"wonder how long till they look at cable companies and such"
To answer that question, it starts with YOU the worker. They have looked at cable companies, but it was initiated by a worker who had enough shafting.
If you signed a contractor agreement and are paid 1099 and feel like you're someone's bitch or ATM machine and not in control of your own business, this is how to solve this issue...
The only tried and true approach. Department of labor will not help you unless you are on payroll.
Just go to the IRS website and search for form ss-8 worker status determination. Fill it out with as much detail as possible and print it. Sign it and send it to the address printed on form.
Once you do this, you have just awakened the giant and sent the blood hounds sniffing around their yard. They will know about it , so be prepared to get fired (you aren't suppose to get fired as a contractor).
You just sit back and relax. It will take a while but the IRS will respond guaranteed. Filling this simple form raises a big fat red flag on the employer or contractor hiring Independent Contractors.
The IRS will demand records and paperwork from your suspected employer. Many companies are circumventing their tax obligations by hiring people as Independent Contractors and controlling them like employees.
The IRS does not like this. The state does not like this. They lose revenue because contractors are not filing their 1099s and some newbies are not familiar with quarterly filing schedules.
They also lose revenue when the employers don't withhold taxes from employees.
If the IRS determines that you were misclassified as a contractor when you should have been paid as an employee, they will go after the employer for back taxes and penalties, NOT YOU.
It is important to remember this. You don't have anything to lose, they do. You have much to gain if they are paying you like a contractor and shafting you like an employee.
You are only responsible for filling your 1099 schedule A,B or C.
If the employer was found to have misclassified you, he/she was suppose to withhold social security, state, fed, unemployment insurance taxes for each worker. That's their problem and they would be liable. You would have to amend your tax year like a regular employee (after the determination) and you probably will be owed money back if you were an employee. I am not a tax attorney or authorized to give legal advice. I can only say for sure that if you feel some Vaseline on your butt cheeks, you have a right to demand they check into who's screwing you.
The IRS does not care that you signed a Contractor Agreement. They go by control, having to report to someone, not billing, frequency of pay, not having a say on who you can put in your truck, having to show up between certain times, doing it a certain way, using their equipment and supplies, who calls the shots, did you bid for the job, did they advertise to solicit workers or did they offer a proposal to bid, do the workers have to be screened, do they have employer identification numbers and fictitious names set up as companies or just a bunch of sole proprietorships with personal social security numbers,do they carry insurances or did the prime contractor require them to get insurance for the job and finally, can the worker advertise his cable installing services to others and compete and do other work on the side besides just installing cable full-time for one contractor? (installing cable full time for one company is usually enough to consider you an employee) any violation of these guidelines can set you as an employee instead of a real contractor with a business.
Don't let these crooks intimidate you and mislead you, do the paperwork and go about your business. Once you get that letter from the IRS you just amend your tax year you were paid 1099 for and get in touch with the lawyer who is advertising on this site to claim your back pay for overtime.
If you don't do anything, the IRS will not know and they will continue to operate like this saving a bunch of money and raking in millions of dollars in installations on your backs and dimes.
And yes, you independent contractors are part of the problem by keeping quiet and putting up with this bullshit.
Re: labor practices
Member #: 85075
Registered: 12/1/2011
Posted:
13
Name:
Dan
Company:
USA Communications
Occupation:
Contractor
Location:
Southeast
Personal:
mid 40s
Experience:
~24 years
There is 1 reply to this message
