#indie-hackers
Indie Hackers
Financial guidance for indie hackers and solo founders
Sri Lanka's 18% Digital Services VAT: What Foreign SaaS and App Sellers Must Register For
Sri Lanka now charges 18% VAT on digital services sold by non-resident providers once revenue exceeds LKR 36 million a year or LKR 9 million in a quarter, effective July 1, 2026, with quarterly filing and registration due within three months of crossing the threshold.
The AI Coding Bill Comes Due: How Indie Developers Can Track and Cap Runaway Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Spend
GitHub Copilot's 2026 shift to usage-based AI Credits, an 18.6x rise in per-developer token consumption, and $60–$200/month agentic tiers are turning flat AI subscriptions into unpredictable bills. Here is a practical framework for indie developers to cap, track, and reconcile AI coding tool spend.
The AI Orchestrator Premium: Why Some Freelancers Are Earning 34% More in 2026 (and Others Are Earning Less)
Upwork's Future Workforce Index 2026 finds freelancers doing AI-related work earn 34% more per hour, with earnings on complex AI work up 45% year-over-year while per-contract pay for commodity generative-AI gigs fell 13% — here's what the "AI Orchestrator" split means for freelancers and indie developers, and how to land on the right side of it.
Chrome Extension Developer Bookkeeping: Reconciling Payouts After Google Killed In-App Payments
Google deprecated Chrome Web Store Payments in 2021, leaving extension developers to reconcile Stripe, Paddle, or ExtensionPay payouts by hand — here is a three-way match workflow, per-extension ledger structure, and how to treat review-delay refund spikes as a distinct bookkeeping category.
ASC 606 for Indie App Developers: Should You Record App Store Revenue Gross or Net?
Most indie developers are principals under ASC 606's principal-versus-agent test, so a $9.99 App Store sale is $9.99 of revenue plus a $3.00 platform-fee cost of sales — not a $6.99 net deposit. Here's the three-indicator control test, current Apple and Google fee tiers, and the exact journal entries to book it correctly.
You Bought a Micro-SaaS, Not Software: Purchase Price Allocation and the 15-Year Section 197 Rule
Software acquired as part of buying a business amortizes over 15 years under IRC Section 197 — not the 36 months standalone software gets. How to allocate a micro-SaaS purchase price across the seven IRS asset classes, agree on Form 8594 with your seller, and record it in a plain-text ledger.
App Store External Purchase Links: The 2026 Accounting Guide for iOS Developers
US iOS developers can currently run external purchase links at 0% Apple commission while courts settle a replacement rate. This guide covers the bookkeeping fallout — the merchant-of-record shift, sales tax nexus, reconciling two 1099s, and Apple's 15-day transaction reporting rule.
Bootstrapped SaaS Valuation Multiples in 2026: What Indie Founders Actually Get on Acquire.com
2026 data from 600+ Acquire.com listings shows bootstrapped SaaS selling at roughly 2.6x TTM revenue and 10.7x profit — a 30–50% discount to public comps. Here's how NRR, CAC payback, customer concentration, and reconciled books move your multiple, and the diligence documents buyers actually request.
Indie App Developer Bookkeeping: Why Your 1099-K Never Matches Your Bank Account
Form 1099-K reports gross App Store and Google Play sales — before the 15–30% platform commission, refunds, currency conversion, and marketplace-remitted taxes — so it will never match your bank deposits. Track four numbers (gross revenue, net payout, after-tax income, real take-home) with a five-step monthly reconciliation routine.
Steam Revenue Share Bookkeeping: What Indie Game Developers Actually Get Paid
Steam's platform fee is calculated on net revenue after refunds, VAT, and currency conversion rather than gross sales, and non-U.S. developers face separate 0-30% tax withholding reported on Form 1042-S — this guide lays out the five-account chart of accounts to track both correctly.
Reintroducing the Free Plan for New Customers
Starting May 1st, 2023, Beancount reintroduces its free plan for new customers, enhancing accessibility and user experience while maintaining quality for Pro plan users.