I hate tax. I hate the concept. But it’s a necessary evil, and I’d rather do it than get deported, so here I go…

Since I started working part-time at this great company downtown, things have been picking up. I work part-time for them, and then I bid on jobs on the web or get work through my website. In the last month I’ve worked fairly hard and earned some great revenue. The next step, when working as a freelancer, is to do a tax declaration. Tax declarations come in many colours and flavours, and I’ve decided to do mine monthly. This means I send my local Finanzamt here in Pankow a notification outlining what I’ve earned and what tax is due on my revenue. In Germany the current MWST (or VAT, value added tax) is 19%. I think it’s outrageous, but hey, I guess they need to pay for a lot of work-shy people in this country.

I’m happy though in spite of that, because I don’t actually have to pay into a lot of the social programs here. I just hand over the tax and I can go and do whatever I want with my earnings, which is the way I like it.

Tip: Check out this program to get a head start on informing yourself about paying your taxes electronically. If it wasn’t for this crappily-produced-but-still-a-life-saver of a program, I would be up to my neck in tax literature, and I would prefer to be up to my neck in broken glass than that.

Also: Taxation is for suckers; only do as much as you need to do, and send the rest to a tax haven!!