Can we separate out the phrase "Consultant, freelancer or independent contractor"? It encompasses both experts with deep knowledge in some lucrative niche, as well as wordpress devs on upwork making $5/day. Not to mention "normal" programmers who are indistinguishable from employees, but get paid hourly for some reason (often because they are in another country, but often because they are being taken advantage of).
Many programmers prefer hourly pay over proper employment. As contractor, I can put hardware, my rent, and leisure travel into expenses. Real taxation is 15% versus 45%. I can have multiple clients...
Not really. I can visit conferences, apply for new gigs, market research... There are limits, but if you are not greedy, it is perfectly fine. Bringing gf, renting cars, beach stay... would ruin it.
It varies by trip but if I take a business trip somewhere interesting I'll routinely tack on some personal time. But, even if I'm not adding days, I'll try to make a little time to explore a place.
I’m surprised you’re able to expense your rent, but otherwise I agree. I like being free to arrange my schedule how I like. I’ve traveled almost 3 months out of 7 this year, take long weekends to go diving, etc. When I was W-2, even when I ostensibly had unlimited PTO it always felt like I was begging for my own time.
In Canada there is some complicated formula for how much you can expense rent, based on the floor size of your office compared to that of the living space in your home and how much you use it for working etc.
When my partner applied for it, it ended up being a ridiculously small amount.
My accountant in the US always recommended against it because it is a red flag. And, yeah, it would be one room in my house and not dedicated for work purposes so it wouldn't be a big deduction. When I had a part-time software business it made more sense to just find reasonable deductions I could offset against my revenues.
Technically I still live with my parents, but one of my clients requires me to maintain office 300km away. There is no trick, I asked at tax office if that would be OK.
Including "consultant" in this list muddies the waters very badly. Freelancing and independent contracting are forms of entrepreneurship, whereas consulting is often (not always) a form of traditional employment where a regular company gives you a regular paycheque.
