Re: Dang furriners and the IRD

["Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM>]

The tax thing is very interesting. I cannot answer your questions but can
add to the confusion.

1. My state (Connecticut, not mostly water <g>) could not provide me a firm
answer on whether I ought charge sales tax for tech writing services.
Consequently, I do and pass the $$ along. Can anyone on the list attest that
their country adds a manufacturing, sales, VAT, or other tax to writing
services? What if the deliverables are electronic, such as HTML, or are
posted directly to a web server?

2. An off-shore company paid . .  er . . . a friend of mine for a job via a
US subsidiary of that off-shore company. The subsidiary logged the payment
as a loan to the off-shore (European) parent. I'm not sure how the off-shore
parent accounted for the outlay. The friend listed the money to the state
and federal governments as taxable income, despite the lack of the
appropriate forms (1099, et al.).

I am curious to see what happens and home not to get caught in any nasty
audit thing, my friend, that is. My friend tried to play by the rules, but
we are all aware that the Internal Revenue Service of the United States has
greater latitude in deprivation of freedom and search and seizures than
other federal agencies. OTOH, the Internal Revenue Service has, reportedly,
used deadly force less often.

Thoughts?

All the best, this is an interesting tech writing thread.

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Kevin McLauchlan [mailto:KMcLauchlan -at- CHRYSALIS-ITS -dot- COM]
>>>Sent: Monday, April 26, 1999 2:01 PM
>>>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>>>Subject: Dang furriners and the IRD
>>>
>>>
>>>Hello all.
>>>
>>>There's been a bit of talk, on the list lately, about
>>>person-corporation,
>>>corporation-corporation interactions, with a fair bit of reference to
>>>American homegrown versions of the collective thug.  I refer, of
>>>course to the IRD (Infernal Revenue Disservice) and to specific
>>>extraction schemes (I believe they're called 1099 and w-9, in
>>>reference to the form-names?) and the various state-level
>>>equivalents of the federal thuggee.
>>>
>>>I'm assuming other countries have similar formalized collaborative
>>>arrangements for appeasing the thugs, simply using different names.
>>>Whether using the Americanized references or not, this is
>>>relevant to a
>>>great many list members, because so many are either not currently
>>>captive employees, or are considering the status.
>>>
>>>Now, my question to anybody is (from whatever country you call
>>>your own), what do the thugs require of you if you purchase either
>>>a product or a service from beyond your borders?  For that matter,
>>>does it matter if the purchased item is one or the other (product
>>>or service)?
>>>
>>>For example, if you got a translation done offshore, does your
>>>country tax one of the parties (you or your supplier?). Similarly,
>>>if you purchase some software, say by download, are you
>>>expected to declare the transaction and pay taxes or customs fees,
>>>even though no physical object crossed a border?
>>>
>>>And finally, to the meat of the matter, is there anything in place to
>>>prevent a person from taking up residence on some low-tax/no-tax
>>>island and selling either a service -- technical writing --
>>>or a product
>>>-- technically-written material -- to companies in your country?
>>>
>>>Do the thugs still try to rake off "their share" or to discourage you
>>>or other companies from obtaining products or services, as
>>>described?  What are the hitches? Workarounds?
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>>
>>>I'm thinking this topic stays within the pale of techwr-l because
>>>this industry in particular seems both poised to do it, and likely
>>>to be pushed into it in the near future.
>>>
>>>That is, I see these trends:
>>>
>>>1) convenience and cost (i.e., physical-plant overhead)
>>>    considerations will encourage more remote working arrangements
>>>
>>>2) technology continues to enable greater independence of our
>>>   kind of worker (data medium)
>>>
>>>3) globalization of our host (employing) industries and of their
>>>    markets -- and supplier links -- is also pushing commerce in
>>>    the direction that physical locality of a supplier is
>>>almost immaterial,
>>>
>>>    so long as she speaks the relevant language(s), and is reliable.
>>>
>>> Hm?
>>>
>>>Kevin McLauchlan
>>>kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com    (aka  kevinmcl -at- netrover -dot- com)
>>>Techy writer, duffer skydiver, full-time unrepentant chocoholic


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