lettered: (Default)
It's Lion Turtles all the way down ([personal profile] lettered) wrote2019-02-05 02:00 pm
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Freelance editing

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.
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lynnenne: (mood: yay!)

[personal profile] lynnenne 2019-02-06 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry, all my tax knowledge is about Canada. Congrats on finishing your novel, though! That's a huge accomplishment.
breathedout: femme blonde peeks out from behind her martini; woman in tuxedo glowers (celebration)

[personal profile] breathedout 2019-02-06 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
Eyyy! I am of no use with the taxes thing, but congrats on finishing your novel!

[personal profile] magpie_fngrl 2019-02-06 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
Well done on finishing the novel!

As for the freelancing, I can't offer any insight into US practices, but I wondered if you know the sites upwork.com and peopleperhour.com, where you sign up as a freelancer and find clients. I think you need to invoice and work out the tax yourself, but the legal matters might be covered by the website? Apologies if you already know of them and I'm saying nothing new!
geneva2010: (Default)

[personal profile] geneva2010 2019-02-09 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
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