I can figure out the percentage, but...
Posted By: IC2 on 2005-12-08
In Reply to: withholding taxes? sm - MTK
How does one go about figuring their estimated tax?
According to what I've read on the IRS site, we have to pay estimated taxes. Well, great. I can estimate my income at what I'm making now, just starting out, but I don't see my income staying this low, so I would eventually be underpaying. I could estimate it at a higher amount, but what if I don't make as much as I think or hope I will? I can see where getting a refund is a good thing, but I'm more worried about underpaying.
Do you pay the tax on what you've ACTUALLY made in a quarter (it kind of sounds like it) or do you go about estimating your income, say you figure you'll make $20k a year, and put 25% of that away?
Confused.
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Percentage of tax
My account told me a good way to judge how much money to put back was to go off the previous year. If I made 30k - take 30%, 15k-15%. If however you find you are making more money than the previous year and will continue the trend take off what you think your yearly total will be, 50k - 50%.
what is the ESL percentage there?
I heard it was high. Is it bad or bearable?
ESL Percentage
What percentage of ESL's do you do on a daily/weekly basis? Which ESL dictation do you find the most difficult to do--Spanish, Indian, other? Do most companies reward you with a better rate if you tell them that you are comfortable doing ESL dictation or not? I have been thinking about this and wondering, since I am paid the same line rate to do the difficult ESL dictation (granted, not all ESL's are as difficult as others) as I am to do the clear and easy dictators, why in the world would a person ever tell the company that they are happy to do their part in transcribing ESL dictation? It is like a person is penalized for doing the difficult work by being put in the difficult dictators work pool and it really doesn't matter if you have 5 years or 20 years of experience, most places just want the work turned around immediately and it doesn't matter how horrible the dictation is--just do it!
I think that the next time that I apply for a transcription position I will say that I am not comfortable with ESL dictation (something that I have never done in my life) in order to get put into better pools of dictators. Instead of being paid more for doing this kind of work and not complaining, I feel we are penalized and seem to ALWAYS get the hard work, which is not fair at all!
As if it isn't hard enough to be an online medical Transcriptionist these days, having to learn the different styles of a bazillion different dictators on however many different accounts you work on (so as not to run out of work) and all of the hospital specs (plus learning their local terminology--city data, names of popular places in the area, etc.), the experienced are put into pools of hard dictators and the poor MT's” (boohoo!) who claim they can't do this dictation make the good money.
So far in my transcription career, I have never played games with companies about things like this and have always told the truth about my strengths and weaknesses as a transcriptionist, but it's dog eat dog these days, and whatever an MT has to do or say to make the $$$ seems to be the name of the game.
Thanks for letting me vent tonight!  
What is your QA percentage? sm
I started with a company last month whose account is extremely picky.. QA is even more picky with their constant nit picky corrections.. I have never had any trouble with my QA. Always 95% or more. But this new job has me at around 85 to 89% and it just makes me angry because one person corrects a dictation one way and then another one does the opposite, removing commas that are supposed to be there, adding in them when they aren't and its all counting against me. Anyone else experience this????????
It is not so much the percentage...
of what they do now, but it is in their company forcasting goals and desires to continue to increase the usage of overseas markets.
It just reminds me of the great linen/towel factories we had here all up and down the east coast that are now no longer because labor was so much cheaper than in Southeast Asia/Asia.
We are the great consumer market of the world and prices have to be kept low so that the market keeps being driven higher and faster to keep the global economy ever profitable and everyone keep their job.
Looked what happened last summer when the Americans stopped buying cars. I rest my case.
I don't know the percentage number, but I'd say
there were no more difficult dictators on the accounts I'm working on than on any other big city hospital that I've worked for over 20 years. And I say difficult dictators versus ESL, as ESL seems to be a negative; people think that foreign-born dictators are difficult to transcribe. There are a good deal of dictators on my accounts who are foreign-born, and if you look at the list of names in the physician's list, you'd think you'll be slogging away all day for very low line counts. That's not so. Most of the dictators are very good. As anywhere, there are a few really horrible dictators, both foreign-born and good old red-white-and blue Americans.
I have absolutely no complaints about TT.
They do some ASR but a very small percentage, something like less than 10%
of all their work is ASR. I am not sure what the pay for it, as I only do straight transcription.
They do pay shift differentials. I think it's a half cent for second shift and a penny for third shift.
They are wonderful people to work with and for. Everyone I have ever spoken to has treated me well. Even the President of the co. has been wonderful to me and will take my call anytime I need to speak with her (which has only been twice).
I would go for it. I am so glad I did.
Percentage and be very careful
how you fill out your return. We had an accountant who was under investigation by the IRS which led to our being audited and we found that much of what he said was allowable was NOT. i.e. You cannot deduct a room for an office unless that is all the room is used for. A guest bedroom with a bed in it is not an office.
I only know about my accounts. Percentage of
ESL relatively low. There are maybe 4 that are very challenging, a few USA born that are very challenging, but I don't have any of them on a regular basis.
Someone else answered your other questions I believe.
ESL percentage is definitely account
specific. However, my personal experience has been that I was only given 1 account, thereby allowing me to get used to the dictators. Secondly, my account has been broken down into specialties, thereby allowing me to get used to the lingo of that specialty. Thirdly, I fully believe that MDI does try its best to make sure that the client understands the need to speak clearly. I'm not saying that's how all accounts are or that that's everyone's general experience at MDI. I'm only commenting on my experience.
I think the ESL question is a standard with any company, too. 
Only a small percentage...sm
They do not off shore a lot of their work, only when the client specifically requests it. I believe the percentage is like 12 or 16 (can't remember which). They do try to get the clients to keep their transcription here, but if the client is adamant about sending it off shore, that's what they do.
I've been working OT lately due to someone leaving and not being replaced yet. There's always a need for good US-based MTs at Transcend.
Some companies pay a percentage of your sm
regular line rate. Webmedx compensates at 70% of your regular rate - so if you make 10 CPL, you'd get 7 cpl for VR editing.
outsource overseas a percentage, which could go up...(nm)
xx
Just out of curiousity, what percentage of work was the
was it a percentage of your production or did they just pull say, 5 jobs per week, or something along those lines?
I left a company where I was doing almost 30,000 lines a month and they only did QA for my score on 4 (that is four) reports a month), so I agree, if you have a bad month, expecially if there is not a good QA ratio to productivity, the company can mess you over.
it's the percentage of reports from that batch
that random percentage number is the break-down of percentage of reports/pages from that batch that you had to have QA listen to a blank, that's all, not your QA percentage. when you leave no reports for QA, that number remains 0 percent. clear as mud? sorry. it's really no thang....
Yes it is, and ANY percentage is too large for my comfort
ANY percentage is too high. There's no excuse for it except profits for greedy American MTSOs.
There are literally HUNDREDS of US MTs more than willing to work these odd hours that Transcend and others claim they are 'forced' to offshore because they cannot get sufficient help here.
I strongly disagree. In fact, I disgree just short to calling it out as being a bald-faced LIE.
The purpose is nothing more to increase profits for the powers that be, while all of the time hammering down the pay of the American MT.
I hope I am not alone in my stand on this. I would rather somewhere else for less money who DOES NOT offshore and who respects their MTs. Respect is something MDI-MD obviously chose to cast aside when they began negotiating their moneymaking deal while we starved, lost sleep, wondered how we would pay our bills, and yet STILL tried to be loyal to these yahoos.
Nope, not happy and checking out before my work goes to India.
I've worked too hard and am too advanced in my career to be a sitting duck.
Those of you doing VR, what percentage of the report do you have to correct?
How accurate is the VR? Just wondering.
What percentage of American MTs are they using these days? (no message)
xx
It all depends on the percentage of the error assessed.
I have worked for a couple of companies who charge an extremely high amount of points for punctuation errors. If this is the case, one can definitely dip into the 80s with punctuation errors.
Small percentage to India at night....
Transcend sends less work to India that most companies, and it is public record. Deventure also sends work to India. It is a fact of life in these times, some hospitals request it. Escription work with Focus doing the most of it, has been historically sent to India. From what I read, Transcend has the largest domestic staff on Escription.
What is approx. percentage of ESLs at your company and who do you work for? sm
My company has SEVERE heavy load of ESLs, probably 85% if not more and they are hard! I have this option of going with another company. I want to try the new company but I don't want to get in the same situation I am in now only because if it is the same situation I would rather stay where I am at because I like the people I work for. There is no benefits and a few things concern me yet they are good to work for, plenty of work and pay is ALWAYS ontime every time. So this is just a poll: What is the percentage of ESLs and where do you work.
Also, do you think I should try to go with this other company part-time and keep my current job to see? The problem is I would have to get unlimited long distance and have their programs downloaded on the same computer. Would love to have any feedback for this tough situation. Thank you!
I wonder what the number or percentage of MTs that need insurance versus those that dont is. Which
is greater I wonder.
Signed up for second session. Dying to hear what percentage of cut is. (sm)
Hopefully people will post as soon as they find out. I know we are lucky to have been kept at the percentage we were. MQ cut us 10% one year and then 10% again. Have a feeling they are going to skip the gentle repeated insults and just hit us with 20 or 30% right off the bat. I hope I am wrong.
Good luck to us all.
I know how to figure it,
how do you qualify for it? The account I work on never offers that, the most they offer is an additional 0.05 per line when they are behind.
Let's figure this out. sm
I am currently working for 10.5 cents per line, equipment furnished, and I get two weeks PTO per year, plus health insurance for $21.00 a payday and that insurance includes health/dental/vision/life, and direct deposit. Compare that to FN, no insurance, no bennies, no direct deposit and, at most, 10 cents per line. There are several small MTSOs out there who provide benefits and pay as I am describing here. Why in the world would you work for a company who provides no benefits at all, not even direct deposit, for 10 cents a line? I just don't get it.
I don't think anybody has been able to figure that out yet
You'll find a few people posting that it didn't affect their line count, but the majority of posters did lose big going to the platform.
Nothing to figure out, really. sm
They no longer pay for demographic info, headers (client letterhead), footers (signature line and DD/DT block/initials), CCs, etc. Add that all up times each page and that is a lot of lost lines, possibly hundreds of lines per day.
GO FIGURE!!! That is what is
what is wrong with our society, no one wants responsibility for there own actions. If you screwed up, and I know for a fact that some of you were not doing your work, because i am the MT that turned you in, then take responsibilty for your screw up. Quit blaming everyone at Shapin for your laziness. And now that your gone, I have your job and I absolutely love it. So I guess I owe you a thank you.
Not sure how you figure that one
Never heard this one before - trying to convert minutes to lines!
.9/line is not a bad rate, depending of course on the specifics of the work (type, difficulty of dictators, TAT, etc.
200 minutes could actually be very few lines if the dictator is a pauser... or a lot of work if they dictate like Robin Williams talks...
Ask for more details.
How do you figure your cpl?
How do you figure your cpl for editing? I don't get it.
D&L - go figure
Poor them, to hear them tell it, every body is lying on them and telling stories. I do not understand how they have Transcriptionist working for them. I have not heard a one that has gotten a check on time and one that they know will clear. Living from paycheck to paycheck and fearing a bounced check would scare me off for sure. Yes they have client's - they do not know what is going on - but I say let the owners type the reports, for sure the clients would not last a week with her skills. Everybody complains, but they remain there - can I just ask why - i would rather work for less than work and worry about a check.
here's the way I figure it
Okay, so 45 minutes of dictation equal 2700 seconds, say 1 hour per 1000-1200 seconds on average typing between 150 to 200 lph, counting referencing time and proofing time, I would say about 2-2-1/2 hours average of actual transcribing time.
It would seem that if you can't figure sm
out correctly how to calculate $25 an hour, you're not going to be able to reach that. 
how do you figure that? If i'm doing less
the company makes less off of me as well.
Cheating out of money would more likely come from charging the client by the line and paying the Transcriptionist per report, among other ways.
Hon, if you can't figure out how to
do that, you need to work on your computer skills - LOL.
I figure...
...NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS! I would assume that I am doing such a good job that they have no reason to contact me.
how do you figure that?
Just curious
what I can't figure out is why any sm
interviewer/supervisor/owner or whatever would even tell that story to an employee much less a new-hire. I sometimes wonder if folks just do that to make themselves sound important. Personally I could not care less what goes on with other employees. I do my work, do it well and expect a paycheck. If that doesn't happen, then I am outta there.
you can figure that one out. Just figure sm
out what you make working at home and the number of hours your put in to make it. Compare that with the hourly wage in a facility. Most facilities still pay hourly and some have incentive plans.
I figure around
30-35% for all taxes.. For myself, I figure I'm saving gas, clothes, time, and car repairs by being an IC at home.
Trying to figure out why you would come here with those problems.
nm
Just figure out average of how much (sm)
you have made per hour for the last, say 24 weeks. If you consistently make under $15, I'd go for the salary. If I was over most of the time, I'd go for production. Figure out what would be a fair amount of time to go back. Good luck.
You WHAT???? That's your paycheck. You should figure it out on your own. sm
Do they hold your hand all day too?
Figure this, if you did 300 lph, it would be a whopping
300 x 1.5 equals $4.50, less than minimum wage and many times when you have Filipino MTs as well as offshore MTs, everything is 100% listen so it might be difficult to get more than 300 lines an hour, but let's say you could do 400 lines an hour, that is 3200 lines a day, that would be a whopping $47
QA editors are specialists in our field and this stinks to say the least
easy way to figure
An easy way to figure would be to type a document and count it with spaces and then without -- even use MS Word -- and that will tell you the difference. Even if your line count program sounds double for caps, underlines, bold, this will at least tell you the difference between the two.
Well, I think you are right and it is strange that no one can figure it out. I am also considering
not working for anymore companies that use it. I think I lose about 75 lph at least. That adds up especially at todays rates or MTs.
Six figure income??? sm
Billers and Coders post says six figure income......yea, right!!! Same post several times.......looks suspicious to me. Maybe if you owned the company, you could get six figures....
Then she can intellectually figure out how to
do it herself! Sorry, but it does not work that way. Its the expansion system of MQ, not her intellectual property! Nice try, though. LOL
Here's a chart to figure that out-sm
This link has a chart that shows examples and tells how to figure that out.
On this chart, you'd be making about $22 more typing 55 cpl at 0.08 rather than 65 cpl.
http://www.medicalese.org/line_count.php
They are always hiring, can't figure out why though.
Not like there is a huge abundance of work. 
I just couldn't figure out
what company and if so, why say CMTs only and then not put the rate of pay. I will never be a CMT either (20 years in MT field) and I think I can pretty much do what any CMT can do other than pay $300.00 for worthless initials. I know a CMT and she got offered less than me at my company. So, for whatever its worth (probably nothing), I just thought I'd ask about this one-liner ad demanding CMTs for a maybe account as to what the pay would most likely be since they are demanding certification.
My SIL graduated from a course and thinks she's certified; I had to tell my brother that she's not certified until she takes the test by those ladies. Anyway, the client has the ultimate say-so, not the BOS. So even if you pass the test, does that mean you follow those guidelines? Doubt it!!!!!!!!!!
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