Cammi Asks:
Sooooo I’m 18 and never done my taxes on my own or anything and I was wondering how I can go about this if I decide to start like without my mom finding out? Do any of the good websites you mentioned take out taxes already so I wouldn’t have to do them? If that’s a dumb question I apologize I am completely uneducated on how taxes and basically the real life work, lol.
Also is there a site that prevents my viewers from recording me so that I can keep myself private?
And lastly, can future jobs find out I have done this somehow from my social security or whatever. Like do these sites take down my ID information for anything more than just to see if I’m of age?
Cat Answers:
Hey Cammi,
Thanks for contacting me! I’m glad to hear you’ve found the site useful and I’m happy to help out with your questions as best I can.
As far as filing taxes goes, I’m not sure what country you’re writing from but I’m in Canada so I can only speak for Canadian taxes. Basically, I file the same way I always have – the only difference is that I don’t have “employer income” to report, but rather “self employment income.” I use TurboTax online which makes it super easy every year. If the system is anything like that you shouldn’t have any problems. No site will take out taxes because they are not your employer – as a webcam model, you are an Independent Contractor (which is just another way to say self employed, but would effectively be your job title).
Unfortunately you can never be 100% private online, since that is a bit of an oxymoron lol. I’m sure you know about screen capturing programs and stuff like that. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t happen often but it does happen and there is nothing any cam site can do to prevent it. All they can do is act on your behalf when their own copyright is violated. I personally have never run into a serious issue with my privacy. As long as you keep your local state or area blocked with geo-restrictions, you should be able to maintain your own privacy online. Please refer to this article for some more specific tips regarding your privacy: 10 Mistakes Camgirls Make That Jeopardize Their Privacy
As far as official records, a webcam model is an independent contractor. Most cam sites respect your privacy and will keep their records and pay you in such a manner that it doesn’t say anything about what you actually do. If you are ever asked for a job history, this kind of thing can be written down as self employed in sales or customer service, that kind of thing. People don’t tend to need more information than that.
Please feel free to write to me anytime if you have any other questions! I would be happy to hear from you.
Best of luck with everything!
Hey Cat, all this here is so helpful, thank you so much. I really want to get into it but I’m very unsure about my tax situation as I’m kind of a long term traveler at the moment. That doesn’t mean I’m in a different place every day, more that I don’t have a registered residence. I have a tax number in my European home country, in the country where I have been before (think that doesn’t matter) and soon I will have one where I am now. Where would I have to pay my taxes to, to the country where I’m originally from or where I’m currently staying?
Hi Kitty,
I am sadly not qualified to offer advice on this question. I’d recommend speaking with a tax advisor about your particular situation. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Thanks for reading O Camgirl!
Cat
This site has been super helpful! I’m thinking of diving into this strange world. What sites do you recommend for a beginner/shy girl who wants to start out slow in this industry? Also, are there any sites to be a cam girl where you don’t have to masturbate, just chat naked?
Hey Rosie,
I’m so glad to hear you’ve found O Camgirl helpful! It is a strange world, haha. 🙂 I think you might enjoy ImLive – they have a “shy girls” category, where you can dip your toes in. I think they still have a non-nude category over there as well, where the emphasis is more on building relationships with *likely* lonely clients. As is the case on ANY site you choose to broadcast on, you don’t ever have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with (but you’ll more than likely make more money as you expand your horizons).
I hope this helps. Thanks for reading our blog!
Cat,
SO HELPFUL. Thank you. I will be sure to check that site out. I’m also very nervous to begin just due to privacy – I’m also very hesitant to put identifying information out there, like driver’s license to verify I’m over 18 (which I know is important, but still, my address..) and SSN for payment purposes. Any advice or peace of mind you can throw at me?
As long as you’re giving this information to a reputable site, you should be the same amount of worried as when you give that information to any potential employer in the vanilla world. It’s required to pay you, and it’s encrypted and kept secure. At one point I was even receiving a check in the mail from my site. I see no reason to worry about this- the information is not available to customers.
Hello! This site has been so helpful and I’m ready to get started. My one question is should I bother with an EIN? I’m getting my DBA but I’m wondering if it would be better for my privacy to get an EIN. Would that be under my legal or DBA name? Thank you!
Hi Elspeth! I’m glad to hear this site has been helpful. Unfortunately I can’t help specifically with this question because I always file under my legal name and so do the few I’ve talked to about this. Hopefully someone can help! Thanks for reading.
-Cat
This is actually very helpful to hear that most just file under their name. I was just thinking about that as an additional level of privacy if the cam site needs my SSN for payment but I feel comfortable without one knowing that’s how most do it. Thank you!
No problem!
thank you, this is basically all the information i was looking for since i recently became a cam model.
Glad I could help 🙂