Guide on Hiring an Independent Contractor

Hiring an independent contractor has advantages and disadvantages. One thing to remember is that an independent contractor is quite a bit different than a regular employee according to rules.

1. You don’t have to pay workers comp. for an independent contractor since he or she is not an employee. Your company can pay on a per project completed basis instead of a hourly wage usually.

2. The independent contractor is required for pay their own taxes. You don’t have to worry about taking any taxes out of an independent contractors check. You just need to have the independent contractor fill out a 1099 or W9 form from the IRS.

3. You can’t require the independent contractor to work an required amount of hours each week at the time that you specific each day. An independent contractor is basically a person that is self employed and can choose their own hours to work on projects.

4. You can decide to cancel the service of an independent contractor at anytime. If you aren’t happy with their work then you simply decide to use their services anymore. You don’t have to worry about any unemployment claims or any wrongful termination of employment.

5. You can decide on a set price amount per project completed without any extra costs usually. Depending upon the agreement you can usually decide when to pay the independent contractor each month.

6. You can write off some services at tax time. If you hire an independent contractor to design a website for your company then you can write it off as an advertisement expense. It goes in your favor since some services offered by independent contractors are a tax write off each year.

7. You can usually request samples of an independent contractors work before you decide to hire them to complete projects. You can usually tell by their samples whether or not they are good at what they do. You can also ask for business references of previous clients that they have once worked with before.

8. You don’t have to worry about paying any health insurance or vacation to any independent contractor since they aren’t an employee. It goes in your favor to hire an independent contractor because it saves you money long term each year.

9. You aren’t stuck into accepting work that isn’t acceptable nor up to your standards. You have the option of rejecting work until it is completed to your standards. It is one of the benefits of having an independent contractor is that you don’t have to pay for sloppy work usually depending upon the terms.

10. Most independent contractors are usually reliable and on time to meet due dates. You usually don’t have to worry about an independent contractor not following through with a project that you requested. Independent contractors often want you to be happy with their work. They usually want you to pay them again for other projects in the future that you might want.

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