The way the IRS distinguishes between employees and independent contractors guides what benefits a worker is entitled to, what tax obligations they’re subject to, and which paperwork is required to make their status legally sound.

Worker Classification (The BIG Question)

While the paperwork is important, the most important aspect of this whole conversation is making sure you get a worker classified correctly in the first place. The classification guides all other questions, including whether to file a W-2 or a 1099. It also determines whether the employee or the employer is responsible for withholding taxes, which labor and employment laws apply, and how the work gets paid.

Thankfully, the IRS provides some guidance guidance for determining how a worker should be classified . It considers how much control the worker has over how, when, and where work gets performed as well as whether/how much the employer provides in order for the work to be completed.

Employees Require W-2s

W-2: Wage and Tax Statement is a document that reports an employee’s gross earnings as well as the amount of taxes the employer withholds on said employees’s paychecks. Employers are legally required to fill out W-2s for any workers earning $600 or more in one year from whom they’ve withheld any taxes. The Social Security Administration  receives a copy of the form as well as the state, city, or local tax departments. Employers retain one copy for four years.

The deadline to file W-2s with the SSA and provide copies to employees is January 31 of the year after the year of employment. Employees use the forms to complete their own individual tax returns and future social security and Medicare benefits are computed based on these figures.

Non-Employees Require 1099s

People who perform work for the company without being on the payroll require the Form 1099-NEC: Nonemployee Compensation . Note that as of 2020, the IRS no longer uses Form 1099-MISC.

While independent contractors keep track of their own tax obligations and file their own forms to the IRS, employers are still required to file a 1099-NEC for each person who is not an employee and was paid at least $600 during the course of the year.

Similar to a W-2, copies of the 1099-NEC of to the IRS, state tax agencies, and the independent contractor while the employer retains a copy. The 1099-NEC is also due January 31 the year after the work was performed.

Bottom Line

Employers that need help making the determination can work with a partner (such as PayReel!) to make sure they get that status right or may wish to file Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding  to let the IRS make the official determination. Since that process can take up to six months, any business that has frequent hiring needs may be better served by working with a partner (such as PayReel !) that is specifically qualified to make the determination and handle all of the associated risk and compliance issues as well.

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If you’re looking at onboarding your first employee, congratulations! It’s a big step in the life of any business. Since you’re dealing with paying someone else, you need to be extra sure you do it correctly! You’re dealing with someone else’s livelihood, which in itself is a big responsibility, but you’re also subject to government rules. If you break them, you’ll eventually face consequences. So here are some questions you might be asking and resources to help you find the answers you need.

1. What Paperwork Do I Need To Gather?

Typically, you’ll need to gather the following forms:

• Form W-4 : This form helps you determine federal tax withholding
• State W-4 form (if applicable): Some states either don’t have state income tax or use the federal Form W-4 to determine state income tax. Check if your state has a specific form.

2. How Will I Pay The Employee?

You’ll want to consider frequency as well as the actual method of getting money into your employee’s hands (cash, check, direct deposit, etc.). When considering whether to pay your employee(s) weekly,  biweekly, or monthly, you should make sure you brush up on pay frequency requirements by state. Whatever you land on, just make sure you follow your state’s rules and also notify your employees what schedule they can expect.

3. How Should I Calculate Taxes?

Your W-4 form(s) will help you make this determination. Unless the employee is exempt, you’ll usually need to withhold social security, medicare, and federal income taxes. Other possible withholdings include state or local income taxes. If this is making you want to lie down for a nap, you can make it very easy by using a payroll software with a built-in system for helping you get it right.

4.What Other Deductions Should I Be Aware Of?

In addition to the standard deductions, employees may be subject to wage garnishments, child support payments, health/life insurance premiums, or automatic retirement. If any of these apply, have new employees fill out the appropriate forms.

Bottom Line

Payroll software can help simplify deductions and payroll big time if you’re handling them on a small scale. For large scale onboarding and payrolling, most businesses are best served by hiring a partner (like PayReel !) that specializes in handling frequent, high-volume hiring and payrolling.

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While many things remain in question right now, one thing we know for sure is that each year takes us ever further from the traditional employment model of our ancestors. As always, when things rapidly change, there’s a period of trial and error (emphasis on the trial) while we figure things out. What’s been changing (and getting litigated) in this case, has everything to do with how companies classify workers.

Worker classification battles are waging and the cost to companies is staggering. While many companies have long played the odds–liberally classifying workers as independent contractors to save money and hassle–the odds keep tipping more in favor of the house. This list  identifies the major worker classification disputes (and corresponding fines) that played out in 2021 alone. The cost is staggering.

As we stare down whatever lies around the bend, one thing is for sure: the government cares about worker classification issues and it’s one area they are very efficient in! Sate labor departments and the IRS share information to identify companies that are misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The number of audits and corresponding fines has been climbing steadily since 2010. The risks of non-compliance are high.

I understand that as we are continually adapting to changing environments, we are also desperately trying to fit all of our management tasks onto our already full plates. The increase in demand and uncertainty leaves even more reasons to get serious about a process for managing our contractors, freelancers, and consultants. Fortunately, every challenge can be overcome with the right game plan and the right partners. In this case, a partner that specializes in worker classification and payroll can turn some of the most dizzying and high stakes aspects of your business into a breeze. Pinky promise!

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Find out how the production of virtual reality, augmented reality and other advanced multimedia content can give your brand an edge, and learn how these processes work.

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I was one year and two weeks into teaching high school when I realized it was–without a doubt–not a good fit. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d won awards in the position I had left the previous year but, while I was certainly happier in sales than in teaching, that profession didn’t speak to me either. With a measly three years of post-college life under my belt, I’d experienced success without satisfaction in my first “real” job and then neither success nor satisfaction in my second. (Today is a good day to thank a teacher, people!).

I had harbored the “someday” dream of having my own business the moment I realized it was a thing. But picturing a future of business suits, uncomfortable shoes, and having a schedule set for me felt like going backwards. Oh and by the way: nobody was responding to my resume anyway. The timing didn’t seem right and I didn’t have the experience, but I was feeling backed into a corner. So with a little nudge from my circumstances, I went for it. Here’s what I would tell myself after a decade plus charting my own course.

The true risk isn’t the first one that comes to mind. In comparison with a 9-5 job, freelancing is risky. You absolutely could lose everything…or at least be very, very hungry at times. I mean it. You could have clients who pay late or don’t pay at all. You will have slow months that land you in the red and times you’re trying to figure out how to create a meal from whatever you can find in the freezer (“use by” date be damned) and the last quarter cup of rice in your pantry. Risk aversion is real, but if it keeps you in your swivel chair at a 9-5 you hate, then you’re afraid of the wrong kind of risk. Because there’s nothing more risky than staying in a job where you feeling like you’re wasting your life.

The biggest companies take the longest to pay. I won’t name names, but I can say that our biggest clients often take the longest to pay. I followed up with a Fortune 500 company for two years before they finally paid an overdue invoice. It wasn’t malicious. I just had to navigate their system and got passed around from person to person. Cash flow is a big deal when you’re a small business. When we’re paying our mortgage based on that invoice, I’d rather work with the mom and pop shops that pay right away than get a recognizable logo on our client list.

The freedom is fantastic, but it comes at a price. Yes, the dreams of working from the beach and choosing the jobs that excite you are real. To overworked, under-appreciated 9-5ers, freelancing may seem like the holy grail. But going out on your own isn’t just a world of free-flowing creative juices, coffee breaks, and wads of money. Freelancing can make you feel just as burnt out and unstimulated as whatever made you take a hike from your previous gig in the first place.

Your “boss” may be liberal about time off, but you still have to answer to your bank account. You’re your own boss. That means you can take Friday off because it’s a great powder day (that’s the Colorado girl in me speaking). Still, if you want to build a solid business, you have to put in the work. And if you want leave of any kind–vacation, maternity/paternity, sick days, etc.– you have to create it yourself. Ideally, that means building yourself a solid savings account with 3 months+ living expenses. The hope is that, because you’re building your own dream (and not someone else’s/one you don’t believe in) that you’ll at least enjoy it more. While it can be enormously satisfying and liberating to build your own business from the ground up, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Some days, you’ll get to take a Friday off because you want to. Others, you’ll grind away on a Saturday because you have to. Any workday can be a weekend and any weekend can be a workday. 

You don’t have to starve. The “starving artist” is a familiar refrain for a reason, but it doesn’t have to be your reality. Start by producing work you can be proud of. From there, you’ll get some experience and can feel good about charging fair prices for it. Getting to a point where you can walk away from that don’t exactly stimulate you is so satisfying. My husband fondly recounts one of his early video editing jobs for a veterinarian client. He got feedback to show a dog’s anus at 50% opacity (i.e. tone down the butt shots). Keep the long-term goal in mind and you can keep the less than stellar projects in perspective. You’re building something. You’re building your thing. Once you have a steady flow of clients, you can be more selective and you can charge more as your experience grows. Remember that being able to walk away puts you in the best position to negotiate more freely.

It’s easier than ever to burn out. I know how easy it is to have your life and energy sucked away by a “regular” job. The counterintuitive truth for many freelancers is that it’s even harder when it’s your business. You can pay your mortgage and your car loan and your grocery bill because you pounded the pavement to find the client and then pounded it again to produce a product they valued. When you’re in business for yourself, it’s easier than ever to just do, do, do all the time. The trap is the lie that you have to. But you give yourself out completely and guess what? There’s nothing left. There’s nothing left for your bedtime routine with your kids, or those glorious miles on the trail with your sneakers and your earbuds. Here’s the real, counterintuitive kick in the pants: If you don’t have time for the stuff the fuels you, you don’t have a business. As a freelancer, your business is you. It’s’ your creativity, your talent, your brains, and your guts. That’s something you simply cannot phone in. You have to be fueled, which means you can’t give everything to your business. You have to give something to yourself, which in turn, gives everything to your business.

The Bottom Line

Once you go out on your own, you live and die by your own work. The allure of working from home in your pjs and not having a boss breathing down your neck is real. But the struggle of life without a full time, “safe” job is real, too. It’s awesome. It’s terrifying. It’s not easy. Whether you’re on your own or working a “safe” job, you will kill yourself if you don’t find balance. But here’s the truth about freelancing, if you can handle it. And you can handle it, by the way, because you are scrappy enough to think about launching out on your own in the first place. It’s hard, gut-wrenching, kick you in the seat of your pants, pride-swallowing work. And it’s all yours, which is absolutely fantastic.

The post Are You Thinking About Freelancing? Here’s What I Wish I Knew A Decade Ago appeared first on PayReel .

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Using your own talent pool can be a wonderful way for businesses to meet their contingent workforce needs. Direct sourcing is the practice of finding and recruiting talent and then building, nurturing, and drawing from an internal network rather than enlisting a third-party. It’s an increasingly popular (and feasible) option and it has many benefits. Still, there’s one aspect of the practice that businesses must be absolutely sure to get right: risk and compliance!

Benefits of Direct Sourcing

Direct Sourcing allows businesses to place workers on a temporary basis, while keeping the best workers in the pipeline between projects. Building and nurturing an internal network means companies can draw from their own well, so to speak. There is no third party that will ever know a company and its needs better and cutting out the middle man can make the process quicker and more economical.

Risk And Compliance When Direct Sourcing

While finding your own talent and building your own network has many benefits, businesses need to be in position to do it in a way that protects them from liability. It’s not the glamorous part, but one of the most important parts to get right when direct sourcing is anything associated with risk, compliance, and payroll. Mitigating risk requires specialized skills, a great depth of knowledge, and a department with enough bandwidth to understand and follow rules on a state and federal level.

What’s at Stake?

You know who’s paying a lot of attention to all things risk and compliance? The government. As such, errors can be incredibly costly. In addition to heavy fines, offending businesses face damage to reputation and loss of resources–both financially and otherwise. The rules around classification and payroll vary from state to state and on a federal level as well. Regulations change frequently as well and hiring organizations must do due diligence to make sure they keep their practices compliant and their businesses in good standing. Any company using direct sourcing simply must also include effective independent contractor classification and payrolling services as a part of its plan.

Does Engaging a Partner Make Sense?

If there are any gaps in knowledge or capacity when it comes to risk compliance, worker classification, and payroll, engaging a partner makes good business sense.  In most cases, any company that doesn’t have a specific department to fill these roles will benefit greatly from engaging a partner with the appropriate bandwidth and skills. The best partner will be able to handle every worker type a business employs and will be equipped to handle everything related to risk, compliance, worker classification, and payroll for a contingent workforce.

When direct sourcing talent, many businesses find an Employer of Record (EOR) that takes care of all the administrative details of managing a contingent workforce is an indispensable part of their team.

If you’re considering whether an EOR would be helpful to your business, contact us ! This is our jam.  

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