Pros and Cons of 1099 versus withholding

wanderingbob wrote:
SOREN ,
I believe that you do not understand the difference between a 1099 and workman's comp.
Who would receive a 1099 , Real estate salesmen , most hair dressers , many barbers , long haul owner/operators , auctioneers , many commissioned sales persons , contract guards , taxi drivers ,this list can go on for several pages . Just because they are contractors they do not loose the rights to take advantage of the courts to right a wrong for injury or any wrong .
It sounds as if you believe that most , if not all contract workers are doing something wrong and are stupid . You say that you worked in constitutions , have you not hired many independent contractors to do the plumbing , wiring, landscaping .
The State of Florida is now contracting for gate guards at remote check stations , The Federal Gov . contracts with individuals for services all the
time . Why don't you call them up and tell them that they are wrong .
I have worked as an independent contractor in the insurance industry for 35 years along with thousands and thousands of other adjusters , auctioneers , tow truck operators as well as thousands of drivers hired for the day . If they get hurt the person that they work for is just as liable as any other business or employment situation . Lets move on to some thing to do with RVing , please .

You can believe anything you want, but the fact of the matter is most workamping positions are positions that make the worker an employee, not an independent contractor. This is a very valid discussion for this forum and it is directly related to RVing. If you really think you would be insured as a 1099 independent contractor by an "employer" (in quotations, because by definition an independent contractor does not have an employer) you would be mistaken. Yes, maybe you could sue, maybe even win, but what are the odds that a business that is circumventing federal law to save a few dollars in unemployment and workmans compensation insurance costs will have deep enough pockets for you to collect any judgement? Most of these businesses will be organized as LLCs and getting to any actual assets will be very expensive, if it can be done at all. People who take workamping positions need to be very aware of the risks they are taking if they get convinced their job isn't actually employment and that they are 1099 employees. BTW, the IRS can and has gone after both sides of wrongful 1099 situations. Both the employer and the employee. IF you are writing off expenses and the like as a 1099 independent contractor and the work you did as a 1099 contractor did not qualify you to be an independent contractor, all those deductions are invalid. The IRS will not care what you think, or what you believe or even how you interpret the law, they make the determinations and levy the taxes, penalties and interest. Try taking them on, they win much more than they lose.