5 Myths About Payroll Taxes
By Barbara Weltman From the Small Business Administration If you want to grow your business, you probably need to hire employees to help you. Becoming an employer and expanding your staff entails many responsibilities, one of which is seeing to payroll taxes. Unfortunately, there are many myths about these taxes. Here is the reality: 1. Myth: Transforming employees into independent contractors to save on payroll taxes is easy Reality: You probably know that it costs less to use an independent contractor than to have an employee on staff. The reason: the cost of payroll taxes, along with insurance and benefits apply only for employees. But don’t think you can simply reclassify a worker who’s been your employee as an independent contractor. The IRS, as well as other government agencies, are on the lookout for just such action. The classification of a worker depends on many factors, most of which boil down to a matter of control. Essentially, if you have the right to say when, whe...