Percentage and be very careful
Posted By: undecided on 2007-10-16
In Reply to: Question about taxes for statuatory employees (sm) - Not an accountant
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.
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Lots of people have been burned by them..be careful, very careful. NM
xx
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 can figure out the percentage, but...
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.
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.
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.
Be careful
Be careful
All I can say is be careful...
You will get a great offer, good training and be happy as a lark ... until you're out on your own, no one from IT will respond to your inquiries about technical problems, and they'll train you on one account (one that gives you great line counts) and then presto-chango, you're typing every ESL doc they dug out from wherever it is they hatch them from and you'll make ZERO dollars. I think the problem here is, like a lot of others, the good dicatators are going through VR (you'll notice, Transcend has a TON of openings for VR editors), and we (the MTs) are getting stuck with the dopes who cannot talk. I'm giving some serious thought to switching to editing - I'd rather do that and do twice the work, than try to figure out what these jokers are saying. Anyway, I was making great money during training with Transcend, but am now LOSING money and trying to decide if I should look elsewhere.
Be careful, though
My training went exceptionally well and I was on cloud 9. Then - WHAM!!! They put me on the account I was hired for (of course, no one told me it was different than the one I trained on), and it is AWFUL. I made great money right after training, until this new account ... now I'm taking a loss. These dictators are AWFUL - so I hope for your sake, when your training is over, they don't do the same to you.
Be careful. (sm)
I don't know if they do this anymore, but I was hired at a gross line count and then they changed things after hiring. I did the math, and I came out as losing money. Many others were complaining of the same bait and switch at the time.
I also ran into the absolute rudest QA staff of my long career at JLG. It sounded like the owner was going to try to straighten them out at the time, but I didn't stick around to see whether she did.
I had the highest line rate at JLG that I've ever had (13 cents, can't remember if with or without spaces); however, the constant running out of work and being asked to take the day off!, constant switching around of accounts combined with the rudest QA ever made it absolutely not worth it. I've come to the point I realize that it's the entire package an MT has to look at. Others have paid less, but I've been happier.
I hope this helps. I know you asked for those with a happy experience, but I thought I'd give you an honest experience.
Be careful
Whether you can do it or not depends on what they hire you for. Look at the postings a few days ago where people talk about the one account with all the ESLs that people scream about.
Be careful with them
Good pay, but many many problems. 2 yrs with them & I can't take it any more.
Careful about A. They will tell you
that you are hired for tier 3, but then say they meant 2 or 1 and give you a much lower rate!!
Be very careful.
You're not supposed to be sending intercompany information anywhere. I would get it in writing first that your ISP isn't going to be tracked and your info handed over to Transcend so they can fire you. With all the info on this board about what they are doing, Transcend still has their weekly cattle calls on the job seekers' board, so it doesn't look like Transcend is going to lose anything.
Just be very careful.
Be careful
There are huge tax implications. Yes, you get to deduct for certain home-office expenses, but only under specific guidelines and there is a minimum amount that you must have spent out of pocket. If the company is paying you very, very well, then I'd say go for it. Under no circumstances should you take an IC/statutory emp. (where they pay no taxes) job at the same rate of pay as an employee. Please take the time to consult with a tax person before getting yourself in what could be a very expensive proposition. You won't be sorry.
And be careful.
It can mess up your Word program so that some of your commands won't work any more (if you use Word for anything else).
And be careful.
It can mess up your Word program so that some of your commands won't work any more (if you use Word for anything else).
Be careful
Depending the account you get you may spend more time with the demographics than it is worth and the line counts can be off if you copy/paste into regular Word and check them yourself, or even using a line counting program.
Be careful
Check the archives, where it is posted that they do not pay on time or do not pay at all, as well as some taking or having taken legal action against them.
Be Careful
I worked for them and made no money. When a QA position opened, I tested for it. They claimed I didn't pass. However, 2 years later, I am the QA director for another company. Hmmm. I think someone had a friend or relative that wanted the job too.
Be careful
This company makes a lot of promises they don't keep, their Editor is extremely difficult to work with, and their employee turnaround is awful. Watch yourself. I worked for them for two years and am SO glad to be done.
Be very careful...sm
They will tell you they pay for spaces but when you get your check (six weeks later) you will see you are not because the IType system they use does not count them. When you inquire you are lied to and told they are not sure what is up. They keep you on the hook but know all along they are not paying for spaces. Apparently, they have been doing this for several years. Do a search on this board. As well, still waiting for my last check and it's been several months. Won't respond to calls or e-mails. No work either most days.
wow, all I can say is be very very very careful ...
I can't emphasize it enough. Very bad reputation, but apparently the admins of this board were supposedly talking to him (owner) about not paying people and so forth and they have allowed him to post jobs again. But just be careful - there are quite a few companies out there that do not pay or will pay up to a certain point (i.e. when they are done using you) and you will never hear from them again.
Be careful!!!
They called me back for rehire and I have never heard a word. I quit because they never paid me on time. They promised me I would get paid on time, etc., but I have not heard a word from them. I would not be surprised if they are getting bought out by somebody else. I was supposed to have started back 3 weeks ago and still no word!!!!
be careful
D&L uses them for recruiting because they cannot recruit themselves due to bad publicity. I am sure there are others too. Same results as searching online for companies without the hassle of double testing or getting attached to a company you would never have gone to in the first place.
careful...
I just called a company and theirs is a 70 character line
I would be careful
I was actually hired by this company and their contract also states that they can lower your pay at any time and not pay for reports if they are not 100%. I was all ready and set to go ended up having emergency surgery. I called them and emailed them to let them know before I went to the hospital and then called when I was released stating that I could still do part-time and was very anxious to get started, but never heard anything again. I was very upset about this. The lady I spoke with told me how lucky they were to get someone with my experience and how I would quickly get raises, etc. Anyhow sorry about spelling errors, etc, have been up since 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Good luck. If you take the job, please keep us updated:)
Be careful about.....
contacting the original client. I did that with another MTSO I had problems with and actually they sued me for damages and WON - wont do that again. Your best bet is to issue a formal letter demanding payment - not an email as that wont hold up in court and if she does not pay, then file small claims and use your contract as the evidence you need to prove your case.
Just my 2cw. :)
Careful...
I would ask to sample a tape before even agreeing to quote a price/take the job. Could be interesting; could be a real chore.
Then I'd charge by the minute of dictation based upon that test - $1.00+ per minute depending on the quality/difficulty of the conversations. This is going to be a hefty bill! 1800 minutes by my estimation... What's the turnaround requirement? I'll do it! :)
MQ QA ...be careful
xx
careful
This thread is starting to sound like the MQ board!
I would be very careful with MQ
In case you have not read the MQ board lately, 70% of controlling stock has been sold to CBay Holding Systems, an Indian company, that will probably/possibly begin offshoring work to their Indian transcription company. There is much debate over this, and I would caution you before giving up a good offer with another company.
As far as flexibility goes with MQ, it all depends on your supervisor. Mine was great. The pay was awful - no raise in 5 years. Not to mention, ASR/voice recognition cuts. See below.
MQ pays 70% (currently) of your base rate for voice recognition, which is pretty good in comparison to other companies. About 75% of my paycheck was ASR. If the other company is straight transcription, you will make out much better than ASR at MQ.
Be Careful
After reading what SS reportedly promised you about upping you to 9 cpl when removed from QA, that jumped out at me. If they were unethical enough to do as they did to the other MT, why would you be any different? Just something to think about.
I hope I'm wrong. Truthfully, I had no idea that this co. was uncool. I'm glad that names are being dropped so the rest of us will know intead of having to dig around and hope they get lucky re the proper info.
Hope you keep us posted.
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