Am I self Employed or Independent contractor.

[presleyr]

I am located in Arkansas.
I am working for a small company that does not hold ANY THING out of my pay check..
I am aware that I will be responsible for paying into social security; medicaid; fed, and state.
I am not sure how to file though.
I don't consider myself a self employed, I don't own a business or anything like that.
I am not sure that I am considered an independent contractor either.
Because I don't set my own hours, I have a manager, I work 40 hours a week per their instructions.
I get paid on the same days as the other three people that work here, two of which have their taxes withheld and one whom I THINK is paid under the table
I am very worried that I am going to get in trouble if I do not file correctly. I will get a 1099 MISC form which I've never dealt with before.
I always file online, but when I select self employed/IC it asks for my business info like like name, EIN, how much i paid employees etc.
The business owners accountant is awful and wont even answer simple questions without payment!
please help me because I have no idea what I am doing and the owner is on yet another vacation is unreachable.

 

[Zigner]

I am located in Arkansas.
I am working for a small company that does not hold ANY THING out of my pay check..
I am aware that I was be responsible for paying into social security; medicaid; fed, and state.
I am not sure how to file though.
I don't consider myself a self employed, I don't own a business or anything like that.
I am not sure that I am considered an independent contractor either.
Because I don't set my own hours, I have a manager, I work 40 hours a week per their instructions.
I get paid on the same days as the other three people that work here, two of which have their taxes withheld and one whom I THINK is paid under the table
I am very worried that I am going to get in trouble if I do not file correctly. I will get a 1099 MISC form which I've never dealt with before.
I always file online, but when I select self employed it asks for my business info like I am the owner. When I self contracted if brings up stuff that I also don't.

From the description, you are NOT an independent contractor. You are an employee, and should be treated as such. You may wish to contact the Arkansas Labor Standards Division about this matter. You will, of course, need to weigh such a report against the possibility of losing your job, but the fact of the matter is that you are being taken advantage of, as are all the businesses that do things right.

The business owners accountant if awful and no help along with the local accountants who want even answer simple questions without payment!

Do you work for free? Of course not...and neither do they.

 

[LdiJ]

I agree with Zignor but will add as an FYI: Self employed and Independent contractor are two terms used for someone who would file their income on Schedule C and pay self employment taxes. Independent contractors are self employed. You do not have to have an official business to be self employed.

Besides contacting the Arkansas Labor Standards Division you can also file a form SS-8 to have the IRS determine whether you were an employee or a contractor. If you file an SS-8 you may also file a form 8919 instead of a Schedule C with your tax return and exclude the employers share of SS and Medicaid taxes from your return.