Anyone w/ experience in being an 'independent contractor'

Has anyone here had any experience w/ being an independent contractor? What is involved in tracking your expenses, taxes, what items can be itemized for tax purposes, etc. Also, what was your experience doing this line of work. This company I spoke with will pay an hourly wage, no benefits, and I would be responsible for paying taxes on my wages. Your feedback would be appreciated.

alone in pa, sorry, but I got stuck in a big way on this back in 2008 right after I was laid off. It seemed like a good deal so I went for it. I looked up all the info on the internet about independent contractors in PA and off I went. Well I either did not follow the instructions correctly or the info was missing a few things, but, I wound up having to pay the irs alot more than I budgeted for. If you know someone who is an accountant, contact them for help. The deductions I thought I was entitled to as an IC were not all deductible. I was audited and had to pay the penalties. Believe me I wasn't deducting thousands, it was mileage, phone usage, some gas and toll receipts related to business travel, not back and forth each day, postage etc. Don't want to see you get caught up in this without the right help. Two of the salesmen I worked with at my last job were I/C's but they both told me after the fact that they keep impeccable records and have an accountant. I will say, they both did really well. I am not knocking the opportunity, but they both did have accountants.

Hope this helps.

I don't know what happened there, sorry for the double post.

aloneinpa wrote:Has anyone here had any experience w/ being an independent contractor? What is involved in tracking your expenses, taxes, what items can be itemized for tax purposes, etc. Also, what was your experience doing this line of work. This company I spoke with will pay an hourly wage, no benefits, and I would be responsible for paying taxes on my wages. Your feedback would be appreciated.

As an independent contractor you will be liable for employer and employee taxes. Depending on what you will be making, it may not make any sense to work this way. You really need some tax advice before jumping into this. You could end up paying out more than you take in.

This sounds like a good idea until you look up the specifics and then it won't anymore.

I would advise against it unless the hourly wage is very high. Someone recently wanted me to go work for them for $8 an hour and fill out an I-9 form making me an independent contractor.

There are rules the IRS sets for this and in most situations the IRS will come down hard on the person trying to employee you that way.

Basically you will have to pay employer and employee shares of unemployment insurance tax, social security, medicare, and other taxes associated with being self employed. Plus you will have to pay taxes on the income itself at the end of the year. This will come out to be a lot most likely.

In my case the person was trying to get me to run his business and then say that he had to hire an independent contractor to do it. This would create a loss for him so he could deduct that expense and pay no taxes. I would have ended up paying all the taxes in the business while he skates away with a fortune.


Without know specifics I would say you are being ripped off, beware.

I just took a job as an independent contractor. I had mo choice but to take it. I hit 99er ville 2 weeks ago.

Make sure you put away some money to pay your taxes. If your hourly rate is high enough it will be fine. The idea is fine if you are willing to pay at the end of the year and pay a lot, just don't think you won't.

My hourly rate is crap. But Im rolling the dice. I need money now..After tonight at 2am eST time it wont matter. Its the rapture.

Happy Rapture everyone!! Its all over twitter today. rapture this and rapture that LOL

Wow, now I'm wondering if I should accept this position, I had the interview and they are checking my references and will do a criminal background check. Additional information.....this possible position would be w/ Accessible Home Health Care, an hourly rate of $10.00/hour. The person who interviewed me said to check out irs.gov and that anything I would purchase relating to doing the job (clothing, cell phone, mileage, etc) could be a tax deduction. I would need to get certification in basic CPR and TB skin test, at my expense. I will check out the irs link reference this weekend.

lendmeflight2 wrote:Make sure you put away some money to pay your taxes. If your hourly rate is high enough it will be fine. The idea is fine if you are willing to pay at the end of the year and pay a lot, just don't think you won't.

I asked about that at the interview, my thinking was to pay quarterly instead of waiting until the end of the year. I sure don't want to get hit with a big tax burden.

alone, I checked the irs.gov website and that's kind of what got me in trouble. Do you have a friend of family member who is an accountant? If they have you sign a contract, have someone review it. Some companies hire I/C's and they are responsible for employer/employee taxes, others you are just responsible for your taxes, but the rules of reporting change for each. Just be careful.

It can be ok, if you are really good at itemizing and but I would get an accountant to take care of everything for you. It WILL be a pain in the a**. It could be worth though, depends on how much you need the money.

Jobless_in_Ma wrote:My hourly rate is crap. But Im rolling the dice. I need money now..After tonight at 2am eST time it wont matter. Its the rapture.

I thought it was 6 pm tomorrow. Either way I ain't going. I will be sitting on my roof singing "The night they drove ole Dixie down" on my mandolin.

lendmeflight2 wrote:It can be ok, if you are really good at itemizing and but I would get an accountant to take care of everything for you. It WILL be a pain in the a**. It could be worth though, depends on how much you need the money.

Geez, I've never dealt w/ an accountant before, has anyone else? What does one have to pay (range) for their services?

There are accountants (CPA's), then there are accountants that are not CPA's, and then there are folks who can do accounting work. When it comes to avoiding an IRS audit, especially when you are both employer (so to speak) and employee, you should use the best qualified, and that would be a CPA. So, if you look for one running his or her own shop, it will be less per hour than one in a large LLC. I have worked with many accountants and all have high hourly fees, and that is because most will represent you if you get called for an audit. In other words, they will go to the audit review with you and speak about your tax documents directly to the IRS agent or representative. If the money is not high working for a care giving company as an IC, I don't think this is going to pan out for you very well. But, that's just my take on it.

aloneinpa wrote:Wow, now I'm wondering if I should accept this position, I had the interview and they are checking my references and will do a criminal background check. Additional information.....this possible position would be w/ Accessible Home Health Care, an hourly rate of $10.00/hour. The person who interviewed me said to check out irs.gov and that anything I would purchase relating to doing the job (clothing, cell phone, mileage, etc) could be a tax deduction. I would need to get certification in basic CPR and TB skin test, at my expense. I will check out the irs link reference this weekend.

This is the latest hiring practice used by employers. In some cases it isn't even legal for them to do it. There are guidelines under the US Department of Labor as to what constitutes an "Independent Contractor". The job you are describing doesn't sound like it would fall under those guidelines.

Besides checking with a CPA who specializes in tax law, you may want to contact the DOL. You won't be in trouble with this agency, but the employer may be. Before this new hiring practice that has become widespread, employers used temp agencies and paid a flat fee. Now they have found a way to get around paying that extra fee to avoid the hidden costs of being an employer (i.e. Workers' Comp, payroll taxes - including SUTA and FUTA - benefits, etc. ).

This is just another way for them to keep and save money on taxes and benefits. The trend has to stop.

Thanks for the input everyone, much appreciated. This position is sounding more and more like a bad situation.

I noticed that you are considering working for a Home Health Care agency. Will you be covered by their liability insurance, or will you have to purchase your own? That is a high risk industry and another thing you may want to consider

Here is some information you may want to read about independent contractor status:

http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/laborlaws/l/aa121800_2.htm

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/staffing/9.1_contractors.htm

http://ibewcontract.com/empvsind.html

http://dpeaflcio.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Misclassification-of-Employees-as-Independent-Contractors.pdf

Good luck! I hope everything works out for you. I know in this day and age, everyone must take what they can get. Unfortunately, employers know that too and some will take advantage of that fact to avoid the responsibilities of being an "employer". I just don't want you to get into something you can't afford to do.

An Independent Contractor is not supervised or punches a time clock. Those are Federal rules for determining whether it is a I-9 or W-2. employee.

The rate must be significantly higher to pay for additional social security taxes (employer"s share).