Many small businesses have to squeeze down costs any way they can just to survive. One way many businesses do this is by hiring workers as 鈥渋ndependent contractors鈥 rather than as regular employees. Unlike rules for regular employees, a business does not have to pay Social Security (FICA) taxes and unemployment insurance payments for independent contractors. Similarly, it does not have to withhold federal, state, or local income taxes or the employee鈥檚 share of FICA taxes. The IRS has a 鈥20-factor test鈥 that determines whether a worker should be considered an employee or a contractor, but many businesses ignore those rules or interpret them loosely in their favor. When workers are treated as independent contractors, they do not get a W-2 form at tax time (they get a 1099 instead), they do not have any income taxes withheld, and they find themselves subject to 鈥渟elf-employment鈥 taxes, by which they bear the brunt of both the employee鈥檚 and the employer鈥檚 shares of FICA taxes.
Requirements
- When a business abuses this issue, how is the independent contractor hurt?
If a business takes an aggressive position鈥攖hat is, interprets the law in a very slanted way鈥攊s there an ethical issue involved? Who is hurt?