Independent Contractor Compliance Blog

One of the most common misconceptions about worker classification that I encounter with clients is the belief that a written contract defining the relationship with a consultant as that of an independent contractor, responsible for his own taxes, will protect the company from misclassification challenges by either tax agencies, labor law disputes, or in civil [...]

If your managers do not use and support your Independent Contractor (IC) qualification system, no matter how good it is, it won’t be effective, and your company will be at risk for misclassified workers. Many project managers think it’s too much trouble to qualify a consultant-that it’ll slow the progress of the project and cost [...]

Do you want to ensure protection against a misclassification challenge? In the eyes of an auditor, even if you made the proper call on the classification, if it isn’t properly documented it is open to interpretation. One of the ways Collabrus protects you and your high-end consultants is our proven system of documentation for your [...]

Whenever a consultant who doesn’t qualify for independent contractor status, is pushing back, arguing to be treated as an IC “or else,” I wonder if they have truly thought this through? First, let me begin by stating that this does not apply to the consultants who have clearly established their own business, serve multiple clients [...]

Each year, for the past several years, both houses of Congress have introduced bills to really toughen up on worker misclassification. Each year the bills have quietly died in committee because of higher priority issues, such as: elections, stimulus, health care reform, wars, deficits, etc. Here comes a new legislative season and another run on [...]

Have you properly classified your consultants and can you prove you did it right? Are you taking the proper precautions to insure your independent contractors are really IC’s? Do you have an expert on staff, or will someone from your HR or Finance team be assigned with the unpleasant task of fighting the professionals who [...]

WASHINGTON DC-President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 includes a record $240 million for initiatives specifically related to enforcing IC Compliance and misclassification of workers. This proposed funding is consistent with his often stated goals of closing tax gap loopholes and tightening enforcement on the misclassification of independent contractors. Politicians, at all levels of [...]

One of the most common mistakes I see clients make is to turn a consultant, who qualifies and truly wants to be independent contractor, into an employee by controlling every part of the project. The consultant often starts out looking like an independent contractor. The client wants to engage an individual who has a unique [...]

WASHINGTON-The Internal Revenue Service recently announced that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning April 1, 2011 will increase by 1%. The new rates will be: 4% for overpayments (credits or refunds), 3% in the case of a corporation; 4% for underpayments (assessments and liabilities); 6% for large corporate underpayments; and 1½% for the portion [...]

I’d like to share a case study about a company that engaged a team of consultants to launch a nationwide marketing and communications effort with both its customers and internally with its own staff. The objective was to upgrade the company’s image with customers and to improve communications with its own employees. No one in [...]