1099 tax form?

Question

I have been working for my employer from a year now and have been asking for my W2 which is obivously late. Today she told me that she is making me fill out a W9 which I belive gives me a 1099 MISC. This states that I am an independant contracter. Which I am not. I assumed that she was taking taxes out this whole time. What can I do about my status?? It is not correct. Also what does a 1099 have me do? What is my responsibility if I can not change my status? How much do I have to pay (%) ? Is it just federal and state taxes or also medicare and social security?? Please help!!

Answer 1

If you were an independent contractor then they probably didn't take out any taxes. You are responsible for paying state, local, federal, social security, medicaid and really, double on the latter two since YOU have to pay the employers share.

If you weren't making quarterly payments, you will also owe penalties for late payment.

Do you really not know if you were an employee or a contractor? Don't you ever look at your pay stub to see if and how much they are taking out?

You really have the responsiblity for looking after your own money.

Answer 2

when you started this job you should have been given a W-4 form for tax withholding purposes.

im not sure if there is anything you can do about your status.

if you receive a 1099 then you are considered self-employed. you would be responsible for paying 15% of your income for social security and medicare taxes. you will also have to pay in any federal, state and local taxes due.

you would report this income on Schedule C, and hopefully you have some out-of-pocket expenses you can deduct. for example, you can deduct any travel & auto expenses. if you drove your car you can deduct .445 cents per business mile driven OR deduct the actual expenses (i.e. gas, insurance, tolls, parking, etc.)

good luck

Answer 3

There are IRS rules whether you're an employee or an independent contractor, and it depends on what your job is and how much freedom you have in performing it. See http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq-kw54.html - if you think you are being misclassified you can ask the IRS for a determination.

Didn't you get any kind of pay stub? Didn't you notice that you were getting paid more than you expected?

An independent contractor pays both halves of social security and medicare instead of just the employee half, and also pays all the regular income taxes. So the I.C. pays an extra 7.65% of his or her salary in taxes - you'd be paying your half of it anyway as an employee.