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German court bars translators from outsourcing if they run a freelance business

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Nor Afizah
Nor Afizah
Maleisië
Local time: 04:52
Engels naar Maleis
Phew Jul 17, 2017

Luckily i was not born in Germany!
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:52
Duits naar Engels
+ ...
misleading title? Jul 18, 2017

The impression I got when reading the title alone is not what I understood after reading the article.
 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
Verenigde Staten
Local time: 16:52
Lid 2002
Engels naar Hongaars
+ ...
Perfectly fair, IMHO Jul 18, 2017

The title of the article is misleading. This is not a new law, the court simply enforced the existing rule. The article explains that there are certain tax advantages offered to freelancers who limit their activities in a manner as prescribed by the tax law. If you go beyond those limited activities, you no longer qualify for that tax benefit, and will have to pay taxes as any other business. These people got caught in an audit, and now they have to pay back taxes for the years they operated "ou... See more
The title of the article is misleading. This is not a new law, the court simply enforced the existing rule. The article explains that there are certain tax advantages offered to freelancers who limit their activities in a manner as prescribed by the tax law. If you go beyond those limited activities, you no longer qualify for that tax benefit, and will have to pay taxes as any other business. These people got caught in an audit, and now they have to pay back taxes for the years they operated "out of scope". ▲ Collapse
 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Duitsland
Local time: 22:52
Lid 2016
Engels naar Duits
... Jul 18, 2017

Luckily, I was born in Germany.
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:52
Lid 2007
Engels naar Portugees
+ ...
One cannot have it both ways... Jul 18, 2017

Or as the French say "on ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre"...
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Nederland
Local time: 22:52
Lid 2006
Engels naar Afrikaans
+ ...
Yes, title is very misleading Jul 18, 2017

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:
The title of the article is misleading. ... The article explains that there are certain tax advantages offered to freelancers who limit their activities in a manner as prescribed by the tax law.


If I understand correctly, what sunk the pair of freelancers was the fact that they outsourced in languages that they themselves did not understand. This meant that they had no skilled involvement in jobs in those languages. If they had limited themselves to languages that they understand, then it appears that they might have been able to argue successfully that since the final quality is ensured by them, they're not outsourcing whole jobs but only parts of the job, which would have been acceptable. Is that right, Katalin?

So if I understand correctly, if a client wants a text translated into both German and Russian, and you can't speak Russian and you then outsource the Russian translation, then that translation isn't considered "part of the job of translating into German and Russian" but rather "a separate job of translating into Russian".
 
Michael Wetzel
Michael Wetzel  Identity Verified
Duitsland
Local time: 22:52
Duits naar Engels
Jul 18, 2017



[Edited at 2017-07-18 08:34 GMT]
 


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German court bars translators from outsourcing if they run a freelance business







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