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| The Whack-Job Whisperer  |
Is there any advantage to being an independent contractor? A job I'm looking at wants to hire me but under independent contractor status. I don't think there is any advantage to me. Just the employer. What say you? Thanks! Regards 18DAI 7+1 Rounds of hope and change | ||
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| Slayer of Agapanthus |
Take a look at the Sch C and Sch SE at www.irs.gov. "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, pilot and author, lost on mission, July 1944, Med Theatre. | |||
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| Big Stack |
You'd have to pay both sides of the FICA tax. This is known as Self Employment Tax. And, of course, you'll get no benefits. | |||
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A Grateful American |
RuleS to live by. Rule number one. He who recommends a solution, is looking out for #1. Rule number two. You are #2. "the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב! | |||
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| Ammoholic |
As mentioned, you shoulder more of the costs of employment. If they pay you enough more money, maybe that is okay. There may be issues with workers compensation insurance if you really are an employee and they are just hiring you as an independent contractor to dodge those and other costs, but if there is a problem it will be their problem. If you are otherwise interested in the job, you may want to do more research and make sure you understand all the issues. Being an employee these days is certainly not a forever thing (not that it ever really was), so maybe being an IC is fine as it isn't like you are giving up some great lifetime employment situation. | |||
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| I believe in the principle of Due Process  |
There are some legal requirements. You might peruse this to compare. http://employment.findlaw.com/...tor-vs-employee.html Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me. When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown | |||
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| 10mm is The Boom of Doom  |
Also both sides of Medicare. God Bless and Protect the Once and Future President, Donald John Trump. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
There was a big legal to do about contractors actually being employees but that onus is on the employer, not on you. And it was for a big group of workers of a particular company; I want to say Microsoft for some reason. In any case, I don't think there's a downside for you should the IRS later rule you're actually an employee and not a contractor. The upside of being a contractor is you "own" a business. Owning a business means you get to deduct expenses related to earning money in that business. For example, as a contract Adjunct Professor, I was able to deduct laptops (I already have a work laptop) or the proportion used for the business and not personal, books, mileage, professional memberships, etc. Anything that you need to spend to earn money is generally deductible (exceptions do apply like clothes). Others already mentioned you have to pay both sides of the social security. Financially, contractors should be paid a premium above what they would pay an employee - accounting for the social security, health care insurance, etc. Where they would be saving is vacation time, 401k benefits, and lay-off costs associated with getting rid of you when the time comes. When they do get rid of you, you don't get unemployment benefits. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| We gonna get some oojima in this house!  |
You would probably be able to deduct mileage as an IC. ----------------------------------------------------------- TCB all the time... | |||
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| The Whack-Job Whisperer |
Thanks all!! MUCH appreciated. I will be passing on this "opportunity to excel!"  Best regards, 18DAI7+1 Rounds of hope and change | |||
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