| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Payment from client in Europe when living in the US Thread poster: Alexander Hartmann
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Peter Leeflang 
United States
Local time: 16:49
Member (2014)
French to English
+ ...
| US bank but accept European customers gladly | Apr 29, 2016 |
My experience as a US translator is different.
1) I have a US bank account with a medium sized bank that does not have its own Swift/Bic but uses a corresponding bank instead.
2) I require payment in US $ and all fees by sender.
3) The only thing I get charged in the USA is $15-20 per transaction. That is better than Paypal which usually would end up costing me 50-70 per same transaction.
4) The payment takes no more than 2-4 days to get to me.
5) With Paypal... See more My experience as a US translator is different.
1) I have a US bank account with a medium sized bank that does not have its own Swift/Bic but uses a corresponding bank instead.
2) I require payment in US $ and all fees by sender.
3) The only thing I get charged in the USA is $15-20 per transaction. That is better than Paypal which usually would end up costing me 50-70 per same transaction.
4) The payment takes no more than 2-4 days to get to me.
5) With Paypal I had horrific experiences before that a foreign echeck would still not be cleared after 11 days. It also can put a hold on one's money randomly for weeks.
6) Paypal I only use for small amounts. By the way, I do not get teh comment below that o e can ony take out $ 300 a week or that it costs 7%. Both are untrue.
7) I LOVE having European customers since they often bring much more volumen work and in greater quantities.
8) Sole question mark right now is the fact that the Euro gained considerable strength against the dollar. It makes me wonder if I should not have a European Euro account (I could), but I am not sure of the tax implications if I have one. It seems one would then have to charge European VAT, report income there etc.
9) Tried using Transferwise which is less costly than Paypal or Swift, but it turns out they are not ready for prime time as they required identification that shows I have a business license. This registering of a business is quite common in Europe, even if one is just a free lancer, but it is not in the USA.
10) Now I am wondering also if Bitcoin may be a good payment option to offer to avoid many of these issues. It is gradually maturing. Quite some banks already offer it, in Europe as well as the USA, even some bigger ones. It will be interesting to see how some of you feel about Bitcoin.
ps Tried Skrill. They messed up my application big time and I lost money on them. Their responses and/or lack thereof where such that I gave up on them. They are not reliable.
JL01 wrote:
Me, I am not accepting European clients, because wire transfers take forever to be credited to my account (forever = several weeks) and, usually, achieving that requires tedious and time-consuming investigation to figure out where the transfer is hanging. Then, both banks take their cuts (my bank, a huge US-based subper bank, siphons off $50 from international wire transfers).
PayPal sucks up 7% banking charges AND won't let me transfer more than $300/week into my checking account, since I don't have a PayPal credit card.
So, yes, in effect, I am boycotting European businesses.
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[Edited at 2016-04-29 16:47 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-04-29 16:48 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-04-29 16:51 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-04-29 16:52 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 22:49
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Peter Leeflang wrote:
8) Sole question mark right now is the fact that the Euro gained considerable strength against the dollar. It makes me wonder if I should not have a European Euro account (I could), but I am not sure of the tax implications if I have one. It seems one would then have to charge European VAT, report income there etc.
What advantage would you have if you had a EUR account in Europe? Would you then withdraw your EUR into USD via an ATM (and what would it cost you to do so)?
9) Tried using Transferwise which is less costly than Paypal or Swift, but it turns out they ... required identification that shows I have a business license.
According to their web site, if you're a sole trader, you only need to provide proof of ID and proof of address.
https://transferwise.com/help/article/1662919/verification/verify-your-business#/Sole
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:49
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Peter Leeflang wrote:
It makes me wonder if I should not have a European Euro account (I could), but I am not sure of the tax implications if I have one. It seems one would then have to charge European VAT, report income there etc.
I really don't think it matters where your money gets paid into. You aren't going to be setting up a business in Europe. You'd have to declare it as business income in the US, of course, and you'd probably need to let the US authorities have the bank details. When I was taxed in France I had to tell them about my UK bank details but the Spanish only need to know about my UK and FR accounts if they go above some rather large amount and, as they're both current (US=checking?) accounts, that isn't likely to happen.
I don't know the details, but I think it's only necessary for non-EU companies to have an EU VAT number if (a) they're big, (b) a certain percentage of their income is generated in the EU, and (c) a substantial part of that income comes from EU-based private individuals. That's why ProZ.com, an American company, has an EU VAT number.
| | | | Peter Leeflang
United States
Local time: 16:49
Member (2014)
French to English
+ ...
| Direct deposits are used by most US companies now not just large ones, but even small ones | Apr 30, 2016 |
Incorrect. I ran my own small company for 9 years in the USA and has 10 people on my payroll at one time. Vor a mere $15 a month I had an online payroll service that took care of direct deposits as well. However, nowadays most US banks offer even free direct deposit to individuals. Most of it thanks to a company called Dwolla which sort of blew up the old direct deposit system and has replaced it at many banks. They charge 25 cents per transaction regardless of the amount. I alsoo use them direc... See more Incorrect. I ran my own small company for 9 years in the USA and has 10 people on my payroll at one time. Vor a mere $15 a month I had an online payroll service that took care of direct deposits as well. However, nowadays most US banks offer even free direct deposit to individuals. Most of it thanks to a company called Dwolla which sort of blew up the old direct deposit system and has replaced it at many banks. They charge 25 cents per transaction regardless of the amount. I alsoo use them directly, but one can often use their service unknowingly at one's own bank.
Checks are on the way out. I even encourage my own US customers to pay electronically into my bank account.
Samuel Murray wrote:
Yes, but those are "direct deposits", and in the US (if I understand correctly), direct deposits is only an option for large companies making payments to a large number of people, due to the complexity of setting it up. It is not used by ordinary people to make occasional payments.
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