Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

calebporzio.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 510 posts

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#351

Post by caseysoftware »

bluekite2000 wrote: post #336
jermaustin1 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you set the entity up correctly and work with a decent accountant, your $112k turns into more like $40k taxable, and if you are married, that $40k drops to $20k @ 10% + $20k @ 12% or ~ $4500 in taxes.

What do you mean set up correctly? And how does 112K turn into 40K taxable?

Many expenses related to the operation of the business become tax deductible. At minimum, that usually includes internet access, hardware/software upgrades, and potentially some % of your living space dedicated to the business. If you do it properly (usually via documentation), you can often include miles driven to meetings, professional travel, meals with customers, prospects, and contractors, and a ton of other things.

And still none of that considers things like Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP), health insurance, home maintenance, etc, etc.

The list can go on and on depending on the type of your business, jurisdiction, and supporting documentation.

* Talk to someone about your local tax rules before taking action.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#352

Post by whatshisface »

stefanfisk wrote: post #325
londons_explore wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the US is different, but here in the UK, I reckon that 95% of software developers will never go to court in their lifetime, and the remaining ones that do will settle for small amounts (ie. Refunding the customer the cost of the contract). Multi-million pound judgements against individuals are pretty much unheard of...

As a freelancer in Sweden I can't even imagine how big I would have to fuck up for a customer to sue me for anything beyond what they had already paid me.

In the US lawsuits typically open with the closest thing a lawyer can imagine to infinity dollars of damages, and then you have to have your lawyer work it down.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#353

Post by mavsman »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #208
jfengel wrote: post #4

Props. Well done. The thing that struck me most was the podcast appearance. I was distantly affiliated with the music industry at one point and I saw over and over the value of being in the right place at the right time. Great bands languish because they just weren't seen. I don't mean to diminish the work, either the technological or the effort of finding sponsors. I just want to caution about extrapolating success…

Success is more random than we'd like to believe Perhaps, but I think a lot of people tend to say that, then conclude that they should just wait around for luck (not saying you're doing this, though). Another approach is to do everything you can (podcast appearances, for example!) to increase your "luck surface area".

There's a saying: "Pray like it all depends on God. Work like it all depends on you." Adapt that to your belief system.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#354

Post by wnevets »

claudeganon wrote: post #310
wnevets wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a lot of charities in the US are just a way for the wealthy to avoid paying taxes or for the founders to become wealthy

Yes, it’s not uncommon to have do-nothing NPOs that associate themselves with a noble cause and then spend most of their funds on one or two people’s salaries and perks. This is why apps like Guidestar and Charity Navigator were invented. The IRS doesn’t seem to give these orgs much scrutiny unless they’re egregiously bad or become a big news story.

The IRS has been co-opted by the very wealthy. The IRS spends way more resources auditing the very poor than the very wealthy

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#355

Post by thaumasiotes »

karambir wrote: post #175
Ndymium wrote: post #132

Reading these makes me sad about the law in my country, Finland. The lowest tier of OP ($7 for no reward) would be illegal here. We have a law called "Money Collection act", which states that to gather donations (i.e. payments with nothing in return), you have to get a permit. This permit costs money, is not given to individuals, and is given only for non-profit activities. So this means that if you see a donation/sp…

The exact same thing is for India. Individuals can't get non-profit status. So you have to sell something. A software dev friend tried donate button with cta "Get exclusive support" for few months. But international audience didn't quite get it. I have seen some gamers in India asking for donations and giving direct account details(UPI[1] details), but I am very cautious against this. I am just waiting(selfishly) for…

I'm actually curious if some type of phrasing-related arbitrage is possible. Like:

    Like my work?
    DONATE
    
    * all donations automatically receive (whatever)

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#356

Post by mattlondon »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #231
mullen wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to point out that Universal Healthcare would be funded by a separate tax and probably would not come out of Income Taxes.

I believe this is how the UK does it as well. You pay income tax, then you pay your NHS fee.

We pay a "national insurance" tax in addition to income tax, but this is mainly to cover the state pension from what I understand and maternity allowance etc.

As I understand it, NHS comes from general taxation.

Obviously there is no actual "fee" to use the NHS at the point of use - it is all free apart from prescriptions which are the same price regardless of what you get (and you might get it for free anyway depending on your circumstances)

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#357

Post by Ndymium »

wongarsu wrote: post #287
MaxBarraclough wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it illegal if you sell an item/service/upgrade for a clearly absurd price? The obvious workaround here is to paywall some tiny feature with choose-your-own-price, or perhaps offer something akin to Reddit Gold. I presume the law already thought of that?

Lots of brands sell things with prices only justifiable by the branding and associated prestige. The authors tactic of paywalling things behind a "donation" seems legally much more dubious.

It wouldn't be a donation, it would be a premium account that has access to extra features. I just don't want those features to make the free users feel second class.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#359

Post by quickthrower2 »

koheripbal wrote: post #252
StevenRayOrr wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Success is more random than we'd like to believe, and there is a risk when failure leads to victim blaming. An excellent sentiment, if less common these days than it should be. Reminds me of a quotation from Chapter XXV[0] of Machiavelli's The Prince : "Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct t…

Over the course of an entire lifetime, the random good vs bad luck tend to wash out and people usually end their lives financially roughly in line with their capabilities. - my personal opinion and experience.

Our capabilities are also luck: genetics, access to education and compounding that the rich will enjoy more often. The homeless person from a broken home trying to stay alive is less capable of writing distributed software. On average. Yes there will be rags to riches stories that make great reads, and set the standard of the “insert country” dream.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#360

Post by codingdave »

drummer wrote: post #255

>Now, people watching the screencasts will naturally encounter these “private” screencasts and if they like the free ones, they will sponsor me (at $14/mo.) to get access. Why are we calling this 'sponsoring'? It just factually is selling a product to people for a specific amount. Sponsoring/donating is more like people giving money for something that would otherwise be free. Otherwise Microsoft could also require a…

It is collecting money with an expectation of additional content in the future. So it isn't just a purchase. A subscription is closer, but sponsor adds the implication that your sponsorship is what allows the content creator to keep doing it.

Also, one of the dictionary definitions for sponsor is: "provide funds for (a project or activity or the person carrying it out)."

So it seems accurate enough of a term to me.

Post reply on HN