you're right, about SE taxes; wasn't thinking about IC status with that.

• IC pay - need opinions - curious
  • Questions for any seasoned transcriptionists.... - KC
  • I know something about this - midwestmt
  • Psych pay -- too low - Patti
  • think, people! If she does 250 lines/hour, same docs daily, will make $15/hour - average N/M
    • Yeah, take home 70% for IC and make aprox $10.50/hour or .04cpl - Don't forget to account for SE taxes nm
      • you're right, about SE taxes; wasn't thinking about IC status with that. - for IC, I guess that is pretty low. Thanks. N/M
    • Doesn't seem a valid point to me. Most people can make 250 lph sm - LTMT
  • Terrible....can't make a living on that. - nm
  • That seems pretty low to me, esp. for your exp and it's IC., even though Psych is fairly simple. - anon
  • I'd like to find an "on-calL" position too, but not for 6 cpl. sm - ltmt
  • if easy platform and few ESLs, you'll do okay with same doctors daily. - Use templates/shorthand - n/m
  • Ridiculous - Daphne
  • Are you a newbie and how many lines do they want you - to do each day?? If you're not new, forget it!
    • not newbie -10+ years experience - curious
    • ...NM up there. - NM
  • psych - cm
  • In my experience there are lots of ESL - me

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I am new to IC and have a question about taxes:

I know I will not receive a W2 but I should get a W9 from my company, is that correct?  I know I am majorly stupid about this, but I am young, just married, and this is the first time I have to do this on my own.

Thanks in advance!

I've been thinking about finding a company that offers IC status. My current situation is this  - I'm currently an employee for a service and have asked to be moved to a part time schedule soon as I'm expecting another baby and have realized there just aren't enough hours in the day to work full time and take care of my family (this will be my third child, fourth if you count hubby :-) ). So far my supervisor has barely acknowledged my request. I have also read here that people who once worked for my current company had asked for a schedule change and were refused. This is not an option for me, I need to go part time and I need flexibility in the schedule (something I know my current company does not offer).

A couple of years ago I interviewed with Oracle Transcription and the lady who talked to me seemed very nice. I was a little put off by the IC status (I don't need bennies - hubby's are fine) mostly because it's not familiar territory. The tax thing makes me a little nervous and I wouldn't know where to begin as far as transcription software. This company seemed to be very flexible in schedules. I also liked that this company was very anti sending work overseas. But, this was 2 years ago and I doubt that position would still be available.

So, how do you go about making an easy transition from employee status to IC status and which companies offer IC positions without treating you like an employee?

Thanks  

I rarely ever post but I just wanted to let people know what happened to me so they can avoid the same experience I had. i'm not gonna mention the name of the company here,but anyone who works for this company knows the problems they've had with their payroll and getting their direct deposits on time.. and how the owner is uncaring about how many bounce fees she causes everyone to have to pay, or how people can't pay their bills when their DD doesnt show up until Monday. She just turns off her IMs and doesnt answer emails. Really great person to work for..   Well.. aside from those problems, i just wanted to warn people that when you do decide to finally leave the company, just be sure she doesnt owe you anything before you leave. Do a slow down, so that she owes you as little as possible by the time you quit, unless you don't have any equipment, like a foot pedal or anything, that she sent you that she can use to justify holding your final check(s). She has done this to a few people I know of..and I'm sure there's lots more I don't know. I can't say if she pays right away if you don't have equipment,.she probably does ...but I know what happens if you do!!

I had a foot pedal that belonged to her, and she held my final TWO CHECKS on me. She owed me one full check and for two or three days into a new pay period and held them both. When my next to last check didn't show up as expected and I called to ask her about it, she said its "company policy" to roll all money owed into one final check. She happened to be on vacation, so I returned the equipment,but still had to wait from the 4th of April until the 26th when she returned from vacation.. I waited and still didn't receive any money from her, so I emailed her multiple times with no response.. Then i happened to check my bank balance and found out she had deposited the check for the 2-3 days in my account..but the full check she owed me wasn't there.  I had expected a paper check from her, so I didnt check my balance for a while..I just happened to check it. When i emailed her about the money, she didnt even bother to answer me to say she had deposited it, so its a good thing I checked or I'd still be waiting.  I finally called her. since she refuses to answer emails, and she said she would look into what happened with the other check first thing Monday morning...This was last Friday.. today I FINALLY got my money from her.  only more than a full month and 266.00 in bounce fees later!!   So, the good news is she will probably pay you..eventually...but who wants to wait over a month with no check?  I know I had extenuating circumstances because she happened to go on vacation, but she also did payroll early, and there was no way I could have gotten the pedal back to her before she did payroll. She knew she was going to hold both checks and didn't bother to tell me that when I emailed her to tell her I had mailed the pedal back and would be expecting my check as usual on April 14th.. so I got a nice little shock when my DD just didnt show up on the 14th.  Maybe others get their money a little sooner, but still ..who wants to wait for their checks for that long.  Well anyway, I decided to let people know what happened to me, just so they can avoid it happening to them.

I am caught between a rock and a hard place and figure this is the place to get the best advice from those in the know.  I have been an IC for the past 5 years and love the flexibility but was interested in a job with benefits.  I started a new job about a month ago with good pay (2 lph more than I was making) and benefits......very happy with company but as an employee, obviously have a schedule.  I am working both jobs currently and starting to burn out.  On the new job, I am struggling to get the 1200 lines per day required but on my old.... I can easily get 150-400 lph depending on the dictator but again, it is IC and less lph than the new job.  Obviously, the platform is different and not paid for template headers/footers wheras the old one, I am paid for those.  Now to my question.  Is it just me?  Is it because I really enjoyed the freedom of ic status and therfore seem to be struggling?   Anyone else experienced this before?  Tempted to go back told job and lose benefits/more pay because in the end, maybe it works out be the same pay because of amount of time I spend getting the job done?   Not sure if this makes sense but hoping you can all offer some advice!!  TIA

When you work for someone you STILL PAY YOUR TAXES, your employer does NOT except for the 7.5 SS.  Look at your pay check, are not taxed withheld??? As an IC you are RESPONSIBLE for withholding your own taxes and sending them in but either as an employee or a IC -- you still PAY them, except for the 7.5 of social security.   Sorry but it bugs me when people say as an IC you pay your own taxes as it is incorrect -- you are RESPONSIBLE for paying your own taxes.  With your write off's, flexibility and most of the time more pay it does cover the extra SS you have to pay.  Been doing it for almost 20 years. 

The post above is not true.  As an employee the employer pays one half of your federal and state (if you have them) taxes.  It is not just half of the FICA they pay. It is half of the total federal (Fed, FICA, Medicare.)  I was an MTSO for 8 years and looked into making my ICs employees and just couldn't swing it plus try to offer benefits.

I have just accepted an IC position. I have never worked as an IC before. Do you set aside your tax money and pay it quarterly or at the end of the year. (for next year) Any advice on this would be much appreciated. Thanks!

You don't pay any more taxes as an IC than you do as a regular employee.  You pay your taxes differently and pay more up front than you do as an employee, but on the back end when you do your taxes it all evens out.

You have to pay your regular federal withholding.  It's the same rate that you would pay based on 0 deductions with a regular job.   You can use the tax table http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf to figure that out.  Then you have to pay the whole FICA tax of 15.3%.  Half of that is the employer's portion, which you don't have to pay as an employee.  The other half and the federal withholding you already pay as an employee.

When you do your taxes at the end of the year, you enter half of your self employment FICA tax on line 27 (along with a schedule SE) and you deduct it from your gross income. 

So you have to pay more up front, but you don't pay more in the long run.

I pay 25% to the feds every time I get paid and I pay 5% to the state every time I get paid.  A lot of people like to do it quarterly, but I like to get it over with so I don't think I have the money to spend.

You can make your federal tax payments on line here:  https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/ .   You have to sign up with them and then they mail you paperwork with online passwords and stuff, so it takes about a week to get actual access, but it's worth it.  It's where I pay all of my taxes.  Your state probably has an online presence where you can pay your state taxes as well.

I've only ever been an IC so I can't compare working as an IC to working as an employee on production.

I am fairly new to the IC status.  Approximately what percentage should I be putting away for taxes (federal, state and local).  I know it varies, but just a baseline amount please if anybody can help me out?  I would like to start this with the new year.  Where do you put the money, your regular savings account or open a separate account?  TIA. 

K