freelance writer

I have been a freelance writer for more than a couple of years now. I work for a foreign company in India and another client from the US. We've been together for more than a couple of years and believe it or not I have permanent position in their company. However. I still am a freelance writer. I don't pay taxes, I pay for my philhealth and other benefits I can pay for by myself but I do want to start paying my taxes because I have plans to make a housing loan in the future. I don't get an ITR for the past 2 years, well obviously because I don't pay my taxes. BIR staff, well they are completely uninformed about people like me. I don't need a business registration because I operate at home and requires nothing but my computer and my speedy internet. And is completely not running my own business. Or am I? I cannot compute my average income since I'm being paid per project. The project price varies all the time.

How do I pay may taxes? What do I apply for? I've been researching online so far I only found people like me, looking for ways to pay taxes. There are no clear answers. All i see are freelancers complaining how idiotic the BIR staffs are. Please help. I do want to pay them and be considered a lawful citizen. Please help.

i would consider you self-employed. you'd have to register at BIR and get your own receipts. you should register as 0% VAT because your income is in foreign currency. retain income reports in foreign currency also.

the good news is that you can deduct 40% as a standard deduction for expenses.

income returns are quarterly and annually. monthly vat reports. welcome to tax compliance.