. Very unfair to employees! What a mess.

These may not be your questions - and I'm not around much on any platform right now! But let me know if I can help.

[lettered]

Thanks! I think I have it mostly figured out for right now.

[geneva2010]

great! Good luck with your work.