{"id":348,"date":"2015-09-02T16:54:37","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T16:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amerilawyer-blog.local\/?p=348"},"modified":"2025-05-27T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T20:42:58","slug":"employee-v-independent-contractor-whats-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/business\/employee-v-independent-contractor-whats-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter","title":{"rendered":"Employee v. Independent Contractor: What&#8217;s The Difference and Why Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They are certain factors that go into determining whether one is an<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/benefits_of_contractors.htm\" target=\"_blank\">independent contractor<\/a><\/span> or <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/amerilawyer-blog.local\/business\/employee-intern-trainee-volunteer-which-should-you-choose\/\" target=\"_blank\">employee<\/a><\/span>, and it all depends on the level of control and independence within the employment relationship. You are not an independent contractor if you perform<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/amerilawyer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> services<\/a> <\/span>that can be controlled by an employer. Some questions to consider in determining whether one is an independent contractor are as follows: 1) Does the company control or have the right to control what and how the worker does their job? 2) Are the business aspects of the worker&#8217;s job controlled by the company? 3) Are there written contracts or employee type benefits? 4) Is this job the worker&#8217;s sole source of income and will the work relationship continue?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amerilawyer.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-350  aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/amerilawyer-blog.local\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/which.jpg\" alt=\"Which\" width=\"348\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/which.jpg 507w, https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/which-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Why is employment status important for you as an employer? A worker&#8217;s employment status affects an employer&#8217;s tax liability. When a worker is an employee, employers must pay state and federal<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/newsletter\/050208\/employment_taxes.htm\" target=\"_blank\">unemployment tax<\/a>,<\/span> social security tax and workers compensation\/disability premiums. However, when a worker is an independent contractor, the hiring party is not required to make any of these payments. Should employers incorrectly define a worker as an independent contractor, they may find themselves liable for past taxes including income taxes, FICA, federal unemployment taxes, workers compensation insurance, interest and penalties.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget to consider these important factors next time you are hiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,72,6,49,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-entrepreneur","category-legal-services","category-llc","category-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25391,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/25391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amerilawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}