I too question you overhead expenses. I work for a company that only gets 11-12 cpl and pays us 8-8.
Posted By: TNMT on 2007-01-30
In Reply to: Question ... How would you handle this? - sm
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And you have a company that pays this? or do you work on your own?
nm
The company I work for pays by the minute--
So when you have dictators just sitting there taking their time those minutes can add up.
WORK-AT-HOME EXPENSES JUST AS MUCH - sm
as if I were working outside the home, if not more. The only thing I would spend money on an outside job would be the $4.00 daily bus fare. I have more than enough clothes for work, no problem there, maybe lunch or can brown-bag. The company pays the office space, light, electricity, internet, cable, AIR CONDITIONING in summer (imp.)
On the other hand, even as an employee, I am not reimbursed for my high-speed, HIGH-COST cable/DSL/telephone I need to make these few cents a line, electric costs, lights, AC BILL JUMPS WHEN SITTING AT PC ALL DAY IN SUMMER, buy my own office supplies, books, references.
Just another mind sc---ing they give you by telling you it's cheaper to work at home. (I have no kids).  
What company pays this much
Would love to know who pays this much for VR editing.
Please point me to a company that pays more
for ESL transcription. The one I work for certainly doesn't. 
LOL Probably the company pays for it. What a racket they have going on.
I don't believe a word they say and it makes me sick.
Anyone care to share name of Company that pays so much?
I'm interested
our company pays 80% of our regular rate. (nm)
z
Not all QA is paid per line. My company pays
per hour and pays VERY well.
Do you think a company pays less for rural pay than city?
Does not make sense to me.
Our company pays a flat rate
based on the length of the meeting, and they schedule multiple meetings so you can choose which one to attend (during your shift or outside of your shift). Of course, they also pay downtime, so it sounds like our companies have somewhat different philosophies.
my company pays downtime for conf calls...
It may be worthwhile IF you can actually find a company now that pays extra for it -
I let mine drop after 6 years. It got to be very costly keeping up with the continuing education credits because for me it meant nearly always having to fly some place to get them, hotel, food, etc. My 2 cents...
how about looking for a company that pays radiology reports by report and not line? nm
x
Transcend pays 3 cpl for all work done....sm
on the 6 major holidays.
I work for a place that pays per word (sm)
and to figure it you just get the total word count (using the word count feature in Word). You would have to find out if the 1000 words is based on "a word is a word," or if there's some "formula" such as suggested in another reply, like every 5 characters counts as a word and does that include spaces in that count, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. If it's just straight up $5.00 per actual 1000 words, then I don't think that's good at all. I make .0085 per word, and I've figured out that it would be an average of 8.5 to 9.5 cents per line. Anyway, if "a word is a word" at least, $5.00 per 1000 words would probably equal around 5-6 cents per line or so.
Can I ask where you work that pays editors per hour?
I have been editing for about 2 months now and have 7 years as a MT. I am still working as a MT along with my new editor's position. The company I am working for only pays by the line, so if you don't produce you get very little pay.
Anyone work for co. who pays all phone costs? sm
Asked before, perhaps did not post. Anyone have a company who pays all phone costs, FTP, etc., I just want to either transcribe or edit,,, no added expenses, but they can absorb the cost for me. Sound crazy? You just never know.Doesn't hrt to ask
What is your overhead??
Are your MT's employees? What type of overhead to you have that takes up over half of the cpl? I only make 3 to 4 cpl from my IC's and I okay on that. Something is not right here and I don't know if you want justification to cut your MT's or what but I would LOVE to know what kind of overhead you have that takes so much of your money. If they are employees, make them IC's working from home so you don't have to pay benefits, etc. rent office space or whatever. You have a lot more choices than cutting their pay. I also only charge my accounts 12.5 to 13 cpl and do pick up and delivery and do well. I could be completely out of it but again, feel your problem is your overhead and not what you pay your MT's.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Mutual of Omaha - Which company pays off claims the best w/o hassle?
nm
In every company I have worked for that pays via mail, they mail the checks on payday. sm
Depending on the distance you can get them anywhere from 3-8 days later. Right now one takes 3 days, the other 3-5.
Remind her your overhead has gone up, i.e., the price
x
What ungodly taxes? And what overhead?
The little bit of tax you pay that an EMPLOYER would pay is very small. The other taxes you pay regardless of IC or employee. The difference is IC mails check for those taxes herself. Employee has same money taken from check, the difference is MTSO mails it to IRS, instead of IC mailing it. It all still comes from IC net pay. My independence is well worth the small amount I pay myself that EMPLOYER would pay for EMPLOYEE.
What overhead? Overhead is another word for tax write-offs. EVERYTHING you need to work from home is write-off. Garbage, electric, water, etc. Ofter will find that with all the write-offs, you actually pay less in overall taxes.
I have a hard time believing your overhead
I think you should consider selling your clients to an American-based company and go back to MT'ing. It doesn't sound like you can handle the pressure of being a business owner. I am an IC that makes 10 cpl and my MTSO owner does not mind at all that she is only making 3 cpl off of my 10 cpl, but she does not have to QA my work or do really much of anything, and she's clearing 3 cpl on my 10. Now, if you have complaining MT's, then you need to be more strict about TAT and QA. They should not require you to QA once they've become familiar with the dictations. Also, you need to find a way to also provide 24-hour turnaround. The problem here is that you are only willing to pay 7-8 cpl. I'm still baffled as to the cost of your overhead? Most physicians supply paper, their own dictation equipment. FTP sites do not cost that much. Lot of eyebrown raising ???'s here, that I don't think you are being forthcoming. JMO. Good luck!
VR pays half of what typing pays...
If you would read her post more closely she said she does VR, which pays half of what straight typing does. I do VR and have made 4 cpl, so 5 is actually good and 4-5 is an industry standard, and may be even less if you are an employee. The problem is that you have to double your line counts in order to make decent money, which is not always easy. I embrace VR because I like it better than straight typing, but it is not productive for everyone, no matter how hard you try.
You don't want to work for this company. Call your current company and
tell them that you have decided against the new position and tell them that you would like to stay. It is cheaper for them to let you stay than to train someone new. A company who could be so tacky as the one you just spoke of is one you do not want to work for. You can rescind your resignation. If you are a good MT, they will be glad you did.
All I know is it caused the company I work for to be unable to do all work due today and the rest
:+
You live in a dream world if you think that MTSOs are making money hand over fist. Overhead? Add i
Banks charge about $200 a month for a business account plus .10 for every check deposited and written.
Ten people in an office? At $30k a year, that's $300,000 per year IF you can get them to work for only $30k. Add in 2 editors, an IS consultant, an accountant, a lawyer, rent on office space, checks, stamps for checks, software upgrades, phone lines, equipment for MTs, equipment for office staff, lightbulbs, toilet paper, a copier, a printer, paper, ink, pens, pencils, long distance charges to call MTs and customers, recruiting ad costs, taxes, benefits because most MTs are employees now because the IRS says most should be classified that way, high-speed internet, internet service provider because hotmail and yahoo are free but not professional, email encryption, fax machine, fax phone line, staplers, staples, paper clips, file folders, file cabinets, etc etc etc.
I am not whining. I am just stating facts. Add that to the headache of juggling schedules based on unpredictable workload due to unpredictable amount of people needing medical attention, the headache of billing clients who pay when they want regardless of what your terms are, covering for people who get sick or need time off, and it is not an easy thing to do. I am lucky that I am a workaholic and love what I do. Am I rich? No. Will being an MTSO make me rich? Probably not. Do I make more than I did as an MT? Yes, but at a higher price.
Don't judge until you walk in someone's shoes. I bought a new vehicle this year, a 2005 Ford Taurus, trading in my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee and actually had comments made about how it must be nice to be able to buy a new car.
Oh, forgot to say all the phones ringing, overhead speaker blurting out pages, background talking
dictator's cell phones ringing, kids yelling from dictator being at home, machines in the ICU beeping off and on during the entire dictation, saws going from casts being removed nearby, and you can just imagine all the other noises such as nose blowing, sniffling, chomping on food while dictating, and on and on. EXSpeech doesn't like those noises, so the machine lets the MT"s transcribe those YUKKY reports all day long and all night long. Exspeech gets the good guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i used to work for a company that divided the work types up and i loved it. sm
there were only 4 of us working a major teaching hospital. someone was assigned surgery, different assigned discharges, different admits, etc. we all had the backup work type in case the original assignee wasn't available and were cross trained. it made us much more efficient, ability to get used to dictators, set macros, and in the long run we were all much happier.
The company I work for said cable phone wouldn't work, just FYI.
nm
I don't work for MQ but that happened to me once at the company where I work and
my next two paychecks were shorted out of what they had overpaid me for that pay period. I hope they don't take it out of your hide. It was hard to budget for that month!
Company I work for has to pay fines for work out of TAT.
x
I work as an IC, work when I want, but I still let the company know if I am going to be unavailable
for any length of time, even though I don't have to.
I have no expenses except to buy my
computer, desk and chair, which after time becomes a wash and are nominal expenses. All my references are online paid for by the company (all Stedman electronic word books, my free personal subscription to Monthly Prescribing Reference, etc.)
Maybe you can cut your expenses? sm
If you are using telephones for dictation, maybe switch to handheld units? Or use a TASP to save money on calls? Use the Internet more to cut down on expenses. Hope this helps. If you can, keep your clients. They are hard to come by nowadays.
Remember that's $40 before all expenses. nm
x
Medical expenses
January, 2000 - DH tore rotator cuff, needed MRI/arthrogram, followed by rotator cuff repair.
January, 2001 - I had foot surgery in podiatrist's office.
January, 2002 - DH had cervical MRI/myelogram, followed by anterior cervical diskectomy with fusion, two levels.
January, 2003 - DH had knee MRI, followed by arthroscopy.
January, 2004 - I had LASIK surgery.
OMYGOSH, it's almost January again! 
Why not just add it to your business expenses? nm
x
You can still deduct your MT expenses if your and IC - sm
regardless of taking the standard deduction. Your write offs for MT are on the Schedule C (not B). My husband and I take the standard deduction as we don't have enough on our Sch. B; then I write off all my IC deductions and report my income on the Sch. C.; putting the bottom line (income minus IC write-offs) on the 1040 line 12. So I am not quite clear on what you are talking about but I know how I do it is how most of us (if not all) do our deductions. You may want to do an amended return.
Tax Deductible Expenses
We ran a business for years from our home. As far as I know, you can take the base rate of your telephone bill as an expense (which includes FCC taxes) and any long distance calls related directly to the business. As for Home Owners Insurance, you can take 7% of the insurance because you use 7% of your home for your business. Also, anything related to the business such as equipment, paper, tapes or special software programs can be taken as well. If you have to travel to deliver the finished reports, I believe the rate is 28 cents a mile. If you travel, you can also deduct any maintenance on your vehicle. Hope this helps.
Taxes, Expenses
I would have internet anyway; now I get to write it off. I would have long distance anyway; now I get to write it off. Everyone pays taxes and insurance, it is just a matter of who is doing the bookkeeping. Walmart STARTS at $8/hour and then when they pay all that same stuff they are really making $5- $6. You can write off ALL your health insurance, a portion of your utilities and the area you work in, computer, software, and other supplies.....save on gas (this is HUGE right now), work clothes, make up, day care, and and and. There's always more than one way to view something.
Also, are these figures before tax/expenses or after? sm
Some ICs might be quoting their pay before taxes and expense deductions, which isn't their ACTUAL pay for the year. If someone has their own accounts and says they bring in $50K per year, that's possible, but probably not the amount they receive free and clear.
I find it hard to believe anyone makes that much free and clear unless they are working 12 hours a day, every day, and pulling in a significantly high per-line rate. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I base this opinion on the fact that I make a very good line rate, type over 100 wpm for easy accounts I've had for years, and still don't bring in that kind of money free and clear. I come close with my gross income, but after taxes and expenses, it's only about 65% of that! And I work 9-10 hours a day with only one week of vacation per year.
Come to think of it, that's pretty sad when I see it on paper. LOL I'm going to go look for a new line of work now.
What is the cost of your living expenses? sm
I would really like to know this as mine seem high. My cost for the bare minimum, not including insurance, medical costs or entertainment, is about $1,800.00 per month.
Is that high to most people? TIA.
$350 a month for my share of expenses.
z
get a credit card just for your IC expenses
it will keep all your expenses in one place and you won't need to keep receipts, just the credit card statements. Other than that, track mileage, though to be frank most people will just claim an average mileage and then create a mileage journal if audited. Also if you will take the home office deduction, you can claim percentage of heating, etc. but easy enough to do that. Might be worth your while to consult with a CPA if you take the IC job, and then the first year that you do your taxes. He can explain everything you need and then you can take it from there. Just one or two more forms to fill out, nothing earth-shattering.
Poll: Earnings vs Expenses
1. What are your monthly earnings -- just you (no spousal income) -- doesn't matter how many jobs....monthly earnings?
2. Do you work more than one job?
3. What is your base line rate? If you have more than 1 job, list all base rates.
4. Now what is the minimum bring-home pay you need to survive each month? This is your housing, energy, transportation, insurances, food -- what you have to have to make it.
5. What's the difference? Are you in the hole? Got surplus? Breaking even?
My answers:
1. About $3100 each month.
2. One job.
3. $0.095 cpl plus some incentive bonus each month.
4. $2287 gets everything paid. Savings and pocket money not included in that figure.
5. Surplus but not much. Trying to save as much as possible and have a few greenbacks in my wallet each week.
Was told could deduct pet expenses. sm.
If it is a dog and is over 50 pounds, you can claim its food, vet bills, pet insurance, vaccinations all that as long as your business is run from your home. It applies as a guard dog. It does not matter which breed the dog is either. This is the state of Missouri, not sure about other states.
I am gonna try it as we shelled out alot of money over a period of time for a dog that was poisoned. Luckily, he lived.
6 months of expenses "tucked/socked" away? No way. sm
I am the owner of a small transcription company. We have 50 transcriptionists. We invoice $150,000 per month. Our payroll, taxes, manager salaries, postage, bank fees, overhead, etc run approximately $140,000 per month. That means that we should have $840,000 tucked away somewhere. No way. We depend on our customers to pay. Our employees are paid on time and paid a decent rate. Our bills are paid. To say that someone needs 6 months of expenses put away is unrealistic and naive. Where did I attend school? For undergrad, University of Michigan, for graduate school, Northwestern University, with a master's degree in Business Management and a Bach degree in Finance. The rule of thumb is to have one payroll worth of cash on hand or a line of credit available equal to that amount.
It's really annoying that people can toss out comments like that, stating them as if they were fact, without any basis of fact. Most companies do not have close to a million dollars lying around. If they do, it is foolish.
I also took home office expenses as an employee, but --
You can only get any good out of it if you are also a homeowner with a lot of mortgage interest or have a lot of medical expenses, etc., that would make it higher than the standard deduction.
deducting home office expenses -
For the home office expense - You would measure the amount of space you actually use to work (your desk area) and figure the percentage of that square footage to your total square footage. Then you would use that percentage of your utilities costs, etc., to count on your taxes.
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