So, I’ve been working 100% freelance for over 5 years, and 30% for about 15. More and more Americans are trying to strike out on their own, and this base is going to grow and keep growing. You know why? Because it’s not fucking 1955 anymore, and 70% of the jobs out there can be done with an internet connection in your fucking living room.
You want to create jobs? Well, here we are… Paying taxes up our assholes, while what’s left of our income goes to a joke that’s called “health insurance”, but smells more like butt-rape.
But no… let’s give the tax breaks to corporations who are taking advantage of and overworking their employees, while the execs at the top buy another yacht through more loopholes, and smoke their cigars while they figure out how to out-source more labor to other countries so they can lay-off a few dozen more employees.
Corporations don’t need more money. They need less, shitty-ass products. Put the wealth back where it belongs, to the hard-working class – and contract some of that shit out to us freelancers who do kickass work. Oh – wait – you can’t, because we can’t afford the taxes and overhead, which in turn makes our rates non-competitive. And we’re all sick or dying thanks to the fucking retards who cock-blocked healthcare reform.
Fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck everyone in DC to hell and back. And thanks America for being so damned paralyzed by your stupid ideals, spite and compromise that nothing worth shit gets solved in any competent manner.
Now, where’s the damn Tylenol that barely does shit…
Because that’s what I want to be, another tumor on the taint of the Republican agenda.
Besides, I’m a sole contractor. It’s not like I’m going to create a corporate empire and go public on the NYSE. I’m a hired gun for agencies and studios, and that’s the way I like it. And there’s plenty more where I came from, in many diverse fields of business. The corporate model is a relic.
If I’m going to be rich, it’s because I work my damn-fool ass off. It’d be nice to see the IRS tax where the actual money is for a change.
Here is your problem right here. You are doing something the way you want to, yet bitching because someone else won’t help you do it. Whether corporations are getting tax incentives is neither here nor there.
I mean, I get what you’re saying and your general complaint against the system. . . but if you’re making enough money, it’s incredibly foolish for you to not be incorporated. I’m far from your business or financial adviser or anything, but you definitely might want to look into talking about this with yours. The reality is that this system probably wont be changing for a minute, so it would definitely be in your best interest to look out for number one, if you know what I’m sayin’.
And corporation != publicly traded company on the NYSE or even a fledgling empire. Far from it- I don’t know any hard stats on the matter, but I’m willing to bet that most US corporations are one person, two at most (and usually husband and wife, at that).
I mean, if you want to continue paying an additional tax when you don’t really have to, be my guest. Just offering an alternative to consider.
I’m an LLC if it makes any difference. And I only earn what I might make at a higher-paid salary job for my line of work. I’m just frustrated when the system is so stacked against this sort of “employment”, that I find myself actually dissuading friends or others who want to break the corporate shackles.
We live in a country where the only solid way to get health insurance is by working for a corporation? How fucked up is that?
I know that this is your rant, and it’s in the Pit so it’s not entirely supposed to be supported by facts and stuff but…
Since when is the only way to get insurance, is to work for a corporation? Are there not hundreds, maybe thousands, of affinity-style groups that band together to be able to offer group rates, of a sort? Everyone from ex-military to realtors to records managers has opportunity for group rates, if they join the appropriate organization.
Now, maybe you’re seeing the true cost of insurance, not hidden through some corporate subsidy, and that’s what got you steamed. Fair enough, but like you said, you chose this career path. That means the good and the bad. Technically, you’re making exactly the compensation you deserve, including health benefits, so to speak.
It doesn’t have to be diabetes, any illness is going to make buying insurance more expensive. Some (most?) companies will not offer you coverage at all if you have a pre-existing condition.
I have a daughter who has some very expensive mental health issues. Finding decent coverage for this is damn near impossible in my state for some reason. Without getting into the ugly details of a horrible year of picking up a contract job which got me benefits – the biz went under, everyone lost their jobs, and we went on COBRA for as long as my reserves would hold out, until we had to let that lapse. Now that my freelance is getting back on track, we’re seeking health insurance again.
Now, all our pre-existing conditions, and my daughter’s issues will rear their ugly heads, and well… I just think that’s peaches!
No matter what health insurance options are out there, it’s all usually a 70/30, with a steep deductible and monthly bill that makes taking my chances for a year or two without look tempting.
I did choose this career, and this mode of employment. It’s natural to me, there’s no commute, I can see my family and work when I need, as I need. And so will plenty of others, because it makes a ton of sense for a large sector of the working force today.
But the government is propping up these cardboard companies with tax incentives when it could and should be the other way around. Support the little guys, not the huge fat cats.
This rant isn’t necessarily all about health insurance. It’s about the whole picture of self-employment. The cards are so stacked against anyone who gets a dozen or more 1099s a year, that supporting a family of four is far more difficult than getting a corporate-cog job somewhere.
It’s fucking lame. And after what happened with my last corporate gig, and my last on-site contract gig, I’m not going to work for some asshat that’s only looking out for his own neck anymore. It’s a system that takes advantage, and I’ll have no part in it, if I can help it. But hey, let’s give these dicks all the incentives and breaks they can get, so they can screw us over more.
Fuck you corporate america. Fuck you DC. And fuck the private health insurance industry.
Damn skippy I’m going to work and live the way want to, but I don’t have much of a choice in how I, or anyone else are taxed (including corporations, cuz hey! Theyre people too!). It’s a fucking joke, which is no news, but I see how slowly the wheels of government turn, and there’s really no end to the stupidity in sight.
If I’m to be bitching about anything, it’s that the IRS is helping the people who don’t need help.
Do you need the write offs you get for having children? I too don’t have much of a choice in how I am taxed and I’d sure like to be able to deduct my dependents, but the IRS seems to feel that only those who continue to jack up the human population are worthy of that.
I just don’t have much sympathy for someone who has made a choice that he knows isn’t going to go well in some ways, and then bitches about it. It didn’t thrill me to have to work for corporate America for almost 40 years, but yeah I’ve got plenty of pre-existing conditions, plus I thought a regular consistent paycheck was important so I dealt with it. You want to work for yourself, great, but I don’t see how that translates into the government (ie the taxpayer) helping you out with it.
Are you applying for insurance through a business contract or a personal contract? I have discussed this issue at length with my insurance sales-people friends (since I had a lapse in insurance and got denied personally bc of that) and they all basically agree that insurance companies generally don’t deny business contracts, even if family members that will be insured have hefty preexisting conditions. Do it through your corp, assuming you haven’t.
Only if he set himself up the wrong kind of corporation-- if he did an S-Election for his LLC (which means it acts like an S Corporation), then the corporation itself doesn’t get taxed. An S Corporation is a pass through entity, meaning that the profit is distributed to the shareholders (via Form K1) and put on their 1040s. Unlike (most?) 1099 income, K1 income is (generally) not subject to self employment tax and, as such, having an S Corp can save a business owner or contractor a good chunk o’ money each year. Again though, this is all dependent on properly structured corporations, there are tons of factors involved here, blah blah blah boring tax stuff, talk to your own tax professional for specific information.
An S Corp allows you to take some distributions via mechanisms other than “salary” thus bypassing self-employment tax on some distributions. However, electing this status prevents you from exercising certain other options.
From our perspective (I am a shareholder in an LLC) the control we would have lost exercising this option far outweighed the few thousand we could have saved. The most significant controls we would have lost were:
[ul]
[li]how we distributed our profits (in an S Corp profits are distributed based on ownership after salary - which must pass a smell test)[/li][li]who/what can be a shareholder[/li][li]the ability to take investments (an S Corp will not allow an outside investment preventing the possibility of structuring activities in a manner that might result in favorable tax treatments down the road)[/li][/ul]
S Corps and LLCs are pass-throughs.