Online Freelancers To Pay Tax?

A friend forwarded me this article just last week:

With medical doctors crying foul this week over an “insulting” ad by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), a tax expert has advised online freelancers to know their tax obligations so they won’t get entangled with new government circulars governing e-commerce. 

Aside from physicians, the BIR has also launched an ad campaign against accountants, chefs, and online sellers who do not pay their tax obligations properly. 

Mon Abrea, a former revenue officer and tax examiner at the BIR, recently conducted a seminar for online freelancers on the new tax memorandums of the BIR on Internet-based businesses.  

US-based online freelance platform Elance sponsored the session dubbed, “Tax Academy Experience for Online Professionals” at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City. The seminar was meant to guide online professionals on how to pay their taxes right and avoid any penalty.  

Abrea lectured on how freelancers can comply with the BIR’s Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 55-2013 that provides the tax obligations of different parties engaged in online business transactions including services.  

He also shared to the attendees “The 31 Most Frequently Asked Tax Questions by Entrepreneurs,” which he wrote in his book on taxes titled “Ctrl+TAX+ Del” that was published in September 2013.  

Abrea is the founding president of the Center for Strategic Reforms of the Philippines (CSR Philippines), a non-profit organization that assists MSMEs or micro, small and medium enterprises.  

During the session, the most queried questions from the participants were: If they indeed need to pay taxes, how can they register as taxpayers? Also, is there a need for a new TIN or Taxpayer Identification Number?  

“It is everyone’s duty to pay taxes,” Abrea said. “As per Memorandum 55-2013 by the BIR, it reminds everyone who engages in online transaction, service, and sales needs to pay taxes.”  

He explained online professionals are no different from other workers in the eyes of the BIR. Thus, freelancers also need to secure barangay clearance and Mayor’s Permit, among others, and then have the business registered at the BIR. He stressed that only one TIN is allowed under the law.  

Among the online business transactions covered by the BIR’s RMC are the Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer to Consumer (C2C), and Business to Business (B2B). B2C involves online stores selling goods and services to final consumers while B2B encompasses job recruitment, online advertising, credit, sales, market research, technical support, procurement and different types of training.  

Elance Philippines country manager Ronald Cirujano said his company plans to conduct similar events this year to educate more local online professionals.  

Cirujano said the Philippines is rated as the ninth biggest freelancer country in the world. Elance has 800,000 businesses and that three million freelancers use its website in more than 170 countries. 

Elance, together with global job marketplace company oDesk, recently announced a merger, creating an online freelancing behemoth.

The original article written by Tom Noda was first published last 6th of March, 2014 at Newsbytes.ph. 

Are you an oDesk freelancer? Would you be willing to pay your taxes should BIR require you to pay? I don't have any problem paying mine. If it's any help to the government, that's fine, but if it just ends up in the pockets of greedy politicians, I'll probably go ahead and pay but with my teeth all bared.

New Skills, More Work!

A few years ago, I wrote about my joining oDesk with only a handful of skills BUT I found a way to change that. I applied for jobs that required me to do more digging on the Internet, jobs that required me to watch videos, gather information from different websites, and interact with my bosses more often. Because of these projects, I've learned new things! I've improved my grammar and have learned to write better. I've become more efficient and more resourceful as a researcher. I have grown more confident of what I can do and I became a person of value to my employers. You know what else I've gained from having such a desire to learn? I have gotten a LOT more work both from previous and current clients.

That said, I would like to do a new blog series some time soon, one that would tackle the issue of newbies not being able to compete with other oDesk freelancers. Why? Because they don't have work history and having no work history means lesser chances of getting hired!

Keep checking my blog! I'll see to it that you get firsthand tips from who else but the freelancers themselves. I've met some really friendly folks both online and offline who would be more than happy to share their oDesk experiences.

More about this soon! 

Top 5 Qualities of a Good VA

One of the most flexible jobs available online is that of a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is like an office secretary, only much, much better. Why? Virtual assistants get to work from home in their pajamas. They don't have to drive to work and get stuck in the traffic. They don't have to spend money on gas. Because a virtual assistant's work is online, the people who often gets hired for this type of work are those who are techie and are very good with computers. Working as a virtual assistant also requires good organizational skills. You have to be quick to think on your feet. You have to be efficient. 

You remember Ana? Ana is one heck of a virtual assistant. You should check out her oDesk profile. She has consistently received 5 stars from her previous clients. If you have been following my blog, you'll know what I mean. Click this link to read about Ana's VA experiences. 

What makes a good Virtual Assistant? 

A good virtual assistant communicates effectively. I cannot stress enough how important it is for a virtual assistant to have an excellent command of the English language. This means YOU can converse with native English speakers with ease and confidence.

Being an excellent communicator does not only mean having a high level of English proficiency, it also means being reliable and efficient. You have the initiative to email your boss and update him about the progress of your work. You reply back the minute you read his emails. You don't make him wait. You understand that people's time are valuable. This brings us to the second most important quality that I think virtual assistants should possess.

A good virtual assistant knows how to value time. With some people, being on time is as natural as breathing. Meeting deadlines is a mantra they follow to a tee. With some, it is an everyday struggle. Getting tasks done on time is a hit-and-miss thing. If you belong to the first group then you won't have any problem. You'll do great as a VA. But if you are with the latter, I'm discouraging you from applying as one until you've learned how to value time. Get yourself organized for starters. Find out what keeps you from completing tasks. Find out why you put off things when you can do them straight away. Procrastination should never be in your vocabulary.

A good virtual assistant asks questions. If you're not sure about something, ASK. Don't make assumptions. There is no such thing as a stupid question. The only thing that is outright stupid is asking your boss questions that are not in any way related to work.

A good virtual assistant takes down notes. You either do it with the traditional pen-and-paper or with the many apps and freewares available online. I do my note-taking with the use of Evernote Web Clipper. I also use Awesome Screenshots and Google Docs. Taking down notes keeps me organized. It keeps me focused especially when there are many tasks needing done.

A good virtual assistant is proactive. Being proactive means you think ahead. You anticipate problems. You think of solutions in advance. You get to the bottom of things before it becomes a problem. You troubleshoot. You don't just sit around and wait for something that needs fixing to get fixed. You think of ways and you make things easy for everyone. You are a problem-solver.

Do you have these qualities?

(Updated 5/10/2014)

Getting Paid via LFT

If you've been considering oDesk for a while now and wanting to give it a try, one of the many things that you probably want to know more about is how you will get paid once you get hired. It's EASY. If you have an existing bank account, you can get paid via LFT.

Local Fund Transfer (LFT) is a recent addition to the many different pay methods available to oDesk freelancers and is one of the easiest to set up.

You can get paid via PayPal, too, if you like or you can apply for Payoneer and get paid that way. Because I feel a little lazy right now and I just love, love, love using Awesome Screenshot, I took a shot of the available payment methods from oDesk's website, wrote a short summary at the bottom and inserted links pointing you to websites where the pay method is explained more clearly.

Here goes:

Skrill used to be Moneybookers. I've set up an account there once but their verification takes too long to complete, I'm not even sure it's worth it.

Direct Deposit is FREE to US banks. No charges whatsoever so if you have a US account in any of the 50 states, by all means, use it.

Wire Transfer, I think, is not something you want to be using either. $30 is too expensive a fee, you agree? You cannot afford to be throwing that kind of money everytime you make a withdrawal.

The last one that I will try to explain in the simplest, clearest way possible is payment via Local Fund Transfer using Unionbank's EON card. I have not tried any other banks for LFT but I am sure if you do a search, Google would be able to point you to other blogs detailing their experience with their bank of choice.

The good thing about Unionbank's EON card is the fact that it is both a bank account and a debit card. That's what makes receiving and withdrawing money easy. Plus it only charges Php350.00 for its annual fee with no maintaining balance.

Follow these 6 EASY STEPS if you're happy to try EON and use it for LFT:

1 Go to the nearest Unionbank branch. Bring two valid IDs. Fill out whatever form the bank peeps give you and then go to the next available counter to pay for the Php350 fee.

2 Return to the bank in 7 banking days and get your card.

3 Open your oDesk account, click 'Settings' on the upper right and then select 'Get Paid' on the left sidebar.

4 Click the green 'Set Up Payments' button and choose Local Fund Transfer as your payment method.

5 Next, enter Unionbank's BRSTN code which is 010419995. It is important that you enter this accurately. Double check the number before hitting 'Next'.

6 The last step is this form. Fill it out carefully. Like it says on the website: Entering the incorrect or mismatched account name and number can result in withdrawal delays and fees.

So, that's it. If you have questions, leave a comment or message me on Facebook.

Bye for now.

Question of the Week: Can I Join oDesk and Work Part Time?

I have an office job, can I join oDesk and do some freelance admin work part time?

I get this question a lot. The answer? Yes, you can. That is what some people are doing. They have an outside job that they love, a job they're just not ready to give up. That's where oDesk comes in. oDesk for them is a means to earn extra money on the side. If you check out oDesk's job feed, you will see that some of the jobs posted are short term projects you can finish in less than a week's time. There are also projects that require only one or two hours which you can do at any time.

Like what sort of tasks for instance? Here are some of the short term projects I've worked on from what I can remember:

1) Write 10-20 tweets and schedule them ahead of time. Make sure they are posted only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Maximum hours allocated for the task is 2 hours.

2) Please let me know you are available for at least 2 hours everyday. I will need you to clean up my inbox and stay organized. I receive around 200-300 emails daily but most of them are spam. Delete the spammy ones and move the important emails to my Personal folder. Can you do that?

3) I will send you an Excel file containing 1000 pre-written quotes for my Twitter account. I need you to read each one and make sure the words are spelled correctly. Correct any grammatical errors and typhos and send the file back to me by end of the week.

4) Are you proficient in Excel? I have an Excel file with a record of names and addresses. I need you to delete the duplicates and remove any blank rows you find. Excellent attention to detail is a must.

5) Can you transcribe this video and send it back to me by Sunday night? You have two days to do the transcription. How much do you charge for one hour of video time?

These are just examples. There are hundreds of other jobs posted everyday. Choosing one that fits your skill set is the easy part. The real challenge is getting an interview and getting yourself hired. Ask yourself. Is this opportunity a good fit for you? What does it take to be an oDesk freelancer? What are the pros and cons?

oDesk Changed My Life

This wonderful lady here is Ana Marie Barrieses. She got married last October 2012 and is a hands-on mommy to the cutest little boy ever. We graduated from the same university and had the pleasure of working together as a web content provider for a private company. I contacted her a couple of years ago so I can feature her on my blog. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked and the interview never got published. Now that I finally found the time to write again, I got in touch with Ana so I can finally feature her success story here. Read about how she started and where she is now with her freelancing.


Name: Ana Marie Barrieses
Location: Bacolod City, Negros Occidental
Odesk Member Since: June 17, 2008

What was your previous job before you joined oDesk? I was working as a telecollector.

Where did you first hear about oDesk? From a friend, she was my classmate in college.

What made you decide to become a member of the site?

I wasn't all that interested at first but I keep hearing good things about being a member and about working online so I went ahead and tried it. Luckily, it did not take me long to get hired. I landed my first oDesk job and was given the chance to show what I am capable of doing.

What was the first project you worked on? 

It was a VA job which lasted for more than 6 months.

That's great! Was it full time? 

No, just part time at first. I was required to work 4-6 hours a day. It went very well and after a few months, I took on more jobs and then went full time.

What obstacles have you encountered when you were still starting?

I had a pretty hard time dealing with some clients. The know-it-all types make it harder for me to share my ideas. The overly demanding ones, too, made my work a lot harder. I also had problem with my work schedule but thankfully things are so much better now.

What top three lessons have you learned as an oDesk freelancer? 

I learned that no matter how skilled or talented you are, you won't last long if you are not willing to learn, if you don't have patience and determination. It is also important to have good work ethics. Second, you have to be open to criticisms and third, you have to love your job!

What new skills have you acquired from the many different projects you worked on?

I learned social media marketing from my clients. I met different types of people online and learned how to deal with them especially the bosses. I had the opportunity to work on some WordPress sites and that really improved my marketability as a Virtual Assistant. I also learned a bit of SEO and have improved my English skills big time!

What jobs do you often get hired for?

Virtual/Executive Assistant (VA), Social Media Marketing, Data entry, Research, Customer Chat Support, Transcriptionist

Your story is awe-inspiring. What do you have to say to people who thinks oDesk is a SCAM?

No, it's not a scam! It is a legitimate freelancing site and there are so many projects to choose from. As long as you work hard and deliver what you promised to your clients, it can be a steady source of income. If you are good, you'll have greater chances of getting hired long term. 

I am very happy working from home. There is less pressure as compared to working in an office. I am also earning more than what I need and learning a lot from people both offline and online.

You must be really good at what you do then. Do you like being an oDesk freelancer?

Yes I do, without a doubt!

There you go, guys. I hope you enjoyed reading about Ana's oDesk experiences. Here are three other oDesk Success Stories I published if you feel like checking them out:

oDesk Success Story: Ellen Nor Sarabia

oDesk Success Story: JoAnn Del Castillo

Leslie Ann Macapagal, Another oDesk Freelancer Earned Ph71,000 Month of April

If you are an oDesk freelancer and would also like to be featured on my blog, feel free to send me a message on Facebook or to drop me an email at gentm128ATgmailDOTcom.

Ciao!

I'm on Linkedin!

I've just updated my Linkedin profile! I hope to connect with the people I've worked with since 2010 and so far, only 12 of them have accepted my invitation. Twitter is next on my list. I already have over 100 followers there but would like more in the next few weeks.

If you are wondering why I updated my profile out of the blue and even posted about it here, the answer is simple. Having a social media presence is a MUST if you are looking to spread the word about your potential as an outsourced worker. I do a lot of research and lead generation. I also do a lot of admin support work. And having a profile on Linkedin will I was told will get me more work.

Happy New Year! What's Around The Corner?

Out with the OLD, in with the NEW.

Do I need to come up with "new" New Year's Resolutions? :D I make them but never get around to really doing them.

Fudge it.

Here goes.

At 30ish, you would think I've already saved something but nope, financially, I'm not far from broke and I have no one to blame but myself.  So this year, I would like my first focus to be on personal finance. 2013 has been such a blessing. Part of the money did go to the house. A good deal went to the expenses. And a chunk that I "should have" been saving for emergency went to...uhm, I've no idea. I'd rather not think about where it really went. Like bubbles, money can disappear with a *POP* and not leave a trace so NO, I don't want to spend the rest of the evening thinking about where the money went.

But before anything else, I want to talk about how we, as a family, respond to MONEY.

The last two years, we did GREAT. We don't have credit cards. We don't have "utang" at the "tiangge". We've made it a habit to pay in cash. Most of the time, we buy only what we need, no serious splurges, no shopping sprees. The ultimate tightwad. Ha. No, not really. We've just grown smarter with our spendings now that we are parents, that is all. Frugality is not something to frown upon. Hence, my first New Year's Resolution came into being.

I get paid weekly. My husband gets paid weekly as well. We pool whatever money we have, pay the bills, buy food, buy a bit of something for ourselves, the rest goes to the house. Nothing's left. No savings. No emergency fund. No investment. Nothing.

Kuripot Pinay's Financial Resolutions for 2014 inspired me to make a few tweaks in our finances that I think would make 2014 an even better year. (1) BE MONEY SMART. Effective next week, we will be keeping track of where the money is going and make sure everything from savings to the emergency fund is covered. I'm actually not sure how to do it yet. I haven't talked to the master of the house. We always discuss anything that involves money and the expenses and decide on what we think is best.

My second New Year's Resolution is one more thing I am looking forward to doing this year. (2) TIME MANAGEMENT. First thing I need to do is free up my time. There is no way I'd be able to accept more work with my 2 year old bawling all the time and that is not because he is not getting any attention or because he's hurt or anything. He's well taken care of. I just think that he needs to see me a little less and spend time with his father MORE. When I'm around, the little guy gets all whiny and would cling to me for hours. He'd cry if I let go and just loves following me around. That's fine with me. My husband and I take turns making sure he is clean and fed and getting lots of play. We're the hands-on type.

With more time in my hands, I should be able to work full-time and earn more. Which brings me to my third New Year's Resolution. (3) TAKE IT EASY WITH FACEBOOK. More time does not mean taking frequent breaks and checking in on Facebook more often than necessary. Facebook is a vice. If there is one thing I have no need for right now is for Facebook browsing to again become a habit. I should know better. I already got addicted to some of their online games a few years back and believe me, it's EVIL when it gets out of hand. I'm glad I've already cut down my browsing and have totally recovered. I should cut it down some more just to be safe.

Last on my list has nothing to do with money or work but I see it as something just as important. (4) LOSE WEIGHT. 2014 is definitely the best time for me to get back to my weight loss goal. I started dieting a few months back and lost a few pounds. I started exercising and lost a few more but gained it all back when I stopped checking the scale. I should get a digital one and record my progress in my other blog, that way I can keep track of how much pounds I am losing.

Now with these resolutions in place, I hope to accomplish more this year and give back where needed. I'll do another post some time soon with updates. Let's see where this goes.

Mom on Admin Support Role

When it comes to work, I'm never picky. A job is a job. Money is money and I need a LOT especially now that I'm a mother and have my 2-year old to look after.

I crave for security. My need to secure a future for my family is my topmost priority. I cannot really work full time right now but I am trying my hardest to manage my time and save what I can.

I have a current contract with a small online training company. They hired me September for admin support and so far, working with them has been very rewarding. The couple (No naming names to protect their privacy) operate their business from home.They provided me with training, gave me room to grow and even gave me bonuses when I least expect it. I do hope they will need me around for a long time. I love working for them and I love that they know I'm a stay-at-home mom and have a toddler.

HW Solutions

My husband and I have started a small agency of our own. We have 5 researchers aboard that we've trained for data mining, blog search and data collecting. Just last week, our contract with FindTheBest.com ended. All five researchers have no other projects to work on so I told them to take a couple of weeks off just until I can find them new ones. The problem is, most of them can only work part-time and the only one person who is available to work full time has not been very reliable. I'll have to retrain him. If he doesn't improve, I'll have to remove him. I cannot afford having anyone spoil things for the team.

These are some of my short term goals for the agency.

1) I'd like for HW Solutions to grow from 5 members to 50 if that is even possible.

2) I'd like for all members of the team to at least have two active contracts that they can work on.

3) I'd like to get a website set up for HW Solutions.

4) I'd like to set up a Twitter and Facebook account for the agency for networking purposes.

5) I'd like a blog where I can write about how we started and how it's changing our lives.

6) I'd like the agency to become a reliable source of income not just for myself and my husband but for all contractors connected with us.

Promises, promises!

I will be posting here more often and will definitely take the ultimate blogger role MORE seriously. From this day on. No more excuses. I SWEAR!

I think I owe you all an update.

First, there's the baby. He's growing way too fast and I am only too happy to be his mommy. I still think being hands-on is the most awesome thing ever about being a mom. It's a full time job and I LOVE it! I don't even see myself quitting.

Second, if you are curious about my freelancing activities, I am on it PART-TIME. My husband who used to work full time is also back to part-time right now. The main reason, as you all know, the hubby and I are full time parents. We are very hands-on and have totally discarded the idea of hiring a babysitter.

Third, how's the money thing going? Still a bit tight? Answer. Nope, we are recovering and will be back in track around May. We just need to pay a few bills here and there and that's that. The next project we will be focusing on is the construction of our house. It's long due. We originally made plans to finish it by 2011 but we got too busy with my pregnancy we just forgot about it.

Last but not the least, I created a new blog. It's my baby's health journal. I will be posting there a lot as well.

Wish me luck with everything!

Job Update

Been working on different research projects since early last year. Most of them involve looking up blogs and websites, finding names of contacts, collecting their emails, phone numbers and other contact details. Majority of the people who hire me to do these kind of projects are marketing executives, social media marketers and PR personnel. I understand why they prefer outsourcing than doing all the looking themselves. The job at times can be repetitive but I have grown to love it. I think that it is a HUGE learning experience. Browsing the Internet to gather different kinds of information actually helped me sharpen my researching skills and I'm getting PAID to do it. Who would not want that?

Back To Blogging

I'm BACK and I would like to get back to blogging. Curious about what I have been up to?? Well, here goes...

I gave birth last September 5 and now have a cute little baby to take care of. I also have the whole house to clean and the hubby to tend to. What makes it even harder is the fact that my baby is exclusively breastfed. I have to nurse every 2-3 hours and I only get to work when he is sleeping or when my husband is there to look after him. It's not easy but we are coping. My husband and I have been making adjustments to make sure the baby is well taken care of and the house is kept clean. Of course, apart from all that, we have to make sure we have plenty of time left for work. We are not back to working full time yet but we will get there. We just need to make good use of our time.

Here's how we do it...

When I'm nursing the baby, my husband busies himself with the house work. When he's done, he goes online, gets to work on the spreadsheets and finishes what he can then he gets his turn with the baby. I get my turn to do the house work and when I'm done, I go online, work on the spreadsheets and finish what I can. It's an everyday thing.

If there is one thing that concerns me, it's our finances. It's a bit tight right now but I think we can manage. Again, we need to make a few adjustments. I am the one in charge of the weekly budget. The hubby is in charge of the bills. Now if we could just stick to the plan...fingers crossed, everything will be okay again.

More Work, Lesser Pay

I noticed that more and more people are hiring contractors at a very low hourly rate. The more demanding ones especially. How do you guys feel about sending 1 million emails A DAY for a measly $100? Sounds fun? Well, I'm not one to encourage cheap labor. Anyone out there feel like working for peanuts, just have a look at the job posts today. So depressing.

Just my two cents, if you have the degree, the skills and the experience, why bid at such a low rate? If you are a newbie and your reason is so that you get hired right away, that is pretty understandable but if you've been working online for months and already have a work history, don't you think it's time you increase your hourly rate? You SHOULD! Try and stick to your rate and see what happens. Chances are, some company will find your profile and hire you at your new rate. Stop working for a few measly cents an hour. That is so NOT right!

Hourly vs Fixed Price Jobs

Which do you prefer? Hourly paid jobs or fixed price ones? I prefer getting paid by the hour over fixed price projects for a whole lot of reason. Getting paid by the hour means payment is guaranteed (oDesk guarantees payment so long as the screen shots are good and you've taken the time to fill out your work memo)...then there's this thing about motivation. When I work and I see screen shots being taken, it motivates me and makes me want to work more. You get the picture?

Now with fixed price jobs, it's different. There is no dispute policy and no payment guarantee. You just have to trust that the employer who hired you to do the project is going to pay you and not walk away with your money. That's where checking for feedback comes in handy. Before you apply for fixed price projects, check out your would-be employer's profile and feedback. How many contractors have been hired? How much has been paid?

Meeting Deadlines

I've never had any problem meeting deadlines at work but with the weather as freaky and as unpredictable like it has been lately, I'm a loss about what to do to make sure I meet deadlines and not get in trouble with the bosses. One option is to keep the employer informed, of course, but then not all employers are the same. Know what I mean? Thankfully, I have not been hired to do any time-sensitive projects. All my current ones are pretty flexible. Big sigh of relief here.

What about you guys? Any problem meeting deadlines lately? We've all had one hell of a week I know! With the storms coming in one after the other, the flood and landslide reports, etc. I'm sure you've experienced frequent power interruptions and seen a decline in your Internet speed just like I have. Should be pretty understandable if you were not able to meet deadlines, right? What's your story?