I am getting to the point where I need sporadic help to tackle larger carpet jobs. I have encountered jobs that take 8 hours to complete by myself, and the customer would prefer that I had a helper to cut the time down to four hours.
But it seems that having an employee in a situation where there is just barely enough work to need help ends up costing too much. Having an employee means payroll tax, a huge increase in the commercial insurance policy premium, plus workman's comp. These helpers are not and CANNOT be 1099 contractors BY FEDERAL LAW. They are 1099 only if they have their own business and insurance and I don't control the job execution.
How do I get sporadic help under such cirmcumstances?? What do you folks do (besides paying under the table or risking huge fines) ??? Would using a temp agency simplify this?
Given your degree of concern in using help that does fit federal requirements, I would say that a temp agency would work out best for you. That person is going to be generating close to $100 per hour for you, so there is still a good level of profit margin left for you.
Thanks. A temp agency is the best that I have figured out so far. I did use my brother-in-law for a couple of large jobs.
One of my BNI contacts told me that the IRS is trying very hard to dissallow the 1099 classification for employees in almost all circumstances. This is a NEW development. It's not at all helpful to small and micro businesses like my own, but that's what we have to live with.
Small businesses around me are having to stop the practice, and they are not at all happy about it.
