Robin's Ruminations

As promised earlier, here is information on how the IRS looks at the employee / IC question.  Click here to see a detailed explanation from their point of view.  The IRS does an excellent job of explaining the situation.  Unfortunately I found the following which I quote from their site:

"Some factors may indicate that the worker is an employee, while other factors indicate that the worker is an independent contractor. There is no “magic” or set number of factors that “makes” the worker an employee or an independent contractor, and no one factor stands alone in making this determination. Also, factors which are relevant in one situation may not be relevant in another."

Lovely.  Just lovely.  By "no magic" they mean there is no bright line in the sand.  Stand on one side of it and you have an employee.  Stand on the other side and you have an IC.  Stand on the wrong side and you are subject to heavy fines, costs, etc, should you be audited.  They leave it open and create a situation where every case is fact specific.  Change the facts a little and you change the outcome.

I'll repeat what I said earlier.  Spend some money up front on an attorney who knows this material.  It will be money well spent.