Start a company or not Thread poster: Charnette Bank
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I am slowly starting to do what I've dreamt about for years - working with translations and writing in general. However, I have not started my own company yet, since I just wanted to check out if there's actually a chance for me to survive on the income. I just want to take assignments as a private person, and not as a company.
Is that even possible?
Do some of you even do that? And if so, how do you charge your clients? They pay you by simply putting money in your ba... See more I am slowly starting to do what I've dreamt about for years - working with translations and writing in general. However, I have not started my own company yet, since I just wanted to check out if there's actually a chance for me to survive on the income. I just want to take assignments as a private person, and not as a company.
Is that even possible?
Do some of you even do that? And if so, how do you charge your clients? They pay you by simply putting money in your bank account or how? I have a PayPal account, because somebody recommended that I'd use that.
There is also the small hick up with the taxes, I assume the clients from other countries than mine won't pay taxes, but I'll have to figure this one out in some other way.
The plan is to start a company in the future, but not at the moment, since I want to be sure this is something I can support myself on first, as previously stated.
So any help are welcome! Thanks for your time! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not in Sweden | Oct 7, 2012 |
Charnette wrote:
I just want to take assignments as a private person, and not as a company.
Is that even possible?
To be able to invoice clients you need an F-skattesedel. The only way around that is that clients temporarily employ you, which means they have to deduct tax and pay your social fees. Highly unlikely they will agree.
Having an F-skattesedel automatically makes you an "enskild firm" (sole trader).
You also need to register for "moms" (VAT) which kicks in at a pretty low level in Sweden. I'm not sure what the current level is, but if you want to be able to live on your income, you will most definitely exceed it.
I suggest you attend one of the start-up seminars run by Skatteverket.
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 14:00
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Start reading! | Oct 7, 2012 |
Hello Charnette,
Welcome to the world of translating! I see that you've recently paid for membership of ProZ.com, so you can use the site without any restrictions. I think you'll find it really useful to have a good read through the forums, articles and translator Wikis, attend webinars (some are free!) etc., etc.
I'm a little confused about your use of 'private person' and 'company', and your question about the tax situation. I have no idea how anything works in Sweden... See more Hello Charnette,
Welcome to the world of translating! I see that you've recently paid for membership of ProZ.com, so you can use the site without any restrictions. I think you'll find it really useful to have a good read through the forums, articles and translator Wikis, attend webinars (some are free!) etc., etc.
I'm a little confused about your use of 'private person' and 'company', and your question about the tax situation. I have no idea how anything works in Sweden, (I see Madeleine has given some advice on that), so I'll just give a few basics of the way things work in the countries I know. Most of us here are freelancers and as such we are all 'private persons'. Our invoices give our own real names, even if we use trading names for marketing purposes. Few of us set up limited companies - we're self-employed.
But that doesn't mean we're working illegally, not paying taxes etc. (well I'm not, anyway! ) We pay taxes on all our income and social security contributions, etc. I believe all countries recognise the self-employed structure, even if no actual registration is required. When we've done a job for a client, in any country around the world, we invoice them, adding any taxes such as VAT as necessary. They pay by any method we have negotiated with them - bank transfers are the preferred (a.k.a. cheapest) way within the EU, but PayPal, MoneyBookers etc. have their uses. Then we declare the income to the tax authorities, converted into local currency if necessary.
Most people find that the best way to start freelance translating is as a supplement to a full-time or part-time 'day job' - as you say, it's a big step. You most probably won't find it pays all the bills at first. Any freelancer needs to spend time building a client base, so work will be patchy in the first few months. But freelance translating is a perfectly viable proposition on a full-time basis if you have the ability and you really work at it, believe me.
The thing to bear in mind for a happy career is that good quality demands a certain level of pay, and there's a lot of work out there nowadays that clients want done for next to nothing. That's obviously not the way to go if you want to be able to work reasonable hours and maintain a reasonable standard of living, so leave those jobs to the 'hobby' translators and those who'll run the text through Google Translate. Concentrate on doing what you do best, translating into Swedish. Perhaps you could add another couple of source languages as I see from your CV that you have Spanish and German skills, with Japanese coming along. I don't know how much work there is in those pairs, but you'd certainly figure highly in the directory here in Spanish>Swedish, and that's important for getting jobs through ProZ.com.
Of course, quality is something that not all newbie translators can give. Just being able to speak two or more languages doesn't make you a translator. Writing skills in your target language are extremely important, and there are certain skills that translators must learn: how to deal with certain text, such as proper names and acronyms; how free or literal the translation should be; using CAT tools; using office software at a high level; marketing; bookkeeping...
You'll find anwers to lots of your questions are already here on ProZ.com, but feel free to post again with anything specific.
Happy reading and happy translating! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Charnette Bank
Sweden
Local time: 18:30
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you both for your quick reply.
I didn't mean to imply that any of you are working illegally, I just wanted to know if some of you don't have what we in Sweden call an F-skattesedel, and how that works in such cases. I understand now that the company would have to employ me like an employee and pay my social fees etc, which apparantly is not something they would gladly do, so I think the next step for me would be to start my own company anyhow.
I will certainly lo... See more Thank you both for your quick reply.
I didn't mean to imply that any of you are working illegally, I just wanted to know if some of you don't have what we in Sweden call an F-skattesedel, and how that works in such cases. I understand now that the company would have to employ me like an employee and pay my social fees etc, which apparantly is not something they would gladly do, so I think the next step for me would be to start my own company anyhow.
I will certainly look through all the forums here on Proz - there are tons of valuable info for a newbie like me.
I would've liked to attend a seminar in Sweden, however I'm now in Thailand studying thai, but as soon as I get back I'll get right on to it. I didn't realise how much I didn't know about all of this until I found out how much is really out there that I could learn. ▲ Collapse
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In Sweden, an "enskild firma" is in some ways very similar to a UK sole trader. It is regarded as a company, but by its very nature there is only one person involved. And there is no limited liability, so the sole trader is personally liable for all debts - just like a private person.
In both Sweden and the UK, a sole trader pays income tax at the same level as an employee (though in the UK you have to add council tax on top of this just like any adult resident, in Sweden this is in... See more In Sweden, an "enskild firma" is in some ways very similar to a UK sole trader. It is regarded as a company, but by its very nature there is only one person involved. And there is no limited liability, so the sole trader is personally liable for all debts - just like a private person.
In both Sweden and the UK, a sole trader pays income tax at the same level as an employee (though in the UK you have to add council tax on top of this just like any adult resident, in Sweden this is included in your income tax).
The main difference is the social fees. In the UK a sole trader pays NI 2 + 4 and the total actually turns out to be slightly less than the NI 3 (or is that 1?) an employee pays (plus their employer also have to make a not very onerous contribution). In Sweden, employers pay quite hefty social fees which often, as they are mainly pension provisions, are considered as "deferred salary". As a sole trader you are responsible for paying these social fees yourself.
It's a few years since I operated as a sole trader in Sweden, but I think the percentage you have to deduct for income tax and social fees from you net income is somewhere in the region of 58-65%.
The "F-skattesedel" I mentioned in my previous posting is what you need to apply for from the Swedish equiv. of the HMRC (Skatteverket) in order to be able to pay the tax and social fees you owe. The opposite of this is an "A-skattesedel" which is what Swedes have automatically. (F = företag = company, A = anställd = employee). It is similar to having to apply to HMRC for NI 2 + 4.
So yes, as a sole trader you might not have the limited liabilities of a limited company, but you are still considered as a company.
PS. Before anyone falls backwards reading the percentage of net income that a Swedish sole trader has to pay, consider that in the UK I have to pay: income tax, council tax, NI contributions and a quite substantial amount towards a pension (which will most likely turn out to be at a much lower level than I would have received in Sweden). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 14:00
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Seems there are similar setups in Sweden | Oct 8, 2012 |
@Madeleine,
I was always salaried in the UK so I don't have much knowledge of things there, but it's always sounded very easy and relatively inexpensive. Sweden sounds more like France and Spain, where I do have experience. In France there's nowadays a special arrangement for those who don't earn very much (to legitimise some of the many, many illegal traders), and that's very cheap and simple, whereas for others it's very expensive - similar to Sweden. Here in Spain, there's a minimum rat... See more @Madeleine,
I was always salaried in the UK so I don't have much knowledge of things there, but it's always sounded very easy and relatively inexpensive. Sweden sounds more like France and Spain, where I do have experience. In France there's nowadays a special arrangement for those who don't earn very much (to legitimise some of the many, many illegal traders), and that's very cheap and simple, whereas for others it's very expensive - similar to Sweden. Here in Spain, there's a minimum rate for social charges of 250€ per month (which covers me so I don't know about higher rates). That makes it difficult to 'start small' as you could be paying out more than you get in if things don't go well. Don't know too much about paying taxes yet as that experience is still to come but there's a 20% minimum rate.
Charnette wrote: I didn't realise how much I didn't know about all of this until I found out how much is really out there that I could learn.
I think we've all been there and can sympathise, Charnette! Good luck with the Thai, though if you're really set on being a translator do remember that excellence in your source and target languages, and good knowledge of your specialist areas in both/all languages, is the objective. You don't want to be seen as a "Jack of all trades, master of none". ▲ Collapse
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