Unfortunately I had to quit my job today. I m working as an appraiser s assistant appraising Real Estate in NY. Although appraisers usually own their own businesses, in order for one to become an appraiser you must first apprentice under a certified appraiser for a period of 2 years with an appraiser assistant license. My employer has a firm with 4 people on his staff. We all have set schedules, and he requires us to do work a certain way. He offered to pay me hourly, rather than on a split fee basis.He claims on top of receiving my hourly wage, he will give me a 1099 at the end of the year. I was a little shocked at this since I am not the owner of the company, and have very little to write off as I stay in the office, and use his company car if I need to be on the road. My accountant feels he is being cheap and is trying to avoid payroll tax. I told him I wouldn t mind getting a 1099 if he were to raise my pay an additional 7 or 8% to cover my Social Security and Medicare withholding. He said this would not work, as it wouldn t be fair to his other employees as he is giving all of them 1099 s. As per the IRS website, it indicates that I would be classified as an employee who should receive a W2 based on my job description. Do I have the right to feel victimized? I feel as if he was trying to be a pushover for his own self benefit. I told him it wouldn t work for me, and I didn t find it very ethical based on the job description and his unworthiness to compensate me for the taxes imposed on me. What can I / Should I do?
First of all, let me thank you for doing some research about employees vs. independent contractors beforehand. It s nice to see someone serious about being informed!Since your boss sets your hours and work under his close supervision and control, you are not an independent contractor. Your boss should have been paying you as an employee. You can report him to the IRS. See the link for more information.
You can t offer to let him break the law.What you do is, you get IRS form SS-8 and submit it.The IRS will get his side of the story (but with that apprenticeship deal, he s going to lose).then when you file your tax return, you do so with a form 8919 and only pay the employee share of the fica/mc.Had you stayed, no vacation, no sick time, no insurance and no unemployment.
