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Journalism..
What do we read yesterday in the newspaper? Bruno Lowagie got a message from the RSZV that he has to become independent because of his google ads.
Before every blogger jumps on horses: first check your accountant.
He'll be able to tell you if you need to become independent or not. I checked this with my accountant, and he told me that most of the people will never need to get the statue of independent, as this can be considered as 'side income below a certain amount'.
With an extra income below 1000 euro (which will be often the case for most bloggers) the State will never make a big deal out of it.
This explanation by an accountant is something I am missing in the article from a journalistic/juridic point of view.
Of course it is the duty of the RSZV to tell that one should pay taxes for money you earn, and they certainly won't tell you you shouldn't declare this income. Heck, they are pretty aware of the amount they loose due to eBay, and Google Ads. People who never declare this to the state. (We're certainly talking about of loads and loads of money here. People who gain an extra earning out of buying and selling on eBay.)
But give the impression that every blogger should become independent is certainly misinformation according to me.
Extra sidenote: Bruno Lowagie somewhere talks about 1000 euro/month income of GoogleAds. In one year this means a side income of nearly 15000 euro. Quite logic why the RSZV knocks on his door.
I do understand that this dropped til 120 euro/month now. And that RSZV still accounts him on the income of 3 years ago.
Most of the bloggers will never get more than let's say 1000 euro/year thanks to Enchante or GoogleAds. Others will certainly have to check with an accountant and discover the advantages of being partly independent: buy computers without VAT, put that camera on your expenses, just make sure you don't make too many debts. And you'll see, being independent isn't so bad.
Posted on December 16, 2007
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Comments (3)
Comments
That newspaper is aiming at us lately, don't you think? ;)
Posted by Clopin | December 16, 2007 8:54 PMGreat post! For those who want to react on this article (in Dutch), you might also check out http://standaard.typepad.com/en_nu_even_ernstig/2007/12/zelfstandig-blo.html.
Posted by Kris | December 17, 2007 9:29 AMSomething Ine already discovered :-)
It's also misinformation that these revenues are generated by my blog. From the article it is clear that my blog is 'unimportant'; the revenue is generated by the iText pages.
Posted by Bruno Lowagie | December 18, 2007 9:26 AMI quote: "mijn persoonlijke blog [is] totaal onbelangrijk. Veruit de meeste bezoekers komen om informatie en hulp te krijgen over iText, een gratis programma dat ik geschreven heb en dat pdf-bestanden aanmaakt. Voor iets wat dus over een gratis programma gaat, eentje dat ook door veel overheidsinstanties gebruikt wordt, moet ik nu dus zelfstandige worden."