Back to the same old 1099 Vs. W-2 discussion.

What Guntoter has said is true and correct. Fill out the form and you will get an answer from those who are in charge and know what they are talking about. I will not post my acceptance letter here as it has personal information on it that I do not wish to share. However I can tell you that the first time I filled out the form I was told they are employes and not IC. In my mind I do not run a trucking company I am just helping out a few guys who want to be O/O but don't have the means to do it. I now have 3 drivers who work under my authority and insurance. It started out with me helping a guy out. He wanted to buy a truck had money for the truck but after buying the truck he would have little left over to run his operation. Plus he wasn't sure if he could get his own authority. So he put the down payment on the truck and I bought the truck for him and worked out a finance agreement with him. He paid me on a monthly basis till he paid off the truck. While he was doing that he was on my authority and my insurance. I set loads for him from CA to MA and back. He paid for his fuel and maintenance cost. I paid him the first few months on 1099 illegally while I was waiting for the form to come back. Even though he was paying to buy the truck, paying fuel cost, and maintenance cost, I was still in control of the loads and IRS said he was an employee because I told him where to go. So he was paid on W-2 for 8 months till we figured it all out. So now they still use my authority and insurance but they pay a quarterly fee for the insurance. They use my contacts and dispatch for loads but they have they can turn down any load they want. The main thing with the IRS was if they had the right to find their own loads. We run produce from Northern CA to Boston then find a load back to CA. So in all of there contracts it now states that they can and will find their own load back to CA. Now they usually rely on my dispatcher to find a load back but because it is in their contract that they have to find a load back the IRS is fine with it. I still help them out with fuel or maintenance if they need it and that's not a problem. From what I can gather from dealing with the IRS it doesn't come down to who pays for what. It comes down to can you set your own hours, days or weeks of when you work. Can you take holidays when you want. That is why even though those who are leasing a truck from a big company and are paying out of pocket expenses are still paid on W-2. They have no control on when or where they work. That is my best guess. but like Guntoter said don't take my word for it or anyone elses here find out from the IRS they are the ones you have to deal with in the end.

 

Do you have a particular contract that you have your drivers sign?