In this Issue: 1. The SSA/IRS Reporter 2. Employee or Independent Contractor
1. What Is The SSA/IRS Reporter? The SSA/IRS Reporter is a quarterly newsletter sent to over 7.8 million employers and 125,000 tax professionals. Each quarter, 67,500 Spanish Edition copies are sent to Puerto Rico and another 10,000 copies are mailed with Form 941SS to American Protectorates. The publication is included with Package 941, 941PR and 941SS. Why Is It Important? In addition to its employer-related articles, the publication has a Spanish edition, a HELP block with help telephone numbers, a vitals masthead which shows product ownership and identification of a contact person and e-mail address, information on closing business entities, and a "Test Your Knowledge" section. Business electronic filers who were to be eliminated from Package 941 mailings will now receive the SSA/IRS Reporter as a standalone publication When Is It Distributed? Winter Edition (December release) Spring Edition (March release) Summer Edition (June release) Fall Edition (September release) Who Is Responsible For It? The SSA/IRS Reporter was created in its current form by joint interagency agreement between SSA and IRS in 1993. Joel Klein has been the editor of the publication since the Fall edition 2001. Comments and suggestions for the publication may be submitted by e-mail. How Can You Get It? By request at the Area Distribution Center by calling (800)820-3676. By subscription to Tax Professionals via Publication 1045, Tax Professionals Guide to 2004 Federal Tax Products; Form 3975, Tax Professionals Annual Mailing List Application and Order Blank, Subscription. It MUST be renewed annually on paper or electronically each year. In addition the publication is available on both the SSA and IRS Internet sites.Note: Publication 1045 is being sent out now through October 29. Tax pros must sign up the first time on paper and mail it to the (ADC) distribution center. After that an account number is printed on the mailing label. You may subscribe or CORRECT YOUR ADDRESS through the Practitioner Order Program. 2. Employee or Independent Contractor An employer must generally withhold income taxes, withhold and pay social security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment taxes on wages paid to an employee. An employer does not generally have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors. Common-law rules. To determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor under the common law, the relationship of the worker and the business must be examined. All evidence of control and independence must be considered. In any employee-independent contractor determination, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and the degree of independence must be considered. Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories: behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship of the parties. Additional information concerning the determination of whether an individual is an employee or independent contractor may be found on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website. IRS help. If you want the IRS to determine whether a worker is an employee, file Form SS�8, Determination of Employee Work Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS. These helpful tips and others can be found in the 2004 Small Business Resource Guide CD-ROM. To order a copy of the CD, visit the Small Business Products Online Ordering page http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=101169,00.html. Have you seen the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed website lately? We have a variety of tools to help you-just click on http://www.irs.gov/smallbiz. Here is your opportunity to tell us what you think about the SB/SE ListServ. To access the survey questions, simply go to http://65.170.199.168/sbse/products.nsf/survey. We do not collect any personal information with the survey, nor do we intend to use the information you provide for any purpose than to improve our products or Web site. Thank you for your participation. --- If you know someone who might want to subscribe to this mailing list, please forward this message to them and they can send a blank e-mail to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] in order to subscribe. --- This message was distributed automatically from the mailing list sbse. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To subscribe to or unsubscribe from another list, please go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/index.html and click on 'e-News Subscriptions'.
