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I'm an employee and can take home office deductions. You

Posted By: me on 2005-11-29
In Reply to: I was an SE for a while and sm - ExSE

have to have a $$ amount equal to a certain percentage of your income to be able to claim expenses if you are not an IC.  I don't claim home office because it only made about a $50 difference in my report and I'd rather not claim it than worry about an audit since my office isn't 100% office use, my internet service isn't 100% work related, etc.   HR Block does my taxes too. 


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Saw JLG hiring SE and IC. SE can take home office deductions, right? (sm)
Any other pros/cons about this or the company in general?
But as work at home IC, deductions can often lower
x
May have a home office in tn
But definately is affiliated with the Phillipines, know the person who runs it.
Home vs. office
Well, I've done both but did billing in between. Each has benefits. Our local hospital pays more per hour if you get over the req. amt. of lines. Pretty cool. However, they're small and don't often have openings. They have a good starting wage too.

OTOH, I like being at home, working in my sweats, and having my 3 cuddle babies (my 3 pugs) at home with me. We are trying to breed our 2 black pugs (just once to carry on the line) and I wouldn't have been able to do that if I had still been doing med. billing at an office. I had a TAH last May and had to use all my vac. days. I have to be home with my female if she has puppies in case something goes wrong and with the puppies in case she abandons then litter. Home trans. allows me to do that.

So, I guess, to each his own. At first, when I left an hourly paying job, I wanted to run to the local hosp. and beg them to hire me. Now, I'm more secure in what I can do and I feel comfortable at home. :-)

You can work in the office or at home....
if you dislike the office, or find it tense, you should ask to work from home. There are only about 15 people that work in the office, most are not transcriptionists, and my experience is that they would rather transcriptionists work from home.

Life's too short, go ahead and make arrangements to work from home. Why would you want to work in the office, especially if you dislike it so much?


PS, I was a supervisor in the home office
That is how I know for a fact that it is done this way.
Transcend has their home office there,
don't they?
Link to home office info

xx


Does Diskriter still photograph your home office?

I have been wanting current info on them, also.  Anyone out there help?


 


Working from home/office work

I feel I need to speak up. I understand that the industry is going backwards in pay and for all of the more experienced MT's this is really degrading from what I hear from some. I understand and I would probably feel the same way. This is a craft. Not everyone can do what we do. It is a very hard craft. We should be paid what we are worth. There is no doubt about that but I also know how it works in an office in this industry. Being in an office is awful! I did it for 15 years. I worked at 2 different companies and both took advantage of the hard worker I was. I had MULTIPLE jobs and was not compensated for it. When I hear MT's complain about how bad they have it I want to scream. Yes, the pay is an issue. Yes, the belittling emails from managers is ridiculous. I completely agree and all of those managers should be let go but you do not know how awful it is to be in an office setting dealing with those belittling managers.


Trust me everyone in the company you work for or wherever that is not a VP or CEO is going through hell on a daily basis and not getting paid for it. You are making a lot more money for the time you put in than the people working in the office mostly. The people in the office are probably working on salary. When you figure the hours they work and the amount they are paid that are probably making about $5.00 an hour or less. They also have to work nights/weekends etc. from home. They also are having to listen to all of the MT's daily when they have a problem, they call in giving a excuse as to why they cannot come to work and trying to scramble to get the shift filled when the MT is really not sick as she said, problems dealing with the clients and their complaints about the work or turn times, problems with MT's and editors fighting via IM or email, problems with the Sales guys telling potential clients...oh yeah, we can do that...when we CANNOT.


I could go on and on. Being in an office is a lot more work than you would think. I would be greatful for what you have. I am not bitter at what I have gone through in an office setting. It got me to where I am today. I just want to let you know it is not easy working in an office and it is a lot harder than being an MT when you can type and then stop for the day and not have to answer to others and deal with their issues. Being an MT is a craft and it is hard...just be thankful!


Have a HAPPY HOLIDAY! Be joyous! Feel Blessed!


"People are quitting" -- who? I work in the home office
and no one has quit in the last month.
I realize we work from home, but where in Ky is their base office?
nm
That is the owner's home. Office is in Ahmedabad, India. It is deceptive sm
to advertise otherwise.  All of the work is sent to and comes from India. 
MTSO gift to their at-home MT's who make their living for them and all the office staffs' livi

Why is it so hard to share their profits with the at-home MT's? ? ?   Give me MONEY for Christmas because so much has been taken throughout the year -- I won't it back -- or at least some of it !  I will buy my own gift or pay my light bill or buy my children/grandchildren a gift with it.


In general, the top echelon is getting so greedy at most MTSO's!   They would have nothing w/o the MT's constantly tapping those keyboards . . . and I mean it gets more and more difficult for us MT's as with each passing year to make a decent living . . . I dare say a living of any sort.  Only those MT's who have husbands to support them are happy with whatever few cents they are offered, because it is only play money for them anyway.  Hubby pays all the bills.   I guarantee you that if a poll were taken of the Happy MT's with their at-home job, it would either be hubby making living for them OR mommy not having to pay a babysitter to work outside the home.  Those in HR/management, with a little research, can easily see how our paychecks are dwindling month by month due to lower wages because ASR/VR is taking away the decent dictators and leaving only the horrible dictators (who take lots of time to transcribe a quality report), lack of cost-of-living raises, rising electricity bills at home that the MT has to pay, high-speed internet/phone bills higher and higher and loaded with taxes, rent/mortages/taxes/insurance continuously rising. 


The office staff don't have to think about those at-home costs, as theirs are paid by the MTSO during their working hours/shift, nor do they have to worry about the lack of raises, etc, because in-house employees get raises automatically with tenure or with a 6-month or annual review or at the discretion of management at any time.


Personally, my line count continues to decrease; I don't know what the reason is because in the past many years, I could transcribe 200-400 lines per hour, and I do good to transcribe 100 or 150 an hour with the horrible dictators sifted out by the VR machine Dictaphone ExText.  


Please don't yell at me -- because I am thankful for a paycheck -- but why is the burden put on my fingers to WORK HARDER AND HARDER to earn that paycheck.  Don't say try ASR/VR because it will double your income, because I have tried that and know better and have proven that theory to be wrong -- at least on Dictatphone ExSpeech you can't !


The other thief of a good line count/wage for the U.S. MT's is the majority of our work going offshore because it can get done CHEAPER !  Who is all that extra money saved by offshoring our work going to ??  Not the at-home MT.  That is exactly why I request MONEY for my Christmas gift from my employer, rather than some promo gift that is handed out to any and everyone.


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL US MT's in the good 'ole USA !  ! !


I work as a hospital employee at home
//
Ahhhh! Okay...work as an employee at home with
very good work habits. I have a great schedule and very rarely interrupted. I use the expansions in Word and do have many. I've been doing this for 10 years and leave few blanks but I do think I spend too much time on referencing. Maybe I just don't type fast enough but my hands sure do seem to fly on my keyboard! I just thought that maybe there was a secret I did not know about how to format expansions or something on that line. Thanks so much for responding:)
My last hospital did offer home-based employee positions. sm
They paid the employee positions by the hour with incentive and IC positions by the dictated minute.

It still was not as lucrative for me as my national position.

What works for one, however, may not work for others.

It is all about personal needs and opinions! Bully for you!!! :)

I have a friend working in a hospital and she is looking for a company from home as an employee.
Would anyone care to recommend a good company?
The woman who manages the C-Bay office in Annapolis is a former employee of MQ. nm
:
I'm sorry, I should have said I work as an employee for a local nephrology office
I tried working for a National, but it wasn't a good fit for me because I didn't like the fact that I had to work holidays and weekends. And yes, I know that sick people don't take vacation days and there's work 24/7, but it just wasn't the job for me. I love my 9-5 job. I guess that's probably the only way that MT's don't have to work weekends and holidays, by working for local doctors.
Or try working for a local doctor's office in your area as an employee
That's one of the reason I wouldn't/couldn't work for a National MTSO. I wanted a more flexible schedule as far as days off and vacations. I get six paid vacation days and 5 weeks paid vacation. I don't think I could ever find that with a National.
What about deductions?

I also recently started working as an IC, for the first time. Besides setting aside part of my wages, is it true that at tax time I can lessen the tax bill quite a bit by taking a home office deduction, such as utilities, etc.?  Do I pay separately into Social Security? Inquiring minds want to know.......Thanks!


Deductions are still allowed
Even if you are on employee status, you can still take deductions for your at-home office. I didn't think so either until my accountant told me that absolutely, you still can. It isn't as much as if you are totally self employed, but there are still quite a few allowed. The best of both worlds is statutory employee. That means you do not pay both sides of the SS Tax but you still send in quarterlies. This way, you can take all deductions for your home office, etc. Hope this clarifies it a bit better.
Are you sure taking all available deductions?
x
You forgot to do some deductions - sm
like medical benefits, taxes, no pay for vacation or sick time, no rasies, etc.  I got out of this field about a year ago but still visit this board.  It amazes me how the same baloney is complained about for at least the 10 years I was an MT.  Not everyone can type 200 lph no matter how long they've been typing.  You have no idea how BAD it is for your health to sit for long periods of time.  Glad you're happy with the position and I'm happy I'm out of it.  Now I get bennies, vacation pay, don't have to work holidays and/or weekends and make about $16/hr. 
Those things MTs pay for are tax deductions. And
dr. to you? DO you think it just magically appears in your PC?  And who do you thing handles the disgruntled facilities, dictation-to-MT break-downs, and all the other irritating details that come with this business.  It is not just work in, work out, cash the check. 
In the early days, MedQuist said working at home was a benefit, therefore at-home sm
employees did not receive as many benefits as those working in-house.  As I believe, it was something like at-home employees got 3 days off a year versus 10 days for the in-office employees -- WHAT?!!!  I told them it made no sense to me, since by working at home I was saving them money -- no need to provide office space, equipment, references, utilities, etc. -- yet I get shafted.  I was only part-time when they took over the previous company with their great policies, and I told them to kiss where I can't. 
Please excuse typo--I meant deductions
its getting late and I stacked wood all day. LOL!
I thought statutory could claim those same deductions? NM

Oh no. Also check to see if your tax deductions (fed, state, social security) were
nm
The main office was in Bolingbrook but they built an office in Yorkville last fall. SM
I think that the owners live in Yorkville, so it was built close to their house. Nice office, just pretty far out.
Just curious, is the MQ Nashville office the old Lanier office? nm
nm
I don't work in the office and never claimed to. I am just saying that since the new office open
October with everyone of the admin staff in one place, these problems do not occur any more.
Can't get paid in the office if you don't work in the office.
JLG has MT's working at home, not in the office, not to mention working out of state.  The mail is the only way to get paid since they have temporarily suspended direct deposit.  The only ones getting paid on time are the ones that do work in the office, like the management and people answering the phone. 
Closed FW office, Indianapolis office too. nm
xx
I am including all insurance deductions including nm
n
Statuatory employee versus regular employee....
Can someone tell me the difference between a statuatory employee versus a regular employee?  My company offeres IC or SE status....I am confused about whether switching over the SE would benefit me more than IC status that I have been for some time with them?  What are the benefits and disadvantages of being an SE versus IC?  Thanks for all of your help!
They hire both IC and employee. I am an employee (see message)
and I have full benefits. I am very happy that I came to work here. I came as a statutory employee from a large company. Everyone at MDI has been great to me.
Depends on if you are employee or statutory employee (sm)
Employee, 8th and 23rd of month
Stat. Employee, 15th and 30th month
Diskriter - Anyone go from their employee to hospital employee with them?
Thinking about giving up on being their employee and applying for a hospital employee position through them, they have one in PA right now that looks good.  How is it for scheduling?  Do you keep your line rate or get whatever the hospital pays? Who manages those accounts, is it the same PM and DR that are on the other ones?  I have DR and feel like she doesn't have a clue what she is doing and it is so annoying, but I just don't have the guts to let the company know she needs to step it up a notch because the transcriptionists are not happy under her.  Are QA the same people or through the hospital.  They have 1 QA that is constantly asking us questions on doctors and format, things we should be asking that QA person.  Annoying that new people move up to QA but people who've been there 2 or 3 years get treated like dirt and jumped account to account.
Only employee and statutory employee..no IC
nm
did that at home...
worked for a court reporter service typing depositions at home for a while. The biggest problem was that it seemed there were often 2 or 3 people talking at once and it was hard to tell one from the other. Things had to be verbatim to the letter, with absolutely every word spoken included in the report. I can see where it would be easier to do that in an office setting where you would be able to ask questions about things you were unsure of. The pay was excellent, but I found it really difficult to do it at home.
About MT at home

I am - or hopefully soon to be - was on eof those recruiters, and I coul dgive you a heads up on what they are thinking when they advertise, and what they really expect.


First, not all companies are making 14 cents or more a line with so much off shoring - BUT that doesn't mean they coud not give more. I have been asked to low-ball on many occasions. What a company needs to realize is that without MTs, there is no company. After soul searching, I will be leaving my inhouse job for an at-home MT position NOT WITH THEM. Now that I know what they do, I am hoping to cope, and work around it to make what I need without the stress. Cause the stress is making me physically ill, and I am too old and too professional and too qualifed to be treated the way they do. AND I wont be a part of their antics with the MTs. I mean how many times can a bank possibly make an error. MTs are smarter than that. Them leaving would only make my life more stressful in the office.


 


Yup. Only 2 at home still, 12 & 17 NM.
nm
FLOATING HOME - PLEASE
No houseboat just a floating home with the sun rising and setting over Mt. Hood. 
PT at home with benefits
Does anyone know of a good company to work for part time at home that offers insurance?
New at home based...

I would like to get some feedback on a few companies.  I have been offered positions from AccuScribe, Cymed.  I am an IC now and have been in a hospital setting for several years, now at home working for a local company that does not pay well. 


This newbie really needs some help! 


Thanks in advance!


Carly


At home positions
DTS America Brentwood TN has at home positions awesome management group there.
Used to work for them at home--sm
You don't work for any certain facility. They now have the MTs working on all their facilities depending on the region you are in. They have heavy ESL.
Thanks. I am used to working at home
and not having to deal with this.  This hospital has opened up a new surgery center which is its own entity and that took away a lot of our transcription plus a good majority of our radiology has gone to templates so in other words we are now very over staffed.  They pulled some of us in-house to work on other stuff when transcription gets low which it frequently does so when I work on other things I get paid an hourly rate.  I make more typing.  Some of the other transcriptionists refuse to do anything else but type and one of the supervisors made a comment that that is not the right attitude to have.  I have considered the nationals mainly due to my pay cut and gas prices and of course this coworker doesn't help, but am afraid of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.  I have read horror stories on this board.   Its hard to decide what to do.  There is little opportunity for transcriptionists around here.  The ones that have a job are holding on tight.  One of the local multispecialty clinics outsource to India  and another one of our big multispecialty clinics do voice recognition and templates. They still have transcriptionists but let a lot of them go.  I live in a remote area also and never thought I would have to worry about India, templates, VR since big city people claims we are soo far behind but it has happened.  Oh, well thanks for letting me vent.  I feel like I did this on the wrong board though, probably should have been on the main board.  Sorry.   
radiology at home

MDI-FL pays 10 cpl for radiology and acute with Meditech experience.  Good company.