Hi Mark,
Being that you mention W2 and C2C:
I'm sure that there are a lot of businessmen/independent consultants
here with a lot more experience than I. Maybe some of you can enlighten
me with your experience. Because I have a lot of questions about W2 vs C2C.
Questions such as:
Why do employers always seem to want W2?
Why do more people not insist on C2C? Particularly once you are making
more than around $120k/yr which is where my accountant tells me the
overhead starts to become worth it?
I’ve been making it no secret that I prefer C2C work. I would take a
really good direct W2 job but I really prefer C2C. It just makes things
so much better for me economically but costs the employer the same.
Then the recruiter or business owner will typically say, “But we want
someone full time.”
Me: “Yeah, I want full time too. 40 hours per week.”
Them: “They don’t want to do 1099.”
Me: “I don’t want to do 1099 either. That’s not what C2C means.”
Them: “But they want someone who is going to stick around.”
Me: “I want to stick around! I was at Splunk, a famous $25B
logging/SIEM/cybersecurity company, for two years and would love to
still be there! My dream job would keep me for many years!”
Them: “But they want someone with some loyalty to the company.”
Me: “This is an at-will position right? They make that specifically
clear in the offer letter. They reserve the right to let me go at any
time for no specific reason and make zero promises and by hiring me
incur no obligations beyond those required by law, right? And they will
explicitly put it in writing that this is at-will so there is no
confusion. So they want totally one-sided loyalty. Are they looking for
someone who doesn’t know what at-will means? A rube with no business
skills?”
At my level, the tax savings from C2C are huge. My accountant says that
once someone starts making more than a certain amount (which I exceed)
and has deductions that it can start to make a lot of sense to go C2C vs
W2. And that is how it has certainly played out for me these past few
years. I love being able to write off my internet, my phone, my
computer, my computer books, my professional organization memberships, etc.
C2C doesn’t cost the employer any more. The idea is that the burden of
certain expenses are shifted to the employee/corp/contractor and they do
their own taxes, accounting etc. But in this way the employee/corp can
handle their taxes and expenses in a way which is uniquely suited to
their needs.
Since it does not cost the employer any more it makes great sense for
the contractor/worker/employee/partner to go C2C. The C2C rate is
typically 1.3-1.4x the W2 rate. The company saves on overhead which gets
shifted to the employee. This definitely isn’t for everyone. But for
people with good earnings who have deductions it can save a ton.
The insistence on W2 really just looks like a sort of mind-game and a
way to take advantage of the employee.
Is it just an ego game on the part of the employer? “I want to have real
employees reporting to me and not contractors. I don’t want to be their
client. I want to clearly be their employer and sole source of
sustenance. But I want to reserve the right to can them the week before
Christmas with no notice, no severance, and no reason given.
"There is no non-imaginary advantage to me as your employer to have you
W2 instead of C2C but I want you on W2 anyway. Here, pay tens of
thousands extra in taxes!”
Where am I wrong here?
- Tracy Reed
On 2/9/26 07:49, Mark Jacobs wrote:
I've been telling them $135 W2, 1099/CTC much higher.
Mark Jacobs
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GPG Public Key
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On Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 10:29 AM, Steve
Beaver<[email protected]> wrote:
I have a suggestion for all American consultants even if you have a job when a
recruiter calls you tell them you’re part of a group in our minimum rate as a
group is $120 per hour W-2
Sent from my iPhone
No one said I could type with one thumb
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