Posts by shadowridge48

I’m not 100% certain here—don't quote me on this!—but I have a feeling the USA might be the real headache in this whole situation, mostly because we don't have a ratified tax treaty to prevent double taxation in place.

Awesome, thanks so much! This is actually the first time I’ve run into someone asking for this kind of thing—I guess I’ve just been working with much smaller, less intense clients up until now, so maybe that's why I haven't seen it before!

Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly! I was totally rushing when I sent that last one—anyway, here’s my Tax ID 🙂

So, quick question—have you ever had international clients hit you up asking for proof of insurance? Since I'm in business consulting, I haven't really felt the need to get covered up to this point, but it feels like more and more big-time American clients are asking to see an insurance certificate. Maybe it's just standard practice over there and they ask out of habit?

I'm dying to know, though—do you actually manage to talk them out of it, or did you end up biting the bullet and grabbing some professional liability insurance? And if you did go that route, is there a specific provider you swear by?

Thanks a million! 🙂

Sorry if this sounds like a total newbie question—I’m still playing catch-up trying to scroll through all the previous posts! If an American client asks me for my company's tax ID, should I be giving them my EIN or my VAT number?

If they want the EIN, do I just stick 'US' at the beginning or something?

They’re asking for my "tax number and insurance," and honestly, I’m kind of stumped... I don't have any kind of business insurance set up right now.

Betty Gonzalez912 said:These kinds of populist "arguments" just leave a bad taste in my mouth.
So, by that logic, if the mortality rate drops to one in a million, are lockdowns still justified? If not, where exactly do we draw the line on when measures should be lifted?

Why is it that during flu season—which is milder than COVID, let's be clear—no one ever pushes for strict mandates using that same reasoning: if we save even one life through heavy restrictions, then it’s worth it...

Look, hospitals or nursing homes have definitely used measures for the flu before. For example, my friend's husband actually wasn't allowed in the delivery room when their baby was born—way before COVID hit—because the hospital had gone into quarantine due to an insanely nasty flu season that winter. But as far as I know, there was never anything on a massive, nationwide scale.

Now, if you ask me, these kinds of measures actually make sense if the goal is to stop the healthcare system from getting totally overwhelmed. Because when that happens, it doesn't just mess with COVID; it hits every single function of the hospital. Now, whether *these specific* measures are the right way to achieve that? Well, that's a whole other debate! But from what I remember, the flu never came close to making the entire medical system collapse like COVID did, so it obviously wasn't hitting as hard. In those isolated cases where things got risky, a local hospital would just step in with a quarantine. No media circus, no huge headlines, because it wouldn't be happening in every hospital across the country at once. And honestly, that seemed plenty.

So, if COVID ever reaches the level of being a threat to the hospital system similar to how we handle the flu, then sure, we could go back to those types of measures. And hey, if someone wants to protect themselves, they've got vaccines available (just like for the flu)—you can get vaccinated every winter. Personally, I get my flu shot regularly, even though I'm not exactly a senior citizen! It's just a habit from living in a place where that was totally normal and free—I kept up the habit after moving back here, even though people here often give me weird looks when I show up from the pharmacy with my vaccine (and thankfully, I don't need a hundred bucks to pay for it!).