figure out ~user's relationship to Gratipay

[chadwhitacre]

@rohitpaulk is on the Gratipay team. He contributes work and was receiving payments under our old team/members system. What is his relationship to Gratipay, LLC?

"Global HR Hot Topic—July 2011: Overseas Independent Contractor or de Facto Employee?: Cracking the Classification Conundrum"

[chadwhitacre]

To: CPA

A prior question for you: are these workers properly classified as contractors? I've run through a couple checklists and results are somewhat inconclusive. Our current plan is to move forward with contractor status, and file an SS-8 once we have more experience under our belts.

What would you need to know to advise here? Is this worth a phone call?

Prior to the tax treaty questions at https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/3433#issuecomment-193794710, that is.

[mattbk]

File an SS-8 if it turns out a person is an employee rather than a contracter? It seems it should only be filled out under certain circumstances:

Explain your reason(s) for filing this form (for example, you received a bill from the IRS, you believe you erroneously received a Form 1099 or Form W-2, you are unable to get workers' compensation benefits, or you were audited or are being audited by the IRS)

[chadwhitacre]

File an SS-8 if it turns out a person is an employee rather than a contracter?

I was thinking we'd file precisely in order to answer that very question. My understanding is that either party can request a determination:

Firms and workers file this form to request a determination of the status of a worker for purposes of federal employment taxes and income tax withholding.

Filing a Form SS-8 requesting a “worker status” determination means you or the firm is asking the Service to establish if the services you provide to the firm are those of an employee or an independent contractor.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/About-Form-SS8

[chadwhitacre]

In other words, we proceed by our best lights (yinz are contractors), and then ask the IRS to tell us whether we got it right. If they agree then we've got a high degree of confidence, if not then we adjust.

[chadwhitacre]

Alright, just fielded a call from Peter (our CPA). He's quite comfortable with a contractor classification, because Gratipay is not dictating how you spend your time and we're not providing a work environment (i.e., desk and a computer). The fact that compensation is take-what-you-want is a further point in favor of contractor classification. He advised against filing an SS-8, since the matter is clear enough already.

[chadwhitacre]

Gosh. Are we done with this ticket, then? :flushed:

Reminds me of https://github.com/gratipay/inside.gratipay.com/issues/119#issuecomment-113704285:

And, then, who are your partners? Who are the players involved? Which are the different relevant factors you have to respect?

Bringing in a CPA has definitely proven to be a good move. :-)