Act of Acceptance - Belarus

[a_adzinets]

Hi,

I'd like to withdraw my earnings to Belarus, but it needs some paperwork.

I was told that "Upwork has standard acceptance act form and signs it when needed. Every time when I withdraw earnings I fill this form and ask Upwork support to sign it. You can request this form from Upwork support.

I think it's more correct to sign act of acceptance with Upwork when you have contract with Upwork" (see here: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Non-public-contract-with-UpWork/td-p/126992/page/4)

How do I get an Act of Acceptance form and who should I ask to sign it on Upwork?

[vladag]

Hi Aliaksandr,

Please contact Customer Support and our team will gladly assist you with this request.

[a_adzinets]

It may be a silly question, but where should I click for a customer support form?
The page I see is: http://image.prntscr.com/image/d7c89067da2643e2b009fdbb199fe9b5.png

[vladag · Accepted solution]

Hi Aliaksandr,

Please use this link to submit a support request.

[nastassi]

Hello, 

Can I have confirmation of Servuce between me and Upwork?

Thanks, 

Anastasia

[aocumen]

Hi Anastasia, 

I apologize for the delay. A member of the team has already reached out to you through this support ticket. Please don't hesitate to update the same ticket thread if you have further questions about the form.

[likekirito]

Hi, I've recently registered here and now I'm thinking about starting withdrawing funds.
Do I need to be an individual entrepreneur(ИП) to make it legally? If so, what tax form do I need - simplified taxing system(УНС) or something else?

I was in the tax office today and they looked at me with funny eyes when I said word PayPal, needed to explain, and it's their first time with a freelancer and a platform like upwork.

Guys from Belarus, what do you do?
Do we officially in payment history get our money from a upwork company or from each of our clients?
If it's upwork then I need (ИП с УСН)?
What's the best withdrawal way right now, 10/2016? There are only old posts and paypal is here now.

What documents do I need from upwork to become an IE(ИП)?

And what documents will I need from upwork each month/each withdrawal?

And how many taxes(in percent) do you pay in the end each month?

So far I was able to understand that I need a signed user agreement in both languages for just once, and then for every transfer I need signed act of acceptance. Do i translate act myself and then have upwork sign it or what?

Could someone provide a short 2016 guide? I can only see old posts on the internet.

Please, I really do not want to be in troubles with tax people.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Alexei,

Please, submit a ticket request to customer support and they will assist you with obtaining documents (Contract and an Act of Acceptance) that you can later submit to your bank and tax office. You may need to consult with a local tax specialist about rates you would pay on your Upwork income as a private entrepreneur.

[likekirito]

Thank you! I've done it now.

I just wanted this post to be on its own because there is not much resources on the internet that show full path from nothing to legal earnings in Belarus. There are only old posts out there, even with google filter by date. 🙂

[a_adzinets]

Alexei,

Yes, you need to register as IE and use STS. I use wire transfer to withdraw money to my bank account, if you want to use PayPal - as I understand it's linked to you bank account anyway, so there's not much difference. I didn't pass the User Agreement to the bank officer when registered incoming funds, because it's a public offer on 62 pages, and they didn't require it.

Regarding your intention to work by law: AFAIK there is no definite way to follow all the rules when working with Upwork in Belarus at the moment. For further information, please check law related articles on dev.by, there is a good series by the Revera consulting group in 2016.

[likekirito]

Thank you!

So, do we work with (юр лицами или физическими)? Or we can't really tell? Tax inspector that I spoke this asked me this.

Will read dev.by articles, thank you.

[a_adzinets]

Alexei,

Freelancers provide services to Upwork Inc. which is a legal entity (юр. лицо)

[likekirito]

Thank you so much! Now I can say this to them, show act of acceptence example and become an IE without doing something terribly wrong.

[a_adzinets]

no problem, report your experience here please 🙂

[likekirito]

See the above message lol,

"Hi Aliaksandr,

Please note that freelancers are providing their service to clients they connect on Upwork directly, and Upwork is not a party to their contracts."

This doesn't implies legal entities only... ah, man. I'm frustrated with all the hulahoops we need to jump. And nobody can tell anything of essence.

And I just started reding this post https://www.upwork.com/hiring/for-freelancers/getting-paid-russia/

And 

• Service Contract (also called: Confirmation of Service Agreement): a fillable PDF form of the Service Contract between you and your client, printed in two languages (Russian and English)

So do we need to ask every client for signing a contract? So, am I to ask someone that wants a job for 10 bucks to sign a several pages pdf when there dozens of other freelancers without it? lol.

Plus this pdf is for RUssia and not Belarus, as "Russia" is embedded in it.

[vladag]

Hi Aliaksandr,

Please note that freelancers are providing their service to clients they connect on Upwork directly, and Upwork is not a party to their contracts.

Aliaksei, as Valeria advised, please consult a local tax advisor, possibly one who has experience in IT and online business. Feel free to also follow up on your support ticket.

[a_adzinets]

Vladimir, you're right, but from the local government's point of view we (freelancers of Belarus) get job and money from Upwork Inc.

Aliaksei, if I get it right, now you only need the User Agreement in 2 languages and your bank account statements, pls review these links:

https://dev.by/lenta/main/yurlikbez-aytishnika-vybor-sistemy-nalogooblozheniya-dlya-it-predprinimate...

http://www.pravo.by/main.aspx?guid=12551&p0=W21630558&p1=1&p5=0

https://dev.by/lenta/main/yurlikbez-aytishnika-vybor-dogovornoy-modeli

[garnorm]

Thanks for offering some help here Aliaksandr. 

As noted by Vladimir, we still recommend Aliaksei (and any others with questions regarding their local tax requirements) consult with an expert in their local area. That can help clarify any confusion and avoid any potential issues down the road.

Because you are working for the clients you find here on Upwork, your local expert may recommend you ask these clients to complete some required forms. Again, check with your local expert and they can best advise. 

[likekirito]

"Because you are working for the clients you find here on Upwork, your local expert may recommend you ask these clients to complete some required forms. Again, check with your local expert and they can best advise. "

They will ask for a contract and I think upwork disallows direct contracts with a client. Ah well, this is really frustrating, with our goverment requirements. And nobody from the local inspection workers are of any help, but then in a year or more, knowledgeable people will find themselves and will start asking questions.

[languagejunkee]

Hi, Aliaksandr,

I'm a newcomer at Upwork, but I can't figure it out how I can withdraw money from here considering our complicated situation with laws in Belarus. Please, advise. Below are my questions that I have up to now.

Am I obligated to be registered as IE in Belarus if I want to use wire transfer method to get my earnings at Upwork on my Belarusian card legally, and then pay taxes? Or not?

Or if I want to withdraw my earnings, can I just get the contract signed by Upwork support, and then provide it to the bank and the tax inspection (together with the list of the earning from my profile)?

Do I also need to provide contracts with each employer here at Upwork (either to the bank or to the tax inspection), or is the general contract signed by Upwork enough for both organisations (the bank and the tax inspection)?

What other documents do I need to provide to the tax inspection (if I'm not an IE)?

Kate

[a_adzinets]

Hi Kate.

I understand your frustration, I felt the same...

Yes you can open a bank account as an individual entrepreneur in your local bank and make a wire transfer from Upwork to your transit account. When money withdrawn, you need to contact Upwork support and get a Confirmation of Services from them. Then you go to your bank with this paper and other standard documents required when you receive money from abroad (information of funds received, a foreign currency distribution register, payment orders). If you asked where is the contract - you should say that you work under the Upwork's public offert which can be found at their site. That's how it works for me with my bank.

Regarding taxes the situation is even more obscure I'd say... It's a problem for our tax service that money are received from Upwork whereas Upwork is not the client. I just pay 5% as IE and a good citizen, but there's no guarantee I do it right. My advice is to send a written request to your local tax service which describes the problem and follow the reply. Funny thing is I got two different replies from my tax service, now I follow the one I liked more. 🙂

[languagejunkee]

Hi, Aliaksandr,

Thank you very much for your detailed answer. Now it's more clear.

Have a nice day!

Kindest regards,

Kate

[a_adzinets]

Hi Kate, you're welcome

Hopefully that will work for you as it works for me. However different banks or tax services can have their own habitudes as freelancing is not something well-established in our country yet, so feel free to share your further experience in this thread.

[bykrab]

Hi, Aliaksandr

How did you resolve an issue, that contracts have to contain bank details (mine and Upwork in this particular case)?

[likekirito]

THey didn't provide me with a contact.

"For Contracts, unfortunately, as Upwork does not act as an employer and due to legal constraints, we cannot provide a certification or verification of your employment as we are only able to do this for Upwork employees (not Freelancers). Please note that your employer is your Client company, not Upwork. It's best for you to contact your employer and ask for a certificate of employment from them or any document that will prove your employment should suffice."

But did say "You may, however, generate a Certificate of Earnings directly from your Reports home page on your account. This is a document providing proof of your earnings on Upwork for the last 12 months. Also, you can get daily/monthly transactions in your reports tab, to prove your salary per month."

Will it suffice?

[naxa777]

Here's a video I've discovered that explains nuances of foreign economic activity in Belarus (ВЭД) when exporting services. The speaker gives examples of working with Google and Uber, but you can extrapolate this to UpWork IMHO.

https://youtu.be/oWzu9eVAfEs

[likekirito]

Hi! I'm from Belarus.

I see you encountered similar problems as I did, could you write a simple guide on how to get money from upwork in Belarus? Please 😞

Here's my question so it will be sort of guie for others. I couldn't find any recent posts on the matter in our internet.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Belarus-How-to-properly-pay-taxes-and-receive-money-in-B...