Who are the people spewing "misinformation" about ICs?

[Anonymous]

Ok, are you a practicing employment attorney, who can answer, does every independent contractor have to be an LLC or some such incorporated entity? Can an individual, without being an LLC, also be a IC?

[Anonymous]

Why are people so obsessed with this topic???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, are you a practicing employment attorney, who can answer, does every independent contractor have to be an LLC or some such incorporated entity? Can an individual, without being an LLC, also be a IC?

I hire ICs who are not LLCs (not for house cleaning, these are professionals).

[Anonymous]

Because we all have weekly housecleaners.

[Anonymous]

Yes. This type of employee can also be called a "1099" (based on the form used for paying taxes on their income). The dofference between employee and independent contractor is based entirely on the nature of the work and the degree of control the employer exercises over the work. LLC, corporation, whatever is not relevant to this question. Put another way, being an LLC does not make you am independent contractor, and you don't need to be incorporated to be one. These are two separate concepts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. This type of employee can also be called a "1099" (based on the form used for paying taxes on their income). The dofference between employee and independent contractor is based entirely on the nature of the work and the degree of control the employer exercises over the work. LLC, corporation, whatever is not relevant to this question. Put another way, being an LLC does not make you am independent contractor, and you don't need to be incorporated to be one. These are two separate concepts.

Thank you so much, 15:00. That's what I thought. We currently have three other active threads, where a poster repeatedly asserts that a housecleaner can not be an IC, regardless of the circumstances, unless she's an LLC. I suspect that poster owns a domestic employee pay roll company. I would not be surprised if several of the larger such companies are actively lobbying to get the laws changed in their favor. Most of the domestic worker type agencies seem to be part of that effort.

[Anonymous]

But must I prepare a 1099 for a weekly cleaning lady?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But must I prepare a 1099 for a weekly cleaning lady?

Your answer is not a simple yes or no. Do you have a CPA or accountant you can check with?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But must I prepare a 1099 for a weekly cleaning lady?

Chances are you should not prepare a 1099 and instead should pay employment taxes.

15:00 is not contradicting what is in the other thread-- that post just points out that there are employees and independent contractors and the difference is based on the nature of the work and control that can be exercised by the employer and not by extraneous things like the tax form or LLC status.

Separate is the question of whether an individual housekeeper is ever likely to be treated as an independent contractor. The answer to that is almost always no. Can you really imagine a situation where you have no right to give your house cleaner directions as to how you want your house cleaned?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But must I prepare a 1099 for a weekly cleaning lady?

Chances are you should not prepare a 1099 and instead should pay employment taxes.

15:00 is not contradicting what is in the other thread-- that post just points out that there are employees and independent contractors and the difference is based on the nature of the work and control that can be exercised by the employer and not by extraneous things like the tax form or LLC status.

Separate is the question of whether an individual housekeeper is ever likely to be treated as an independent contractor. The answer to that is almost always no. Can you really imagine a situation where you have no right to give your house cleaner directions as to how you want your house cleaned?[
Yes, I most definately can. Every cleaning person I've ever had, tells me what she does, and doesn't do. She also informs me of her available time. Some of them like to bring some of their own supplies. Why is all that so surprising to you? Most of us just want a clean house. Why would you micromanage someone who gets the job done? These people don't need your pay roll services. Nice try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. This type of employee can also be called a "1099" (based on the form used for paying taxes on their income). The dofference between employee and independent contractor is based entirely on the nature of the work and the degree of control the employer exercises over the work. LLC, corporation, whatever is not relevant to this question. Put another way, being an LLC does not make you am independent contractor, and you don't need to be incorporated to be one. These are two separate concepts.

Thank you so much, 15:00. That's what I thought. We currently have three other active threads, where a poster repeatedly asserts that a housecleaner can not be an IC, regardless of the circumstances, unless she's an LLC. I suspect that poster owns a domestic employee pay roll company. I would not be surprised if several of the larger such companies are actively lobbying to get the laws changed in their favor. Most of the domestic worker type agencies seem to be part of that effort.

That is not what the poster asserted. If you read carefully, the poster says that that is one way a person can be CERTAIN that the housecleaner is not considered an employee, is if they are their own incorporated company.

Otherwise, it gets murky, because the rules for domestic help are kind of vague and the IRS tends to err on the side of considering independent domestic help as employees and not ICs.

If you really are uncertain, call the IRS yourself. It's not black and white. But no one has said that they have to be an LLC in order to be an IC. They just said that's one way of making sure they're not your employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. This type of employee can also be called a "1099" (based on the form used for paying taxes on their income). The dofference between employee and independent contractor is based entirely on the nature of the work and the degree of control the employer exercises over the work. LLC, corporation, whatever is not relevant to this question. Put another way, being an LLC does not make you am independent contractor, and you don't need to be incorporated to be one. These are two separate concepts.

Thank you so much, 15:00. That's what I thought. We currently have three other active threads, where a poster repeatedly asserts that a housecleaner can not be an IC, regardless of the circumstances, unless she's an LLC. I suspect that poster owns a domestic employee pay roll company. I would not be surprised if several of the larger such companies are actively lobbying to get the laws changed in their favor. Most of the domestic worker type agencies seem to be part of that effort.

And cannot is one word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, are you a practicing employment attorney, who can answer, does every independent contractor have to be an LLC or some such incorporated entity? Can an individual, without being an LLC, also be a IC?

I hire ICs who are not LLCs (not for house cleaning, these are professionals).

For domestic help, it's not clear cut.

[Anonymous]

Ha! my housekeeper tells me what to do. The only time I ever tell her what to do is when she comes while we're on vacation, I'll have her clean the porch or something because she needs to be paid (but the house is clean).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people so obsessed with this topic???

Because they're suddenly realizing that they should've been paying taxes on their domestic help, and now they're trying to justify themselves.

Realistically, they'll be under the radar of the IRS. But if the IRS did ever come a knocking, I would bet in most of these cases the IRS would define their domestic help as employees and fine them.

Of course, some of these people are paying under the table, with or without realizing it (i.e. writing a personal check out to a person).

But in either case , paying under the table or not paying payroll taxes, people should be honest with themselves.

And seriously, if a person has any doubts, they should call an accountant, a tax or employment attorney, and/or the IRS directly. But my guess is the OP doesn't want to do that because they're afraid of what the answer is, so they post the question here in the hopes they'll get a lot of people telling them what they want to hear.