Thank you to sis freelancer_babe and freelancebuddy for the links you posted. I didn't know that freelancers had the option of registering as professionals. The only way I knew was the regular self-employed route -- DTI, mayor's permit, then BIR. I don't want to register that way because I have no money for the fees (a fellow GT member once mentioned that she tried to get a mayor's permit in Quezon City for her online business and was told that she needed to pay P 10,000).
I've been wanting to work via oDesk for a long time now, but I wanted to get the BIR registration out of the way first (or perhaps this is just my way of procrastinating because I'm nervous about working through oDesk

). I spent a lot of time last week finding out how to register as a professional, and last Monday, I finally went to BIR to register.
Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. I tried to explain that I wanted to register as a professional, and that I didn't need a PTR since my profession didn't require a license (this is what I read at the freelancepinoy blog). I said I was going to work as a writer.
The person I spoke with asked me what documents I had already submitted to the company. I said I would not be working for a company, but that I would be self-employed. When I said self-employed, he asked me if I had already registered with DTI. I said I didn't need to since I was registering as a professional. He asked if I had a PTR. I repeated that I didn't need one since I don't need a PRC license to write.
I read at the BIR website that the PTR is for professions that need a license, and the OTR is for those who don't, so I asked him if I needed an OTR. He said he didn't even know what that was. He also asked me if I needed to issue receipts. By that time, I was starting to feel silly, as though I was registering even though no one told me I needed to. Finally, he said I needed proof that I was working as a writer -- a contract or something.
I left empty-handed. I had better luck at our city hall, because there I received detailed instructions on how to get an OTR. The thing is, I'm not really sure I need one, so I didn't get one yet.
I don't know what to do. I went over all of the available oDesk threads, and I read about the contract that you get when a client hires you. How detailed is it? Do you think I could just print that out to give to the BIR as proof? I really want to register as soon as possible so that I can get an ITR next year. Sorry for the long post.