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Independent Contractor or Employee?

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Employee or Independent Contractor?

When choosing whether to classify a worker as an independent contractor or an employee the employer has many tax related and non-tax motivations to choose the former. The biggest motivations are the many taxes that the employer will not be responsible for withholding if they choose to classify a worker as an independent contractor. One of the largest responsibilities of an employer is the role it plays as tax collector for the government. If an employer is able to classify its worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee they would not have to worry about withholding federal income tax, FICA taxes, FUTA taxes, and state income taxes. Instead this burden would fall upon the independent contractor when tax season comes around.
There are non-tax benefits for the business in choosing to classify a worker as an independent contractor as well. Employers do not have to worry about paying into workers’ compensation plans for independent contractors, they do not have to pay health or welfare benefits, pay into pension plans, or reimburse business expenses. With all of those pros to classifying a worker as an independent contractor you have to wonder why businesses choose not to.
Along with those many benefits there are also a few disadvantages. Independent contractors, by definition, do not work set hours which means they are free to come and go as they please which could lead to schedule disruption. There are risks of disloyalty to the company that are increased by hiring as an independent contractor because their livelihood is not connected with the business entity. A third major disadvantage is that the “companies may not own the copyrights on materials created by independent contractors” (Durban, 2010). Those negative alone certainly do not seem like they would do enough to dissuade an entity from classifying all of its workers as independent contractors. The biggest reason to not classify all of your workers as independent contractors is the potential costs that come with misclassification. Not only will the business be responsible for back taxes, interest, and penalties that result in the IRS discovering misclassifications; they will also be responsible for paying back workers’ compensation, past business expenses, and there will be changes to a company’s pension plan. “If the employer cannot find a way to legitimately exclude the workers from participation, they may be entitled to retroactive coverage, vesting, and contributions in one or more plans” (Wood, 2009). All of these negatives that would affect the company as a result of misclassification show that while the benefits of independent contractors are very attractive it is important to only classify your workers as such if they meet the definition. This brings us to our next point, what is the distinction between an employee and an independent contractor?

There are many different facts that need to be considered before you can properly classify a worker as an employee or independent contractor. IRS Publication 1779 says, “These relevant facts fall into three main categories: behavioral control; financial control; and relationship of the parties” (IRS Publication 1779). The first category, behavioral control, essentially asks if there is a right for the employer to direct or control how the worker does the work. In the fact pattern presented we learn a couple things about XYZ Company’s expectations of Kurt. We know that he is only allowed to saw and harvest certain trees specified by XYZ. Even though he does receive directions from XYZ they are not specific enough to classify Kurt as an employee. Another important fact from the prompt is the mention of assistants that can be hired. While he is free to choose assistants they must also be approved by XYZ which shows a higher level of behavioral control. Analyzing these facts with IRS Publication 1779 I think that it is inconclusive whether or not it is proper to classify Kurt as an independent contractor or employee because one meets the definition of behavioral control and one does not. The second major category described in IRS Publication 1779 is financial control, which is split apart further into three more sub-categories: significant investment, expenses, and opportunity for profit or loss. With regards to significant investment Kurt is definitely an independent contractor. He is responsible for his own tools and equipment which, considering the job, are most likely very expensive. It states in the fact pattern that Kurt is not reimbursed for gas, chain oil, or mileage to the job site. This is another indicator that Kurt is not considered an employee by XYZ because employees will usually be reimbursed for business expenses. The final category is the opportunity for profit or loss. This once again points towards Kurt being an independent contractor because he could not harvest enough cords of timber to cover the costs for acquiring them. I feel that Kurt falls into all of these categories so it looks more and more like he will be properly classified as an independent contractor. The third and final major category questions the relationship between the worker and the employer. It does this by asking two major questions. Does Kurt receive benefits from the employer and are there any written contracts between Kurt and XYZ? There is nothing in the fact pattern to suggest that Kurt is receiving any kinds of benefits from the country. This fact alone is not conclusive evidence though because there are many jobs where the employees do not receive benefits. While there is mention of a caveat that Kurt may not work for other companies during the time he is working for XYZ, it is not explicitly stated that they are entering into a contract. This category once again seems to point towards Kurt being an independent contractor. IRS Publication 15-A contains much of the same information as IRS Publication 1779, but it did have a few interesting problems that need to be examined before we can state whether or not Kurt is an independent contractor. The first is “The extent to which the worker makes his or her services available to the relevant market” (IRS Publication 15-A). We learn from the fact pattern that while Kurt is working for XYZ he is not allowed to work for any other companies while doing this job. We also know that he has worked for other companies in the past, so I think that this question is a toss-up. The second question I found relevant was “How the business pays the worker” (IRS Publication 15-A). We know that Kurt is paid depending on the number of cords of timber he harvests in the timeframe. This is what is called being paid on a materials basis and is very commonly associated with being an independent contractor. Based on everything that I read within the IRS Publications and journal articles and analyzing the fact pattern I think that it very safe to assume XYZ can classify Kurt as an independent contractor without anything to worry about in terms of legal or tax repercussions.

There is no doubt what the worker would like to be classified as (being an employee) and what the employer would like to classify them as (independent contractor), but that is not the only relevant factor to consider. We also need to consider the ethical implications that go hand in hand with the classification of the worker. Being classified unfairly by your employer could lead to quite a few nasty consequences for the worker. If a worker is classified as an independent contractor that means that they will not be given health benefits or pension plans. The health benefits are especially relevant to this example because of how dangerous the job that Kurt does is. It is also unfair to Kurt because of the taxes he would be responsible for paying following the job. The taxes on top of the unreimbursed expenses could lead to a situation where Kurt just breaks even or ends up losing money for all of his work. When you put those two together, working a dangerous job with a risk of not making any money, you can see how important it is that the IRS makes sure workers are properly classified so that they cannot be taken advantage of.

Bibliography

* Durban, D. W. (2010). Independent Contractor or Employee? Getting it Wrong Can be Costly. Soutch Carolina Lawyer , 36-43. * U. S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. (2012). Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide (IRS Publication No. 15-A). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

* U. S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. (2012). Independent Contractor or Employee (IRS Publication No. 1779). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. * Wood, R. W. (2009). Ten Consequences of Reclassifying Independent Contractors as Employees. Daily Tax Report , 1-5.

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