Independent in Romania
Thread poster: Astrid C
Astrid C
Astrid C  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 12:28
English to Romanian
+ ...
Jun 15, 2001

I am a freelance living in Romania and I am wondering what kind of taxation is applied for working with foreign clients through the Internet and especially, what payment method should I use that is convenient for both my clients and me?

Can anyone advise me on this?

Thank you!


 
LegalTrans D
LegalTrans D  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...
Jun 19, 2001

Astrid,



first and foremost, good luck!



About tax matters: since you perform your work in Romania, Romanian tax laws apply as far as your income is concerned, regardless of whether your client is located in Romania or elsewhere. What the government does is simply take its share of your income as it would from any employee. The tax rate may be different from the tax rate applied to an employee\'s income, although I\'ve found that in most countries it is th
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Astrid,



first and foremost, good luck!



About tax matters: since you perform your work in Romania, Romanian tax laws apply as far as your income is concerned, regardless of whether your client is located in Romania or elsewhere. What the government does is simply take its share of your income as it would from any employee. The tax rate may be different from the tax rate applied to an employee\'s income, although I\'ve found that in most countries it is the same. Your local tax office or, better yet, a tax counselor can give you the advice you need.

VAT (Value added tax): Generally, you shouldn\'t have to charge VAT to clients residing abroad, unless the Romanian tax law says something different (it would be unusual if you had to charge VAT, but I know of cases in other countries where VAT was indeed applicable for services rendered to forein clients). Again, the tax office can advise you (they might also get nosey about what you are doing).

Payment: I\'ve found cheques to be the most convenient method of payment, and also the cheapest. Transfers seem to take ages; every bank along the way wants to play around with your cash while they have it, and the charges are usually higher than the charges for cheques. You should be aware, though, that your bank may not credit a cheque to your account straight away; they will want to clear it with the issuing bank first to make sure it is covered. My experience is that this takes between 4 to 10 days.

Your best bet would be to open an account with a Romanian bank, but in the currency that you usually get paid in (Dollars or Euros). In that case, you would need to take out only the cash you require and thus avoid extra charges. Your second best bet would be to open an account with a bank, say, inside the EU, that you can administer through home banking (be sure their home banking understands English). The drawback with this solution is that normally they won\'t let you make transfers abroad through homebanking. You would have to give them a written order. There may be English banks in Romania that will open an account for you in their foreign (= English) branches.



Beware of banks! They are very ingenious about inventing charges. This is why it sometimes might pay off to collect smaller amounts of money in a bank account in the country that you usually do your work for, and then transfer a lumpsum to your account in Romania. Whatever you do, ask them to detail the charges you will have to pay. That way, you will be able to make an intelligent decision.



Good luck again!







Quote:


On 2001-06-15 02:10, Astrid C wrote:

I am a freelance living in Romania and I am wondering what kind of taxation is applied for working with foreign clients through the Internet and especially, what payment method should I use that is convenient for both my clients and me?

Can anyone advise me on this?

Thank you!


[addsig] ▲ Collapse


 
Boonpak
Boonpak
Local time: 17:28
English to Thai
+ ...
Jun 29, 2001

Why don\'t use Western Union ?

 
Astrid C
Astrid C  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 12:28
English to Romanian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Jul 1, 2001

Thank you both for your answers! Western Union seems a great idea, but on their www site they say that for a bill of , say, 200 US dollars, their fee would be 22 dollars. Is that not too high for a client to pay?



Best regards to all ProZ!

Astrid


 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:28
French to English
Jul 4, 2001

Within the European Community, AVOID cheques from clients from other member countries and OPT FOR INTER-BANK TRANSFERS every time you can.



France is particularly slow, taking up to three weeks to credit a cheque debited from the UK account two weeks beforehand.



Example : a cheque for £750 took three and a half weeks to be credited to my acount in France, although my UK client\'s account had been debited within a matter of days and cost me over £40 in
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Within the European Community, AVOID cheques from clients from other member countries and OPT FOR INTER-BANK TRANSFERS every time you can.



France is particularly slow, taking up to three weeks to credit a cheque debited from the UK account two weeks beforehand.



Example : a cheque for £750 took three and a half weeks to be credited to my acount in France, although my UK client\'s account had been debited within a matter of days and cost me over £40 in bank charges. (An interbank transfer of the same amount took roughly 5 days and cost just over £10).



France also has this horrendous thing of date de valeur\" where a cheque issued on 3rd of the month will be debited on 31st of the previous month or the 1st for example (ie :retrospectively). Likewise, when sums are credited to your account, they can take up to 5 days to be available. Who does what with your dosh during these few days???
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eurotransl (X)
eurotransl (X)
German to English
+ ...
Jul 5, 2001

I can only speak for Canada: my bank accepts all cheques (DM, EURO, £, US$, ....) - and they credit my account within a couple of days, at NO CHARGE!

 


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