Independent contractor vs. employee is an issue that never seems to go away for many employers. It’s been a regular topic on this blog since 2007. Now there’s a new concern about employee classification on the horizon. It’s an outgrowth of the Affordable Care Act. Case in point: “small employers” who may be eligible for … Continue Reading
One of the Top Ten Great Urban Myths is that Albert Einstein failed math in school about which he replied: I never failed in mathematics,” he replied. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus. The myth, however, still persists. We have our own myths in the benefit world, or at least … Continue Reading
A "T", or technical foul, is part of the game of basketball. If you’re a fan of the game, you know it’s any infraction of the rules which doesn’t involve physical contact such as unsportsmanlike conduct. The retirement plan equivalent of a "T" is when an employer misclassifies a worker in situations regarding whether: The worker is … Continue Reading
It’s the age-old story: worker classification, or rather misclassification. I wrote about it this past February, Independent Contractor or Employee? Employee Classification Still A High Priority Enforcement Matter.That was about the IRS auditing employers to determine whether those "independent contractors" were actually employees with required tax withholdings and possible inclusion in benefit plans. I cover … Continue Reading
Remember that kids’ game, Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? You had to guess into what category the object fell. Well, today in business, there is a similar question. Independent contractor or employee? But it’s not a game. The misclassification of a worker can have serious financial consequences. Penalties and interest involving payroll taxes can pile up … Continue Reading
Employee or independent contractor? Attorney Rush Nigot warns us about making the mistake of treating employees as independent contractors. It’s an issue about which the IRS has sacked the NFL and caused Microsoft to reboot. Penalties and interest can pile up if someone is incorrectly treated as an independent contractor. And in the case of … Continue Reading
Here is another example about the importance of properly classifying your employees. Frank Steinberg in his New Jersey Law Blog tells us that the NFL Loses to IRS regarding how the League had been treating their 70-plus Drug Program Agents [DPA’s], who collect urine samples for the drug testing program. The IRS recently ruled that … Continue Reading
Recently I wrote about being careful to properly classify your workers: independent contractor or employee. But what if you make a mistake, and that independent contractor is really an employee. How do you fix it? Here’s how. There’s two aspects to the fix. From the retirement plan standpoint, you can use one of the correction … Continue Reading
