Guides
Short, practical guides, each paired with the calculator that does the math.
- Plan a freelance slow season with runway math Model a $3,000 monthly cash burn, see how long $12,000 lasts, and set a trigger for cutting costs before a dry spell empties the account.
- Freelance taxes in multiple states: start with source A client in another state does not settle the filing question. California and New York source freelance service income differently.
- Invoice mistakes that delay freelance payment Five checks before sending an invoice: scope, totals, due date, approval contact, and payment details. Includes a $2,000 worked example.
- Net 30 for freelancers: the cash-flow cost A $5,000 invoice on net 30 costs $73.97 at an 18% annual funding rate. See when a deposit or shorter term matters more than a discount.
- Price a productized service without losing the margin A repeatable $2,000 service still needs a scope limit. Model delivery hours, revisions, and overruns before putting a fixed price on the page.
- Should you charge for discovery calls? Use call length, conversion rate, and your hourly floor to decide when a free introduction becomes paid diagnostic work.
- Declaring Revolut in Spain: what still applies Revolut's Spanish branch issues ES IBANs, so the account is no longer foreign. What still applies: tax on interest and gains, plus forms 720 and 721.
- Declaring Trade Republic in Spain: check your IBAN first Trade Republic's Spanish branch issues ES IBANs, and the DGT confirmed those accounts are exempt from forms 720 and 721. What changes and what does not.
- Deposits that protect you (and the clients who balk at them) Why the deposit is a filter before it is cash flow, what percent to ask for, and how to structure milestones so neither side finances the other.
- 1099-B, 1099-DA and Form 8949: reporting investment sales Broker sale to tax return: what the 1099-B and new 1099-DA report, how lots land on Form 8949, and where Schedule D totals it.
- How to check a US broker before opening an account The free official lookups: FINRA BrokerCheck for brokers, the SEC adviser search, investor.gov for both, and the red flags the regulators list.
- LLC vs sole proprietorship: what changes for freelancers The tax bill does not move, the liability wall might, and the state fee is real. What an LLC does and does not do for a one-person business.
- Making Tax Digital, explained without the sales pitch Who MTD for Income Tax catches from April 2026, what quarterly updates involve, and why the tax you pay does not change.
- Payments on account: why January costs one and a half bills The Self Assessment advance-payment system with numbers: who owes it, why the first year hurts double, how to reduce it and where July fits.
- Platform fees in 2026: what the numbers actually say We verified the published cuts of Upwork, Fiverr, Stripe, PayPal, and Square in September 2026. The spread is wider than most freelancers think, and it compounds.
- Salary or dividends after the 2026/27 rise: the answer moved Dividend tax rose two points in April 2026, and most comparisons predate it. Where sole trader vs company lands now, and when the company still wins.
- Scottish income tax for the self-employed: the real line Six bands instead of three, a crossover near 33,500 and a painful gap above 43,662. What changes for a Scottish freelancer, and what stays UK-wide.
- Sole trader or limited company: beyond the tax math The 2026/27 numbers weakened the tax case for incorporating. The real decision: liability, admin weight, client demands, pensions and selling one day.
- How to check if a platform is authorised in Spain The three CNMV steps before any money moves: search the official registers, cross-check the warnings list, and spot the boiler-room signals.
- The corporate-partner freelancer in Spain, explained What a corporate-partner freelancer is, when the status is mandatory, the 2026 quota floor, how you pay yourself, and the classic classification mistakes.
- Crypto taxes in Spain: rates and form 721 Selling, swapping and staking are taxed in the savings base at 19-30%; form 721 reports foreign-custodied crypto over 50,000 euros, paying nothing.
- Foreign brokers from Spain: which obligations trigger Using a foreign broker from Spain changes who does the work, not the tax: no Spanish withholding, form 720 above 50,000, treaty dividends, no more D-6.
- The Spanish freelance invoice: withholding and VAT Anatomy of a Spanish professional invoice: the base, VAT (or IGIC), the 15% or 7% withholding, and why the invoice total is not what you collect.
- Freelance rates in Spain: a rate that survives the quota Why the rate you copied from a salary ruins you, how to compute the real floor with the Social Security quota and income tax inside, and when to say no.
- Registering as self-employed in Spain, step by step The right order: tax office before Social Security, which 036 boxes matter, how the 80-euro flat rate works, and what to set aside from invoice one.
- Freelancer or SL in Spain: when switching is real The 25% myth, the 2026 corporate-partner floor that changed the math, and the one reason an SL truly wins: leaving profit inside to reinvest.
- Holding companies in Spain: what is real and what is hype What a holding company does, who the dividend exemption serves, and why the holding sold on Instagram does not apply to you.
- When a Spanish SL makes sense: signals and costs Beyond the tax comparison: what an SL really costs to keep alive, the obligations it brings, and the five signals the moment has arrived (or has not).
- Verifactu: the real dates and what to do Spain's invoicing-software mandate after the second delay: January and July 2027, what it requires, and where invoice generators stand.
- The wash sale rule: the 61-day window that eats losses Sell at a loss, rebuy within 30 days either side, and the loss defers into the new basis. How the window works and why direct crypto stays exempt in 2026.
- 1099 vs W-2: the real take-home math Why dividing a salary by 2,080 hours is a trap, what employer benefits are worth in dollars, and the conversion in both directions.
- Does an S-corp actually save you money? The payroll-tax math behind the S-corp pitch, the profit level where it starts paying, and the costs the YouTube gurus skip.
- Freelance taxes: what to set aside from every invoice The real math behind the 30% rule, how quarterly payments work, and the safe-harbor trick that makes penalties impossible.
- How many billable hours are in a year? Fewer than you think The arithmetic from 2,080 theoretical hours down to the 1,100 to 1,300 a real freelancer sells, and why every rate depends on it.
- How to handle scope creep without losing the client Where creep starts, the one-sentence reflex that stops it, and what absorbing free work costs per year.
- How to set your freelance rate (without guessing) A working method for pricing your work: cost floor, market ceiling, and the number you quote. With the math shown.
- Invoice like a professional (and get paid faster) What belongs on a freelance invoice, the terms that change payment behavior, and the follow-up cadence that works without burning bridges.
- Late fees that actually get invoices paid Why the late fee's job is behavior, not revenue: the standard rates, the clause that makes it enforceable, and the escalation that works.
- Retainer vs hourly: which one wins, and when What a retainer really sells, how to price the discount, and the three contract lines that keep reserved hours from becoming unlimited work.
- Solo 401(k) vs SEP-IRA: which shelters more The 2025 and 2026 contribution math for both plans, why the solo 401(k) usually wins below six figures, and the December deadline that catches everyone.
