Your organization is taking the market by storm and the workload has gotten larger than that which you can handle on your own. You’ve gotten positive feedback on the implementation of your business plan and even gotten a small business grant for women owned businesses from your local Community Foundation. Now it’s time to add staff. But do you hire an employee or look for an independent contractor?
Independent contractors and employees are not the same, and it’s really imperative that you comprehend the major differences. Comprehending these specific differences can help you know what your first hiring move should be and influence how you withhold an assortment of taxes and steer clear of expensive legal penalties.
What’s the difference?
An Independent Contractor:
- Functions under a company name
- Has his/her own staff
- Keeps a different company checking account
- Markets their organization’s products and services
- Bills for work completed
- Has got more than a single buyer
- Provides own equipment as well as sets own work schedule
- Keeps organization information
An Employee:
- Does chores determined or controlled by other people
- Is provided training for work to be done
- Works for only one employer
A lot of small enterprises rely on independent contractors with regard to their staffing needs. There are lots of advantages to making use of contractors instead of using the services of employees:
- Savings in personnel expenses
- Lowered legal liability
- Flexibleness in acquiring and firing
Why Should It Make a difference?
Mistakes in classification of a worker as an independent contractor could have a number of costly legal implications.
Should your independent contractor is found to meet the legal meaning of a staff member, you may be forced to:
- Compensate them for earnings you should have compensated them within the Fair Labor Standards Act, together with overtime and minimum wage
- Make payments towards back taxes and fees and penalties for the purpose of state and federal taxes, Social Security, Medicare and unemployment
- Cover any existing unpaid injured personnel workers’ compensation benefits
- Provide employee benefits, together with medical care insurance, a retirement plan, and so forth
Tax Requirements
Visit the IRS Independent Contractor or Employee self-help guide to read about the taxation implications of either circumstance, get a hold of and fill out a form to have the Internal revenue service officially verify any workers’ status, and locate relevant information.
Employment Info
There isn’t a particular assessment for identifying if someone is definitely an independent contractor or an employee using the Fair Labor Standards Act. Having said that, the subsequent guidelines ought to be taken into account:
The particular degree which the help rendered are a fundamental element of the particular principal’s small business
The permanence of the business relationship
The amount of the assumed contractor’s investment in facilities and devices
The makeup and level of control by the business owner
The alleged contractor’s possibilities to make money
The degree of initiative, judgment, or foresight in open market competition with others that is required for the success of the claimed independent contractor
The degree of independent enterprise organization and operation
Whether or not an individual is an independent contractor or an employee usually is determined by how much control used by way of company over the work being done. Study Equal Employment Opportunity Laws – Who’s Covered? for additional info on the way to determine whether one is an independent contractor or an employee, and also which are covered according to federal laws.
