I hope she has too, Paula. That’s crazy! Introduce her to Freecycle. She can be picky with strangers. And she’d be doing people a favor helping them get rid of things they don’t want.

That’s it? Wow. Some people get so stuck in their paperwork! Yes, that should be ridiculously simple.

And hard = impossible. I wrote during her naptime. 🙂

Oh my that must have been hard with a one-year-old! I remember trying to get some work done with my son here and it just did not work out. LOL I was really lucky and actually back tracked to part-time until my son went to school this year.

So, to answer your question, the U.S. and Canada have a tax treaty. I just fill out a different IRS form and don’t get money withheld. At the end of the year I square things up with the Canadian government. It’s actually really simple. I just think some clients are hesitant because they don’t know the rules so they get nervous when I can’t fill out a W-9.

Krista, yes. You are living proof! Truth is I know a writer who worked (and may still work) from BC and her clients never knew. She had the benefit of a US-based bank account and a relative who would transfer her money to her Canadian-based account.

Do the tax rules apply to foreign clients?

You are right — if the questions are lazy, that’s a warning that the ship is sinking before it embarks. I love too that you’ve nailed exactly the attitude about freelancing to outsiders. It is NOT easy, and they quickly figure that out. It’s building a business from scratch, then maintaining it.

Oh, I started very part time at freelancing when my daughter was one and my son was six? Good for you to have been established. That’s the reason I was very part time — kids. 🙂