Being a freelance writer myself, I started reading this article today and made me think about being here in Poland:
@kerisavoca/what-i-learned-from-launching-a-freelance-writing-business-6899da99fb9a
The way he made earning $3k seem low because in new York it costs 2k just to rent an apartment for a second made me glad I am here and made me glad even in Warsaw I am paying only about 600 dollars for a flat. Thus, those rates are good here. However, he mentioned all these drawbacks like taxes which I have been forcing myself not to think about and hope everything can be done incognito or under the table. However, who knows.
The big problem with Poland and the Polish govt is the dzialalnosc crap. They don't have a system in the US like just filing 1080 forms in April. So I had some gigs that I lost for a couple of months where these companies, although foreign based, paid me and I signed some sort of foreign contractor form and I do not think they will send them to the Polish government? I think it is mostly for their own record keeping as I had not set up any sort of dzialalnosc or talked to an accountants or feel like doing this/have time for it. Especially since I lost those gigs anyway so why would I set up a dzialalnosc or small business to mention positions I lost in a dynamic field where you have one client one minute and someone completely diff the next that may not even require any sort of form like w9?
I also started thinking that maybe I should have put fake name and address on the forms I sign in the future to be really safe? Or again, it seems like the amount I made was too small for the Polish govt to care and mostly they are for those companies own record keeping in their countries like the UK? I am not trying to defraud the Polish govt, but setting up some sort of dzialalnosc just seems like a super stressful hassle. I would much rather just pay them in the end of the year like in the US with the 1080 forms if I have to. But like Trump I believe in paying as little as possible or none at all if possible (like he basically does) taxes to the govt as govt is inefficient with funds and will not do with the money what I or Trump would want anyway.
Again I am considering setting something like this up but why cant this govt just offer something like 1080 forms at the end of the year? I know they have umowa na dzielo but how do you even file that since there are no 1080 forms? And foreign companies can do that as well? Send umowa na dzielo paperwork? It just seems insane here. Hopefully like I said since I lost those clients and never made much more than enough to live by with my daily drinking (just cheap beer) and martial arts/gym/some travel expenses etc. that were covered.
I meant he or she who wrote that article. I also had this Turkish guy once who found me on LinkedIn who asked me if I am capable of creating official invoices and would not hire me. Most people in the US do not care about invoices just paypal invoice is fine so I found this also strange. It seems like a completely loony town or different world here than the US.
It shouldn't be difficult since so many employers in Poland take advantage of the system by hiring workers on temporary basis and then renewing the contract every 6 or 12 months. Everybody knows it is scam, but the job market still favors employers as opposed to employees. As long as the cheap labour from Ukraine is allowed to enter and work in Poland, nothing is going to change.
