[maze-le]

In germany there is a saying: "If you work independently, you are always with one foot in jail". It is not unreasonable either, because I know of accountants and laywers (ie: people who do this all the time) who sometimes get lost in the jungle of regulations and decrees (European, National, Subnational, Communal, Branch of work, Union/Worker-regulations etc.). It is also no uncommon for some regulations, depending on the type of work, to be mutually exclusive.

I live in germany and I am willing to be independent in the mid-term (~ 2-4 years), but I have major doubts about doing it here...

[wobbleblob]

Look across your north western border. Many people, especially in the tech and creative industries, work as freelancers there. As long as you have no employees other than yourself, it is made very easy.

[PythonicAlpha]

When you look over the borders, maybe (can you be a little more specific, btw?). In Germany, being a freelancer can be a big hassle, again! There is currently again a hunt for so called "Scheinselbstaendige" (Fictious-self-employed) and when they catch you (even when you are really self-employed, they just don't agree with you) you can be held liable for it and have to pay huge compensations. It is even worse, because there are different degrees of it and the situation is every time different. So they have different ways to hold you liable for something, you have not done.

Here a link from a German organization of self-employed people that informs about the current situation and what is planned (it is planned to worsen the situation): (sorry, only in German)

http://www.vgsd.de/kampagne-scheinselbststaendigkeit/

The big corporations, of course, which really use different models to betray the social system and their employed people, they have the lawyers and the tricks to come away with it. And again, they are the reason for this hunt ... because they are searching for ways to cut costs -- the state tries to close the holes that make such things possible -- but currently the only people they hurt, are those that are innocent, because the big corporations are always ahead of the game. And additionally I am not sure, if the politicians are really willing to hurt the real big players, because those have so much power -- so they merely show "actionism" and make laws that are ineffective or even hurt innocent people.

At the end (if by intention or just stupidity), they hurt the country ... but we Germans still vote for those people!

[wobbleblob]

I thought north western border was specific enough. It's a smaller, less formal, less regulated copy. The only difficulty I can think of is that you have to prove you worked for more than one customer during a fiscal year if you want to make use of the tax deductions for the self employed.

[PythonicAlpha]

I never was that good in geography. I can only think of the Netherlands or Belgium.

One fiscal year can be very short in the IT sector. In some cases, you need halve a year to get to know the complete topic.

According to the link I have given, at least in Germany the situation is now such, that even when you have more than one customer in a year, you can be accused to be "Scheinselbstaendig". The offices just search for evidence that you might be, but not for evidence that you are not. One such evidence for "Scheinselbstaendigkeit" can be for example small investment needs ... something you typically have in the IT sector as freelancer ...

It seems that the new law in preparation shall codify this practice.

But of course, when the situation is better e.g. in the Netherlands, it could be worthwhile to work there. But (since I already thought about that possibility) would it also be possible to do so without moving there and still earn the benefits?

[maze-le]

Thanks, i'll keep that in mind