So Your Employer Made You An Independent Contractor and Didn’t Pay Any FICA Tax: How To Have Your Cake And Eat It Too.
Employees who have been misclassified as self-employed independent contractors need to know how to correct the misclassification and how to avoid paying excessive taxes. This paper focuses on four issues: (1) how misclassified workers may avoid paying any self-employment tax, (2) how they possibly may avoid paying the employee’s half of FICA tax as well, (3) how they may secure reclassification as employees through the help of the IRS, and (4) how they may have their earnings record updated to obtain maximum Social Security benefits after retirement despite paying neither self-employment nor FICA tax on the misclassified earnings. Recommendations are based on recent case law and administrative pronouncements. See full research article.