Reaching way back into ancient history, the Tax Reform ACt of 1986 removed the "safe harbor" status for computer professionals with regard to the risk of independent contractors being reclassified as de facto employees, resulting in back taxes and penalties to the employer.
As I recall the discussions at the time this law was passed, the major contracting firms lobbied for this change since they didn't like to compete with individual contractors who didn't have the overhead of a conventional office. Tax Reform Act of 1986 - Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986> Allan On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 5:59 PM Tracy R Reed <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2/5/26 10:33, Pommier, Rex wrote: > > > Another issue related to this is the fact that some (many/most??) US > firms won't hire independent contractors. They require a contractor be > hired through an agency. > > > Why is this? > > > - Tracy Reed > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
