Accounting for 'Upwork' and other such sites

Fukuyama

I had a client recently insist on doing everything through Upwork. And I've since gotten a few other jobs on the site after signing up.

However it's a bit confusing when it comes to the old bookkeeping.

Firstly, it's all in USD. I can handle this by recording the transactions in EUR based on the day of sale's FX rate as per the Central Bank site. Here's where thing get complex:

The invoice I download from Upwork has the clients details on it. So I record multiple invoices in BulletHQ for a few jobs throughout the month. Once each is paid into an online Upwork Balance, they (UW) deduct 20%(:eek:) as their fee. So throughout the month my UW balance rises and on the final day it automatically empties out into my Irish bank account.

On top of all that - I'm VAT registered. I need to collect tax details from my customers (outside Ireland/EU) to not charge VAT. I can only really get their upwork details (name, state) and not much else.

Anyone know how to do the books for this mess?

• Multiple USD invoices
• Single Payment (less fees) from third party
• VAT

Cheers,
Dean

jacksn

I use Upwork in the other direction, I hire freelancers for jobs. Some I would use ongoing every month.

They dont make it easy thats for sure! same as Facebook, adwords, twitter ads - all incredibly difficult to get a simple invoice!

All i do is manually add my Upwork invoice every month for the Euro equivalent and the bill name is account payable is "Upwork" with all Upwork's information

theres no vat on the bills sent to me so i just put it through as no vat paid or collected

Fukuyama

jacksn wrote: »

I use Upwork in the other direction, I hire freelancers for jobs. Some I would use ongoing every month.

They dont make it easy thats for sure! same as Facebook, adwords, twitter ads - all incredibly difficult to get a simple invoice!

All i do is manually add my Upwork invoice every month for the Euro equivalent and the bill name is account payable is "Upwork" with all Upwork's information

theres no vat on the bills sent to me so i just put it through as no vat paid or collected

Thanks jacksn!

Yes - as a platform that bills itself as a great outsourcing/small-biz site they do make it difficult to keep up with your obligations as a business!

Anyways I think I might adopt a similar strategy as yours. Treat UpWork the man in the middle.

Anyways - it'll likely not be much bother in the future. The whole site seems like one big race to the bottom in terms of quality and price. I much prefer establishing relationships with clients and continually working on their sites, app, software etc...

Cheers,
Dean

jacksn

Fukuyama wrote: »

Thanks jacksn!

Yes - as a platform that bills itself as a great outsourcing/small-biz site they do make it difficult to keep up with your obligations as a business!

Anyways I think I might adopt a similar strategy as yours. Treat UpWork the man in the middle.

Anyways - it'll likely not be much bother in the future. The whole site seems like one big race to the bottom in terms of quality and price. I much prefer establishing relationships with clients and continually working on their sites, app, software etc...

Cheers,
Dean

Exactly, Upwork is the company who bill me and who I pay so everything goes through them, my accountant is fine about it.

I hear ya, Upwork can be a dark corner but I have 3 specific contractors located offshore and we have been working together since the old Elance days for 6+years so they continue using the same system for hours and payments..even after all the time of working together - even me travelling to their country to meet them in person, they still use Upwork and I can see the risk on their side, makes no odds to me but they lose 10%+fees etc. I've never hired anyone off it beyond the contractors I use.